Giallo

[Chapanis]

GIALLO
The term Giallo, meaning yellow, was initally coined in reference to the yellow backgrounds used on the covers of Il Giallo Mondadori pulp crime and mystery novels that influenced Italian thriller filmmaking. The film genre that emerged began as translations of these pulps, and transformed with time into a melding of traditional murder mystery storylines with guignol'esque horror, combined with stylized, tense erotica that was liberally flavored with operatic melodrama. The storylines often touched on psychological terror, feelings of isolation and alienation, and claustrophobic paranoia. Examples: Blood and Black Lace, Twitch of the Death Nerve, The House With Laughing Windows, Tenebrae.

Profoundly passionate and singularly sinister: opopponax, black plum, night-blooming jasmine, benzoin, red musk, violet leaf, orange blossom, mimosa, mandarin, smoky vanilla, tobacco, patchouli, and black amber.

In the bottle it is musky citrus plumy tobacco loveliness.

Wet on it all starts to meld together in a wonderful way.

On the dry down this is not like Black Lace, aside from the tobacco in the background, it is more complex and I like it better. Really.
It is not like Snake Charmer since it isn't as musky or heavy on the plum.
Jasmine is not a note that I like on myself. I do not detect any jasmine.
There isn't anything in it that I would describe as citrusy either.
This is perfection in a bottle.

[amanderinorange]

First off, I have to say that I love the artwork for this bottle. Even if it ends up going rancid on me, I might have to keep it for the bottle. Also, summer and horror movies is the BEST combination and to have a perfume to wear is awesome.

 

In the bottle: slightly citrus and musky. Not smelling any jasmine, which was my concern with this scent.

 

On me: the plum starts to pop out, but not a lot. In fact, there is no stand out scent in this so far, just all of the notes blended together.

 

Overall: I'm really glad that this didn't turn to into a horrible scent on me. It's a lovely scent and I can see myself wearing this quite a bit.

[bubblefish]

The label picture on this one is awesome!

 

The description caught my interest and I thought it would smell a little more sexy and far less dirty than it does on me, so it's kind of a disappointment. It morphed like crazy for me. In the bottle it was this delicious musky scent tempered by a hint of sweet orange. As soon as I applied it to my skin it began to open up into something a bit more complex. However, after a while it morphed into pure tobacco smoke and turned completely gross.

[AlarmAgent]

In Bottle - A musky citrus, not candyish, fresh but dark.

Wet on Skin, First Applied - It is great. That musk is not particularly strong or acrid, which is a problem I have with musks on the rare occasion, and the jasmine seems to be non-existent, at least in any cat pee sort of way. Jasmine usually is not an issue for me, though--it always just smells like jasmine. This is definitely a fresh citrus, musky, smoky, vanilla concoction. It does remind me quite a bit of Faiza, but without gardenia, and with a substantial amount of vanilla added. Substantial relative to Faiza, of course. Giallo isn't crazy-strong on the vanilla, and it definitely isn't anything you'd refer to as foody, or even all that 'sweet'--at least, in a candy/vanilla/baked good sort of way. The citrus isn't so much sweet as it is zesty and fresh. This is mostly a musky, incense-ish blend--even if it doesn't include much in the way of actual incensey notes, haha.

Dry, on Skin - Definitely in the family of Faiza, and darest I say...Snake Charmer? The Resurrected blend, at least. Not as strong, not as sexy. It is sort of if Faiza dropped the gardenia in favor of vanilla, then got together with Snake Charmer, and made a meeker, more casual version of themselves. It faded much more quickly than either Faiza or Snake Charmer, boohoo--but it is definitely more daytime/casual appropriate, in part because of it's small throw and quicker fadeout.

 

Do keep in mind though, that Giallo won my heart on name alone--so I am quite biased.

Edited May 24, 2009 by AlarmAgent

[twilighteyes]

I could smell Red Musk and Plum. Reminded me a lot of Mme. Moriarty or Spawn of the She-Devil, but I only sniffed the bottle.

[midnight_aeval]

I wish this one could have worked as great on me as everyone seems to be claiming it did for them! To me it was too floral, not enough smokiness. Which is not saying it's not good, it just doesn't work for this girl Although I was happy the red musk did not come out in full force like I'm used to.

 

There's something about this blend that reminds me of one of the Shungas from this past year...Couple Consulting an Enpon. Oddly enough, orange blossom is the only common note, so maybe this is one my skin chemistry turns to total Public Restroom smell. How odd! Maybe there's a cleaning product that uses orange blossom which might explain the negative connotation.

[angelicruin]

Sniffing the bottle, this seems dark and bitter to my nose.

 

Wet on my skin, something is going a bit vetiver-ish.

 

As it dries down, the Vetiver-like scent goes away and it softens considerably on my skin. It's mostly a powdery floral musk dry on my skin. I'm not really getting any tobacco either.

 

I think I will let this one sit and age for a little while before I try it again.

[iiinterstate]

Side note: I am one of those who amp flowers!

 

Wet on me: Definitely florals in the blend, but I can't detect the jasmine as a separate entity. *whew*

 

After 5 minutes: Still mostly flowers, but the tobacco and vanilla are lurking just beneath the surface.

 

15 minutes in: florals are starting to burn off now, but they're not gone. I'm smelling primarily red musk and something indefinable but spicy.

 

30 minutes: I can understand those who have said this is a cousin of Snake Charmer, and I agree that is a lighter, sweeter version. And like Snake Charmer, I am sure I will like it much more when it has had some time to settle

 

 

 

[naeelah]

This is so complex it's difficult to pick apart. It's very much like Faiza, but, say, through the filter of Hellion. Where Faiza is very green, Giallo is dark and plummy. (The notes may recall Snake Charmer, but this is nowhere near as musky and sultry.)

 

Generally, this is definitely a scent in the classic perfume tradition. Rather than smelling purely like a floral or resin or whatever blend, it has a little of everything creating one seamless blend with a strong "perfume" quality.

 

The floral and botanical bouquet dominates on my skin. It's not as sweet as I'd expect, with the jasmine. On the whole they seem bright, white, clean, with a crisp green edge from the violet leaf. There's plenty of red musk and it too is sharp and intense, not one of the fruitier varieties.

 

There's a lot of plum and a squirt of bright citrus, but those fade away little by little. The vanilla and black amber anchor everything. They last very well on my skin so the scent gradually becomes creamier and sweeter as the top notes burn away. After several hours, it's primarily black amber, vanilla, and red musk with hints of flowers and plum. Sandwiched in the middle are the resins, which add a wee bit of smokiness but mostly seem to act like a glue, binding it all together.

 

I hate patchouli and I tend to amp it, so I had reservations about this, but so far, I don't smell the patchouli at all. Patchouli ALWAYS gets stronger with age, on my skin, so let's hope that doesn't happen. This has excellent throw and FANTASTIC staying power. I put it on 6 hours ago and although some of the top notes are gone, it's still going strong.

 

So, in short: a well-blended, sophisticated floral with a dusky, plummy, smoky vanilla core.

 

Very curious what this will be like in a few months, so I'll update my review as it ages.

 

Try this if you like: Hellion, the Emathides, Faiza (of course), Snake Charmer, Mme. Moriarty, Kubla Khan, Penumbra, Sacred Whore of Babylon

 

[Lamia]

This scent is killing me. When I first opened it (upon arrival), it smelled like heaven and win and yum and YAY! I decanted an imp for a friend and wiped away the excess from the bottle lips on my arms as a sneaky pre-test, but it smelled rather "meh".

 

"Okay, this needs to settle", I said to myself. And then got my period two days later and said "AHA! Chemistry adjustment, I can test it again!"

 

I opened the bottle for a sniff and went "What happened to that exquisite scent of love?" It smelled sort of ... "meh".

 

Wet, this was lemony, with a low grumble of something musky and deep in the far background. The lemon eventually went away, and the deep background musk was exactly that - low and faint. Then a swell of soap raged to the fore (jasmine?), while also somehow smelling at the same time of bloody skin. Thank goodness those have gone away! Now the vetiver clamors for attention, but the tobacco makes it harsh and sere.

 

Clearly, this will be evolving for a while, but it's not being a pleasant ride while it does so. I am so sad about this, really expected it to be fantastic. I will let it sit for a while and try again.

[TheOneTheyCallLuna]

This one is just too perfumey for me. It's a nice perfume, but it very clearly screams perfume, and I'm not into that sort of thing...I'd rather smell like banana cream pies or malevolent long-haired Japanese ghost ladies or incense and cakes or something....but if you're more into smelling like an actual classy lady than a wiccan bonfire ceremony then this is a very good choice! Lol. Uhhhhmmmmm....yeah!

 

(I notice other reviewers compared this to Faiza, and this is almost exactly how my review of that one turned out though I don't remember how it smelled, so there's probably something to that! If you like Faiza, you might wanna check out Giallo!)

[fairnymph]

Sniffed: Slightly sweet, smooth, and deeply sexy. It's complex but so well blended that I can't really pick out notes, and it's much more laid-back than I anticipated. There's definitely ripe fruit, some dark resins, musk, vanilla, and tobacco.

 

Wet: Much darker, more incensey, and SPICY on my skin - there's also a pronounced herbal edge (violet leaf/tobaco?) and a bit of sour-sharp jasmine and mimosa make this noticeably more floral. I get LOADS of black amber and opopponax, and the musk has that cola tang of red musk, though it's smoother than usual. Lots of orange blossom and mandarin make this very orange in feel.

 

Dry: This is such a morpher - I'm liking it again - the orange fruit is really bright and much stronger than I find typical BPAL citrus - juicy! I find the mimosa blends with the fruit really well, and the jasmine has backed down. It still lends a slightly soapy edge, but only if I strain to detect it. The benzoin has emerged and the vanilla amped, and I get a very pleasant smoky edge - that does indeed remind me a bit of Black Lace (though this still strikes me as more Faiza-like).

 

Later: An incense/resin and mimosa-tinged creamiscle with earthy tobacco & patchouli. The mandarin, orange blossom, vanilla, benzoin, tobacco and mimosa all shine here, with deep musk, plum and black amber supporting more nebulously. Very, very seamless, complex, and sophisticated. Decent throw and excellent longevity.

 

Summary: This is not my style - too dark for my tastes - but I'm glad I tried it. The jasmine and red musk are NOT to be feared - they barely appear at all, and I have a tendency to amp both notes. If you love orange citrus or tobacco, this is a must-try.

 

 

[ravenfeathers]

this smells almost exactly like wood phoenix to me in all its stages and i have no idea why, since they share none of the same notes. the only difference was the almost hair-raisingly medicinal smell in the bottle that evened out nicely on the skin.

 

as a minor fan of wood phoenix, giallo isn't a disappointment to me at all, but it's very much not what i was expecting.

 

eta on extreme drydown, this goes very, very funky on me, a sour combination of grandma florals and earthiness. the scourge of buying two bottles at a whack continues!

Edited June 1, 2009 by ravenfeathers

[crebbsgirl]

This should be full of win on me, and it's not. There is a funky smell going on here I can't decipher. Wet, the mimosa is sharp. This seems to smooth out as it dries, and the red musk is fairly predominant on my skin. There is an earthy quality that the patchouli lends to the blend, but all of a sudden there's a weird maple syrupy kind of smell. I think I might need to cellar this for awhile before wholly giving up on it.

[Brianne]

A great big thank you to Ahania who generously gifted me a full sample of this! <3

 

Giallo made me curious because it's full of notes that I normally love but also had a couple that scare me (*cough*JASMINE*cough*). Red musk, smoky vanilla, patchouli and tobacco are all notes that I have a lot of luck with and that I enjoy. On the other hand, jasmine, black amber and opopponax usually go wrong on me. So this was a real gamble and I was curious as to how it was going to turn out!

 

I can definitely see where people are making comparisons to Black Lace, because there is a very similar vibe to this. It's sort of a "high end perfume" smelling scent in my opinion, it's got an edge of smoky musk with amber and lightly sweet florals. There's a lot going on here and it all blends together well.

 

It's not for me (in the same way that I liked Black Lace but didn't wear it) but it's a lovely scent and sure to be popular among many!

[zankoku_zen]

Ah Giallo, at the beginning I caught a swirl of things but one of them was citrus + tobacco. You had me very excited at this point. However, as you dried, I get more of the amber and flowers. Thankfully jasmine makes a very late appearance, but overall, this is a dark, potent floral.

 

It kinda reminds me to Mystery, vibe-wise.

[CreamyJade]

In the bottle: Citrus, patchouli, tobacco.

Wet on skin: Citrus, patchouli, dark florals, a bit of red musk & plum.

Dry on skin: Dark florals, light citrus, a bit of resins and plum.

ETA: After a couple of hours, it's still very much a creamy floral blend, but I can smell the plum better.

Final thoughts: I don't remember who mentioned it but this is definately in the Faiza the Black Mamba family, a very dark floral with a bit of citrus. The drydown reminds me of Chrysanthemum Moon because of the creaminess of the flowers in the blend. I was expecting a powerful plum/red musk/resins combo, but the flowers and citrus are pretty much all that I get. I'm unfortunately not crazy about it like I thought I'd be, I'll see what a little aging will do!

Edited June 2, 2009 by CreamyJade

[milo]

I was sooo excited to try this, I mean, tobacco, smoky vanilla, plum, most of the notes are total win on me. This smells great in the bottle, somewhat fruity with a bit of incense. On is a totally different story. This is high end department store perfume, like a few reviewers have noted, but in an awful, overly floral way. No plum, tobacco, red musk, smoky vanilla, just strong, perfumey floral. I don't get any of the comparisons to Black Lace or Hellion. If anything, this is kind of like The Witch Queen, which was another big disappointment for me. I'll hang on to my partial, just to see if it changes, (crosses fingers) but my other one is definitely off to swaps.

[tarotgirl99]

I thought this was going to be a must-have after reading the reviews, but had not bought it because of jasmine and red musk (two notes which are usually no-nos).

 

A generous swapper sent me a sniffy so I could test it and I'm glad she did. Jasmine and red musk are still no-nos and the combination makes for an ugly stench on me. This starts out as a generic and unenticing scent but morphs into dead flower muck on me. With a tinny tinge. Must. Wash. Off.

[cinnamonster]

OMG CIGAR

 

I had so many hopes for this but it is just awful on me, if cigar was distilled to make an alcoholic cigar-drink, this is what it would smell like. No vanilla, certainly no plum, no jasmine even , and no red musk. It reminded me of smelling cigar smoke during my pregnancy with my first daughter, and after half an hour I had to wash it off. I'm really sad about this one as it could've been heaven.

 

Edited because I can't type the word pregnancy right the first time

Edited June 5, 2009 by cinnamonmel

[Dark Alice]

This is a very strange and complex perfume. One minute I get whiffs of jasmine, the next, mandarin, then the sweetness of benzoin, and tiny tiny amber and red musk. I was hoping for a stronger amber, red musk, bezoin....something. But my skin seems to want to just turn this into a generic mishmash of perfume. Meh...

[stellans]

I found this blend to be odd but appealing when first sniffed. Today, however, the red musk and tobacco notes are conspiring against me. The dreaded plastic note is rearing its ugly head, and a headache is looming. I am going to have to wash this off. Maybe I’ll hang on to it for another go on another day, but today it’s a no-go. Argh.

Edited May 29, 2011 by stellans

[Bluestocking]

In the bottle: Dark, moody and smooth, but so complex that it's actually difficult for my nose to interpret this! There's an overall smoky quality, which might be the smoky vanilla plus tobacco, although this isn't especially sweet. There's a citrusy, tangy, nearly sharp quality, which seems like it's the orange blossom/mimosa/mandarin, and beneath it, there's the silky, slinky red musk. I get a whiff of opoponax, and… the patchouli doesn't stand out at all, but I get some kind of sense of it in here, deep down. The same goes for the amber, which is subtle.

On, wet: More astringent and less sweet. It's tobacco, mandarin and mimosa, with opoponax and some very subtle patchouli beneath and the smoky vanilla (more smoky than vanilla) over the top. Red musk ties it all together and makes if smooth. Oddly, something about this reminds me of the early phases of Kubla Khan. It's a very difficult to describe scent—a bit cool, a bit musky, a bit citrusy, a bit smoky. Very mysterious and ominous. It's weird… but I think I like it. (Also: "Giallo" is totally an appropriate name, because the oil turns my wrists yellow.)

On, dry: WOW! Seriously, wow. This got really, really gorgeous on the dry down, as the vanilla and amber have warmed and the florals have bloomed. It's a richer, sweeter perfume, although it still has a very dark, dangerous, smoky edge to it, and the opoponax deepens it. Still, it's a gorgeous balance of flowers, fruit and resins, with just a little bit of tobacco. The patchouli is totally undetectable to me now, and the plum is also surprisingly subdued—just enough to blend with the citrus, but not taking everything over. Also? I finally get what so many people seem to love about red musk, because it's wonderful here, very smooth and sensual.

Later: Fainter, but basically the same: dark florals and warm, sweet resins with a whiff of smoke and red musk. So well blended that it's almost impossible to distinguish individual notes.

Overall: For me, this completely lives up to the hype. I hoped that I would like it, but I actually love it. It's sexy and feminine and it's also very well-balanced, in that no one element dominates, even with a list of heavy-hitters like jasmine, plum, patchouli and red musk. It also really fits the inspiration: dark and mysterious, sleek and sexy, a little bit over-the-top… although thankfully not as over-the-top as a typical Giallo movie. Best of all, I suspect this is going to age wonderfully.

 

 

[myth]

Holy cloying floral Batman! I smell soap and flowers. Smells like a high end but somewhat stuffy and traditional bath shop. This was about a half and half split between love notes and doom notes, and guess which are winning. I got no plum. No red musk. There's a dark and smoky base that is probably a roll up of the opoponax, tobacco and patch, but this doesn't strike me as a resinous blend and I don't smell any of those distinctly, or the amber, or any of the stuff I was hoping for from this. On my skin it smells nothing like Snake Charmer... not even in the same family. It's a heavy floral soap on full dry-down. If you amp florals like I do this one will probably make you sad. It gave me a headache.

[Schmoozy]

 

Yep, it's sultry and dark, and heavy. It also has one of my most hated notes - jasmine and one that can be really iffy - pacthouli. Interestingly enough neither are really prevalent, and if they are, they combine with the others really well. Giallo is complex. It is resinous, yet floral, it is deep and dark, yet pretty and girly. Black amber, smoky vanilla, tobacco, benzoin and orange blossom are the winners of this blend and hints of mandarin and plum are the afternotes that tuen this dark blend into a more light hearted one. I think a bottle is in order.