Cefiro
Floris (2001)

FLORIS – CEFIRO (2001)

Cefiro attempts to be a little bit of everything, beginning in a land of citrus notes, descending to a vaguely floral heart, and eventually settling on a woods and musk base.

It would seem that this has been reformulated, but that Floris has never bothered to re-print their sample cards to reflect the change of notes. The list on Basenotes is closer to the olfactory experience than those on the card. The addition of grapefruit and neroli and the elimination of jasmine, cardamom and nutmeg in the note tree would certainly affect the end product. With the two spices removed, the citrus notes have nowhere to go, nothing to descend upon and grace as they fade, they just fade.

The tea and musk notes are all we're left with after about ten minutes, as the memory of the citrus notes hovers above.

There is an overall synthetic plastic note that plunges the experience into modern generic aquatic territory, ultimately arriving at a mediocre rating from me. It's not awful, it's just not very good.

There are some differences between the sample sent to me by Floris and the information here in terms of notes, and I think this is worth recording. The notes on the packet are, then:

Top: bergamot, lemon, lime, mandarin, orange
Heart: cardamom, jasmine, nutmeg
Base: cedarwood, musk, sandalwood

I have to say that the notes provided above are much closer to what is detected by the nose; the overall composition on paper hints at something along the lines of Bulgari Pour Home Extreme. I wonder if some reformulation has taken place.

In any event, what ends up presenting itself is a fresh fragrance with prominent citrus but also a persistent floral accord much closer to neroli than to jasmine, backed up by a light take on musk and woods. It is reminiscent of ELO's "You or Someone Like You", and where it might be seen to have an advantage over that scent is in the musky backbone, which sits better on me that the long-lasting and somewhat aggressive rose of YOSLY. As befits the name, there is just the suggestion of wind blowing through washing on a breezy day. Performance in good in terms of sillage and longevity.

However, Cefiro moves too far to the feminine for my liking to compel me to do anything more than finish the sample. I would see this working best on women who like the freshness of many male perfume genres and have no wish to wear the latest oxygen-sapping Dior or Chanel. All in all, another success for a house that I tend to get on well with.

Citrus & Woods...

I do like fragrances by Floris. In fact, one of them is currently one of my favourite fragrances of all time. With this one though, I am not so impressed. Although it is of a good level and quality, I can't see anything which would distinguish it from the many different types of citrus, masculine types of fragrances consisting of citrus top, floral heart, and aromatic base. There really is very little difference I think. In conclusion, I would choose over this the famous Bleu de Chanel as a better alternative.

Genre: Citrus

Cefiro introduces itself with a rounded, realistic lime zest and herbal top note that's a pleasure to smell. From there it develops along a hybrid woody/eau de Cologne pattern explored successfully by scents like Eau de Rochas, Eau du Sud, Acqua di Iskander, and Monsieur Balmain. Cefiro evolves by way of a very light neroli note, a perky herbaceous accord that suggests tarragon and basil, and a mélange of soft woods to hold the whole thing together. About an hour in, I catch a peculiar, artificial-seeming fruity note that suggests hard candy, but it's not strident enough to offend.

I can't say that there's much more to Cefiro, but this kind of fragrance doesn't aim at complexity – just at the somewhat more than ephemeral pleasures of an extended eau de Cologne. That said, it's only fair to mention that a scent like Eau de Rochas or Monsieur Balmain accomplishes this aim as well, or better, at a mere fraction of the price.

I really enjoy this citrus scent. I wouldn't say it's very unique but it is exactly what I look for when I want a summer fragrance. Unfortunately, olfactory fatigue kicks in fairly early for me (2.5-3 hours) but the longevity and projection is still there. It's definitely more feminine in the opening but it works very well with my skin compared to most of my fragrances.

9.1/10

This is a straightforward scent, with a lemon-mandarin opening that later on is complimented by neroli and bergamot. The neroli predominates in the middle phase and gives it a more herbal character. Towards the end a fresh tea note combined with white musk appears, which is very pleasant basenote. Overall more substantive with a more mutidimensional development than many other citrus fragrances. This is a light and fresh scent in the British Cologne tradition, but in spite of poor sillage and limited projection I am getting over two hours out of this, which on me is very good for a citrus-based fragrance.

This is a very pleasant light fragrance--like an eau de cologne. I'm a woman, and I like this very much in hot humid summer weather (like we have in Washington DC). It has little staying power, but I don't really expect that. Absolutely fabulous to spritz on after a shower.

I feel a bit odd at giving this a positive review, given that the majority of people on the site dislike it ... but I do like it. It smells very nice on me, it's a perfect summer fragrance for me, and Luca Turin calls it 'strikingly fresh and pleasant' in his A-Z guide, so I feel I'm in good company in liking it.

One of the few Florises (Flores?) that I've seen in person in a store, and I'm realizing now how different it is from how I remembered it (i.e. different from their #127). It starts as an airy, light floral, initially a bit more on the feminine side of unisex...reminds me of the women's version of Clinique Happy, which I used to like on the lady in the next office at work. A bit of mint appears to "soapen" it up a bit, and bring it back toward masculine territory, sort of a la Himalaya. At this point, encountering it with no prior knowledge, I would be hard to convince that I should even consider it. As I wait for the mid notes to change to the base notes, it looks like I'm going to be disappointed because instead of changing, they mostly just vanish. Only the vaguest trace of expensive soap smell remains, and I'm not sure that it's not just wishful thinking. And (just what I needed) there's a tiny bit of licorice left at the end to piss me off. This is what I remember the old slimy Dove soap smelling like from years ago, and it's not a pleasant memory.

NO! A clean floral/woody/citrus that continuely winks at the Eau De Cologne. Sits somewhere between a nice shower gel and a classic masculine in the syle of Eau Sauvage. Go for the original.

clean,proper,citrus,feminine.already the package is feminine!
this is a boring, very linear and simple fragrance.
The suspense, the complexity,the recognition value etc. are missing-the opening is the drydown- a quite crisp,fresh lemon start and that´s it- it stays that way all the time.Another huge disappointment!A fragrance on an unbelievable low level!Don´t waste your money!

I am a HUGE Floris fan in general, but not a fan of Cefiro at all. It is a very fresh clean scent to be sure, but it goes nowhere. It starts off with a very generic light orange/lemon and kind of stays that way throughout. Inoffensive to be sure, but no character at all... Maybe this would work better on a lady but I have a hard time wearing it myself. Those looking for a good spring/summer orange/lemon scent by Floris should try the vastly superior JF instead. The mundane smelling Cefiro gets a generous 2 stars out of 5.

Starts with a green citrus blast. The various citrus notes all jumble together and get a bit dense and muddled. The scent gets too sweet, almost cloying. The wood notes do not develop. What we wind up with is a rather cheap and annoying musk – synthetic and unattractive. The talc in this scent is much better! It is lighter and the wood notes come through.