Just Cavalli for Her (new)
Roberto Cavalli (2013)

My first impression of Just Cavalli is sharp, dry, and bitter with a hint of floral. The neroli really dominates the first fifteen minutes or so.

For another half hour, the neroli pulls out a strange soapy smell, almost like ivory bar soap. It is then that I'm able to see how people are able to compare it to some Alien fragrances.

It takes some patience, but after that I'm finally able to smell the tiare flower, and then it turns pleasant and creamy, and almost balmy. It wore for over eight hours on me. It isn't my style personally, but it makes me think of warm summer nights.

There's something weird about this though. I think it's tiare flower combined with vanilla that makes me get a banana note and it does NOT smell of bananas, but it somehow makes me think of and want bananas!

There aren't many notes listed for Just Cavalli, though like both Oro and the current Cavalli signature scent, I get a lot of pink pepper, and it smells like a Cavalli scent.

I recently read a Luca Turin review where he talked about the risk a perfumer takes in deciding to make a perfume settle into something wonderful, because the opening may be challenging and scare people off before they get to experience it. Just Cavalli seems to have been made for women with no patience, then, because it's fully loaded and lush up front, then fades away to a faint (though pleasant) orange blossom with a bit of something raspy, maybe the rosewood and pink pepper combo.

When I first sprayed it I got concerned, because it was a pretty huge and blooming white floral, and I thought, just how big is this thing going to get if this is the opening? But it was basically gone in less than an hour. Granted, it's an EDT and I've been wearing it in cool weather, so it may not be the whole story...

It IS a pretty scent. I get the tiare more in the bottle than after it's sprayed, where it becomes a pretty and familiar white floral without skank, rather like the orange blossom of a Juicy Couture scent (and the other Cavallis I've tried). I've seen some compare it to Vivienne Westwood Boudoir, one I wear pretty often, and I can sort of see that - it's a very sweet white floral with dry and raspy - even sneeze-inducing - texture. But Boudoir has a lot more heft, and while I love it, it's off-putting even to me if I'm not in the mood for it!

Just Cavalli is pretty while it lasts, and I look forward to seeing if it behaves better in warm weather. If I haven't auctioned it off with other blind buys by then...