Sì
Giorgio Armani (2013)

In "The Guide", TS gives a great review of Badgley Mischka. Sure, it's not reinventing the wheel, sure, cassis can feel a bit "L'Ombre Dans L'Eau"-era, but dangit, I like the blast of berries and whatnot you get when you spray it on. I feel this about Sì. A fun woosh of memories.

From there on, most of the fun subsides, although the rose accord is lovely. Apparently there's vanilla in the drydown but by then I've forgotten I've sprayed it on.

Basically panel-tested pop art. I feel Andy Warhol would've approved.

Update - I wear this constantly. I had to buy a 2nd bottle. It's like a wearable version of the stunning Synthetic Jungle by Frederic Malle. There's even a well-hidden traditional amber note once the woods and 'ambergris' wear off. Lovely.

This actually captured my attention when I first sprayed it at the department store. Sure, it is sort of generic, but the opening is done really well. I prefer this over Black Opium Edt.

It's not overly bitter or sour. Perhaps the projection could be a bit better but it is average.

Powdery fruit. Run-of-the-mill flowers. Not one of Ms. Nagel's finer creations. Probably more popular with the novice-sampler crowd. I'm just spoiled and more particular with my florals.

The base is a little better - soft woods, with a breath of sweetness. Overall - fair.

To Italians, Sì means yes.
In French however, it contradicts a negative but still means no.
For example :

- Il n'y a rien de mauvais avec ce parfum.
- Si. Il me fait mal.

- There's nothing wrong with this perfume.
- No way! It hurts my nose.

A feminine spiky woods; trite and chemical.

A current, musky fruity-floral...

So, I can see the appeal of this one, in the sense that a lot of younger women would like it (and I actually do know someone in their 20's who wears this). I find that this is the type of perfume that embodies the designer market right now. It's a patchouli-fruity-floral musky scent. Generally speaking, the Si line by Giorgio Armani is probably (to my nose) close to a fruity floral version of the Coco Mademoiselle line by Chanel. I sense some similarities in terms of the warm, powdery vibe but Si tends to depart in the more current, fruity direction. I do get the cassis (which has a blackcurrant like vibe) and also the musky vanillic notes, with the freesia adding to the florals along with the rose (and possibly a faint hint of jasmine or hedione molecule). I also think this might have cashmeran (and I think the ambroxan).

Overall, it's not a bad fragrance by any means. it is good in terms of projection and performance. For me though, I prefer the Si Intense version, which I find is a more grown-up and improved version of this one. I would happily recommend that one as a more versatile and universal choice, whereas I see this as working more for a younger and more current audience out there.

Sì (2013) is a fruity floriental/chypre hybrid that had me tossing and turning at first sniff. I wanted to give it a negative review, then I wanted to give it a neutral, then a positive, then a neutral again, then finally settled on a positive which is where it stayed. Never has a perfume from any gender marketing point done this to me, but here we have it. On paper, Christine Nagel's work here feels like a lot of creative improvisation over a phone-in base. The synthetic ambergris component here isn't the usual ambroxan or ambrox super that is dumped into most fruity marine ginger ambroxobombs served up on the male side of most designer offerings, but a cut above called orcanox, which is used for a more-accurate imitation of ambergris where called for usually in "prestige" or entry-level niche offerings. The rest of Sì reads like a greatest hits of the last century in women's perfume style: rounded pillowy aldehydes, milky ketone-style musks (which are likely not musk ketone in the 21st century), rose/jasmine tandems for that "liberated women" indolic feeling, and chypre-like bergamot with sharp woods that give the best made-for-television impression of a chypre possible without the bite of real oakmoss. Sì is just freaking exhausting on the nose for this reason, but once you see it through, you might find it worth the wild ride through Wonka's factory to reach that lovely creamy skin scent which is what ultimately won me over after it was all over.

The opening of Sì is very much fruity floral with chypre leanings, and I get the feeling Christine Nagel was dreaming about Guerlain Mitsouko (1919) and Chanel No. 5 (1921) the night before she finalized her idea, as a peach-like note similar to the Guerlain is mimicked with blackcurrant, orange and bergamot over the puffy cloud of Chanel-like aldehydes in the beginning. From this introduction comes the rich indolic floral center of powdery centrefolia rose/rose de mai (dutch hybrid rose), heavy jasmine, orange blossom, and freesia. The usual soapiness of the orange blossom is the only thing keeping the heart from really being all that dirty from the indole, but the fruit blends with it obnoxiously at first, creating the "body wash smell" which is where my initial negative reaction came from, leaning more torwards neutral than positive once it subsided and the flowers could do more of the talking. Once the base arrives, patchouli and the creamy musk show up, offset by some captive synthetic woods accord that substitutes for anything more natural and diffuse like cedar, sandalwood, or pine, since the idea here isn't to be too aromatic. The orcanox comes in at the end, teamed up with good old-fashioned compound amber and vanilla to give a link to the mid 20th century florientals of this type, but kept cleaner and smoother thanks to all the modern science here. Eau de parfum strength means hours of longevity and a nice skin glow, so performance isn't an issue. Sì is an extremely romantic fragrance, which is unsurprising given the listed notes and development of the scent itself. I'd enjoy smelling this on my dating partner for sure, so if that's a selling point for you, there you have it, just don't try this in summer or at work, as you might accidentally choke someone.

CIS guys of any orientation will likely not enjoy this on themselves unless they fancy fruity florientals (and few do outside drag queens) or are just so unbiased and egalitarian with their tastes that they would wear virtually anything. Folks transitioning genders might also see this as too feminine unless they're headed that way, so unisex crossover potential here is extremely low. I wouldn't wear this for myself, not just because the fruit is just a bit too much for me, but because the richness of the musks and patchouli near the base gives me a bit of a breathing spell, although I do adore the skin finish of this scent to pieces. However, the harrowing journey through the halls of perfume history thrashing and screaming along the way is just a bit too much for me to endure in order to reach that pay off at the end, but I'm sure the ladies out there who love their perfume indulgent and multifaceted will get a kick out of the wild ride this presents. There's just so much going on with Sì that it appears deceptively simple and linear on the surface, so this is another test-on-skin fragrance since paper or sniffing the nozzle will do no justice. Applause to Giorgio Armani for managing such a monolithic feminine with modern maligned synthetics, and I dare go so far as to say this might be the Dior Poison (1985) of its era, or at least as close as modern designers can get on the ingredient availability and budgets they have in the 2010's. Thumbs way up! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to step outside and catch my breath...