Knot
Bottega Veneta (2014)

The opening is made up of citrus galore: lemon and orange, enforced by neroli, and this opening is not bad. Especially as it is not too synthetic on. In the frequently-used manner the drydown turns floral with rose and peonies and hints of muguet detectable. The base is the least impressive part, with a rather generic musk-vanilla dyad taking the lead.

I get the citrus freshness throughout, which is nice and not too synthetic on my skin, but the base is the letdown here IMHO. The performance is all right with moderate sillage, adequate projection and six hours of longevity - all right but not truly impressive.

This overall quite summery creation thus has its pros and cons, and I am sitting at the fence whether it deserves a positive score or not. I opt for positive, but it makes this score by the skin of its teeth. 2.75/5

A soapish green/white floral with a splash of neroli and a boatload of laundry musks. Ok maybe I am exaggerating a little about the musks but Knot is not the sunny, balmy Amalfi Coast-styled fragrance it was cracked up to be; it doesn't project and sits rather heavily on my skin. On a more positive note there is none of the harshly synthetic wet towelette vibe you get in some other similarly styled fragrances. Which makes it an excellent candidate for that 'freshly scrubbed after-shower scent' category.

I have tried a spritz of the Knot tester in a department store and unfortunately for me the bottle is the best on this fragrance.

The opening was generic green freshness, maybe with a bit of citrus, not bad but a little boring. Unfortunately, as soon as the top notes started to fade, a very strange and unpleasant synthetic combination of notes came to the front. I did not get clean laundry nor the flower notes of orange blossom and rose. What I did get was a scent very similar to the ones in cheap imitation perfumes, that mix of harsh 80s hairspray (the cheap ones, not the more expensive which smelt nicer) and bug repellent which all the cheapest imitation perfumes in the "dollar stores" have. I tested both on skin and on a paper strip and this happened in both.

Could simply be a matter of personal taste, though I usually do like a nice citrusy-floral fragrance.

The Knot is somewhat interesting and luxurious, that's for sure, and as quite a lot of people, I like the bottle. But on the whole it is nothing to get excited about - at least not in my humble opinion ;-) There is a twist about it which I like and which separates it from other fragrances, but then again, it is not really something special - a little citrus, white-flowery, a bit of neroli - well ... It doesn't last that long and the sillage is about average. The Knot is alright if you don't mean to offend anyone by using too strong a fragrance, but for what it offers, it is simply way too expensive and lacks originality.

This has a beautiful opening of orange blossom and other floral notes, framed by a hint of green citrus. This phase should last longer but it is very brief.
The scent shifts gears abruptly into a light skin musk, with a hint of leathery iris.
That's about all there is to say. A pleasant scent.