Friday, September 25, 2009

Go buy some Mariella Burani. Right now.

A little online search made me realize very few perfumistas are talking about Mariella Burani perfume. I'm aghast! (Ok, a little drama there but I am surprised). I wore Mariella Burani here and there in the mid-late 90's. I'm pretty sure I had the EDP and now can only find EDT but upon buying the EDT last week I've deemed them either similar or exactly the same. Being a lover of the Cabotine bottle I find myself rather giddy with the gorgeous bottle that houses Mariella Burani (henceforth MB). The hefty masculine square bottle topped with a gaudy orange bouquet cap is tres chic indeed. This bottle is display worthy for me, not clumped in a group but alone. I recall loving MB when I wore it a decade ago but after smelling trillions of perfumes since then I've come to the conclusion that MB is an absolute gem. Once you've "smelled them all" and then go back to something you wore ages ago and realize it's the cats meow, well, it's a neat thing.

Now getting to the juice. MB which reminds me of Chanel No. 5 but better (I've never been fond of No. 5, it smells like weak dishwater to me; soapy detergent-y blandness - too vague, too blah, will never understand why it's the biggest deal of all time and yes, I've tried it in all concentrations!). MB is similar to No. 5 in that it's a highly aldehydic floral with a clean, polished vibe, yet it's volume is turned up a few notches - there's much more va-va-vavoom in MB. If No. 5 is Nicole Kidman then Mariella Burani is Sophia Loren. So maybe I'm thinking Italian because Mariella Burani is Italian, whatever, MB is sensual where No. 5 is fastidious.MB is a gorgeous aldehydic floral that starts fresh and citrusy and dries down to a creamy oriental dream. There are not that many fragrances I would call creamy - Fracas is one - MB is creamy. It's classified as an oriental but there is a chypre vibe happening here - if No. 5 is a chypre then MB is very much in the same vein. There is an underlying fresh, herbal quality to MB which keeps the sweetness in check at all times. While it's undeniably sweet and feminine it definitely remains fresh and not too over the top - a lovely balance. Honestly I can't believe I haven't written about MB before and that there isn't any chatter amongst perfumistas and on the other blogs and fora - this is truly amazing stuff. Some days I get so bored and tired with the usual fanfare about Serge Lutens, Guerlain and Chanel. I swear Serge could defecate into a bucket, Sheldrake could liquify it and put it into a bottle and there would be legions interpreting and swooning over his latest artistic masterpiece. MB smells amazingly good and it also has nice sillage (potent) and excellent longevity. It's also a bonus that it's available from many online discount sites for a song.

Notes are listed as -
Top: tarragon, bergamot, brazilian rosewood and lemon;
middle: iris, jasmine, ylang-ylang, lily-of-the-valley and rose;
base: amber, sandalwood, tonka bean, patchouli, musk, benzoin, vanilla and vetiver.

22 comments:

ScentScelf said...

Yay!! Somebody dares say the name!!!

I share your vibe with Burani v Chanel...in the case of MB, there's more there there.

I'd also say that MB is better in the space it inhabits than directly huffed from the skin. Not sure I'd say the same about the Chanel.

Since I'm saying these things, obviously I'm one of those oddballs who does, or at least did, talk about Muriella Burani. Nobody used to talk back when I'd drop the name in a comment, so I kind of shut up. Especially after I had a bad dance with it...not sure what happened, except I think I focused on all the things that make ultimately a not me scent (aldehydes, florals) rather than what was working for it.

Mind you, when I first got it, I thought for sure I had managed to uncover one of the secrets of the perfume world, and was ready to crow about my inexpensive gem. I went and ordered MB messages just because it was cheap, too, and I figured it was worth a shot.

Can you believe there is a mini that is a replication of the full size bottle, right down to the wacky floral cap?

Anonymous said...

I also wore MB in the late 90s and adored it. I have to keep some around although I don't often wear it because it smells of my first year of college, but it is a lovely, distinctive, and oddly neglected perfume. I think the neglect is from the poor distribution. I'm going to go put some on now...

Marko said...

I've been a big fan of Mariella Burani Messages for quite sometime - I'll have to check this one out.....it sounds fabulous.

I'm off to the online discounters!!!! (wish me luck)

Anonymous said...

I too wore MB in the 90's. I think I had the edp and it was one of the few times I ever finished a bottle.

Next time I purchased I think it was the edt and I did find a huge enough difference that I quit wearing it.

If I found the edp I would give it another try

Ines said...

I love it when someone talks about sth I never heard of and then it turns out it is easily available. Now I can't wait to try it. :)

Tania said...

Hmm, this does sound nice. Not my usual type of thing, but you dio make it sound good, and I've never even heard of it.

I'll probably try it, but I'm waiting for two things. First, for the online discounter I use to get the edp back in stock (I have a voucher for them).
And the second thing is for the damn mail strikes here in the UK to stop and the backlog to be cleared. It's been chaos here for weeks. I have two perfume buys still in limbo somewhere out there, plus Supernatural season 4 dvds - sent to me on 31st August, still not here!
Please excuse rant. Hell hath no fury like a girl deprived of both perfume AND Dean Winchester.... ;-)

Abigail said...

Oh, Tania! I feel your pain. I'd heard about the UK mail strikes.
Being denied perfume AND Dean Winchester? Well you just about need to collect for pain and suffering :) I sure hope things sort out very soon.

Anonymous said...

If Mariella Burani = Sophia Loren, I'm going to buy a gallon of it and pour it all over me! Do you think it will make me as gorgeous as she is in that photo? ;-)

I've never tried this but will definitely find myself a sample now. And thanks for saying the unsayable - that Chanel No. 5 isn't really all that. I'm in total agreement.

Abigail said...

Hi Patty,

Well, it's Sophia Loren *in comparison* to No. 5. I mean it's a similar style of perfume to No. 5 but it's much more vavavoom.

Yep, we say the unsayable here at I Smell Therefore I Am - No. 5 ain't all that! :)

If you get some Mariella Burani do come back and tell me what you think.

Mals86 said...

Oh, no... now I should add this one to the list.

Creamy aldehydic floral? I'm there, baby.

I do love No.5 in vintage parfum. I own one bottle that may be from the 50's, and it is an utter cloud of gorgeous - but I will comment that one of the aspects I like most about it is its aloofness. It smells expensive, classy, and chilly, and as such is great camouflage when I don't want to show too much of my vulnerable soul.

And how about that MB bottle? Gorgeous. Must hunt some of that up - thanks for the review!

AnnS said...

I'm glad to see someone on a frag blog finally give Mariella Burani the praise it deserves. I have a half used bottle of this I bought in Portland OR many years ago, and it always reminds me now of glorious PAC NW summers...but it is a beautifully well done floral. It is warm, exuberant and seasonless. I even have some of the bodywash that smells divine in the steamy shower. It would be an excellent gateway aldehyde for those who are normally turned off by aldehydes. It reminds me actually of a kind of floral-aldehyde that Annick Goutal would produce - warm, "Mediterranian", complex, thoroughly wearable.

Anonymous said...

Um, No. 5 isn't a chypre, & man, is that MB tacky!
Erika

Abigail said...

Erika,

What's tacky - the bottle or the juice? If the juice - your loss.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, I don't care for the bottle--never smelled the perfume.
Erika

Mals86 said...

Okay okay okay... I took your advice. $21, including shipping, for the big edt on ebay, and it arrived today. Must wait for that RL Safari parfum to wear off before testing MB, but boy, does the nozzle smell sunny and crisp! Can't wait.

pitbull friend said...

Serge Lutens defecated into a bottle... Wait, isn't that Muscs Koublai Khan? (Ah, maybe it's just me.)

Abigail said...

Mals86,
So did you give it a go yet? What do you think after wearing?
I took a big decant of MB with me on my cross country trip and nearly used it up - and that says a lot.
:-) A

Mals86 said...

Reporting back - I love it! Shortly after I bought it, I was moved to post on the subject of my mother's scent (No. 5), and then I went into reviewing things that reminded me of that icon. MB is one, and I reviewed it as such. Hope you don't mind jumping, but here's a link if you want to read the whole story:
http://musesinwoodenshoes.blogspot.com/2009/10/perfume-review-mariella-burani-or-clone.html

Thanks so much for recommending it.

Anonymous said...

Done! I bought some and like it very much. I get the relation with #5, but MB is friendly and approachable, and opens up beautifully. Personally I love the aldehydes, and I like that I get a chypre-animalic drydown on my skin, rather than the ubiquitous vanilla-amber. I was actually surprised to see that the basenotes contained those ingredients, as I don't perceive them. Just as well - nothing wrong with them, but it just seems everything dries down to vanilla-amber.

Kristal said...

I feel 100% the same about Lutens and NO5... Thank you !

JDL said...

I've been wearing this consistently since I was 14, right after it first launched. I'm so happy to see your review. MB is hard to find, and I worry that no one pays attention to it, so it'll eventually disappear. I've contemplated buying it in bulk for that very reason, only stopping myself because the perfume will probably deteriorate for being stored for 10 years or so. Everything you said is spot on. It's unbelievably wearable, and I get compliments on it all the time.
YES! I'm not alone. Rock on, MB. Rock on.

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