Year: unknown
Notes: citrus, blackcurrant, mango, hibiscus, rose, poppy, tuberose, coconut, almond milk, vanilla, sandalwood, musk
Inspired by the Etruscan goddess of sensual pleasure, Volumna is an exuberantly sweet and heady fruity-floral that starts out very potent before calming down considerably.
With the mango being evident from the offset, none of the fruits overwhelm each other and collectively present a mouth-watering fruit cocktail, with a buttery underpinning. The florals are just as well-blended but, from time to time, the tuberose briefly dominates. As the composition progresses, this mélange of fruits and florals generate an olfactory illusion redolent of ripe and succulent red berries.
But as time passes, it stays close to the skin, with the creamy foundation of coconut, almond milk, vanilla and sandalwood being annoyingly diluted by the addition of some musk. Personally, a stronger structural backbone would have injected some much needed depth and substance as, by this point, one has to zoom in on the area of application to detect anything (although, in its favour, the coconut is extremely well-executed).
With a slew of feminine fruity-florals on the market, Volumna succeeds in not smelling as harsh or synthetic as the designer equivalents. It's also much more convincing than many of the niche offerings of this class, such as Byredo's Pulp. But if its initial potency persevered, a higher rating would have been promptly awarded.
With the mango being evident from the offset, none of the fruits overwhelm each other and collectively present a mouth-watering fruit cocktail, with a buttery underpinning. The florals are just as well-blended but, from time to time, the tuberose briefly dominates. As the composition progresses, this mélange of fruits and florals generate an olfactory illusion redolent of ripe and succulent red berries.
But as time passes, it stays close to the skin, with the creamy foundation of coconut, almond milk, vanilla and sandalwood being annoyingly diluted by the addition of some musk. Personally, a stronger structural backbone would have injected some much needed depth and substance as, by this point, one has to zoom in on the area of application to detect anything (although, in its favour, the coconut is extremely well-executed).
With a slew of feminine fruity-florals on the market, Volumna succeeds in not smelling as harsh or synthetic as the designer equivalents. It's also much more convincing than many of the niche offerings of this class, such as Byredo's Pulp. But if its initial potency persevered, a higher rating would have been promptly awarded.
