Omnia Crystalline
Bulgari (2005)

A somewhat milky floral. The bamboo and tea notes are brief in their appearance. It has a musky finish. A light, summery perfume.

A pleasant commencement based on a citrus base, more lemony on my skin, that has a fruity component admixed to it. After the first minutes it is enriched with a white floral drydown, and the whole is a typical summer offering.

Whilst hitherto it was already a bit generic and synthetic, the base is a musky-woodsy soup straight from the chemistry lab, and is mega-generic and ultra-synthetic.

The sillage is moderate, the projection good and the longevity five six hours on my skin.

Frequent re-applications are needed and then it is a pleasant warm-weather scent - avoiding the base. 2.75/5.

It seems unfair to to judge this scent as lacking in character since "neutral" is exactly what it aims for.
After a hint of citrus I can detect the Nashi fruit early on - both it's light fresh taste and crushed ice texture are translated well. I'm not aware of a bamboo scent, but this fragrance portrays it well with its quiet low-key wood notes.

Generally I mostly enjoy more full-one fragrances. Maybe that's exactly why I like this as a break from them. In humid weather, or when I'm working on one of my head colds this is also perfect - fragrant but quiet.

For all that, I find it very long-lasting. It doesn't project very far, but on the skin it lasts many hours.

I've also found it to be the perfect counterpart for my husband's Armani White, much more so than Armani's own female counterpart. Just to clarify, I don't care which gender something is marketed to, but White only smells "right" on him. But I'm delighted to get a close enough fix with Crystalline.

Prior comments about this Omnia scent being front-loaded are spot on. This is an uncomplicated scent and not bad by any measure, but it's really unexciting. If you like a simple pink-n-powder frag, OC could be a daily office piece. Soft fruits which quit the party after the first hour, followed by a soft wood and orris combo, and nothing else. If you want much the same with more depth, try CK Truth for Women.

I think Omnia Crystaline is a great example of a toploaded perfume, one where all the work and budget went into making the first 30 minutes smell great, while just letting things go to hell after that.

True to this, the topnotes are fantastic. There's a berry note that smells like when you put fresh raspberries in a blender to make a sauce. And there are some pretty but non-distinct flowers underneath, while a powdery soapy buzz hovers on top. If this sounds questionable, it's not. The perfumey buzz is just perfect, making the whole thing feel like a fuzzy pink cashmere sweater, while the fruit is realistic and sweet without smelling immature or dumb.

Unfortunately, it all just sort of falls apart. Everything mixes together into a weird soapy fruit shampoo smell, which is eventually joined by that weird Windex/overly-chlorinated-pool smell that's synonymous with cheap men's aquatics. Really?!?

It's not terrible and those topnotes are really good, so I'd never fault anyone for liking this, but this is the sort of scent that makes me feel jaded.