LiTA
Bogue Profumo (2020)

LiTA opens with an almost almond-like slightly sweet creamy vanilla and sandalwood derived accord with a faint, very brief hint of underlying slightly sharp bergamot citrus before transitioning to its heart. As the composition enters its early heart, the vanilla remains and takes the fore, coupling with some relatively strong burning wood-like incense rising from the base as earthy patchouli adds support to the "burning woody vanilla." During the late dry-down the burning wood gradually vacates, as the slightly benzoin sweetened vanilla still hangs on through the lengthy finish, now supported by just slightly sharp woody vetiver. Projection is good and longevity outstanding at well over 20 hours on skin.

The bottle of LiTA I have to admit for whatever reason drove me to want to sample the perfume on sight, and knowing the perfumer was Antonio Gardoni who has many successful compositions under his belt didn't hurt its cause either. So, does LiTA live up to its rather cool looking bottle? The answer is for the *most* part, "yes." If I had a short descriptor to give a quick blurb about what the perfume smells like at its core, it would have to be "Burning Firewood and Vanilla." In order to enjoy this perfume you *must* be OK with, or preferably enjoy the smell of burning wood (something I confess to not being much of a fan of personally). The late dry-down finally gets rid of that burning wood aspect, leaving the high quality vanilla used to shine, and it does. There are tons of published notes to the perfume outside of vanilla, but alas the burning woods (derived from incense in the base) obscure a lot of them for most of the perfume's development. The bottom line is the $225 per 50ml bottle LiTA is a pretty decent "good" to "very good" 3 to 3.5 stars out of 5 rated effort by Gardoni that will appeal to a small segment of perfume lovers, but the burning woods that dominate through the key heart development phase are a bit too much of a distraction for this writer, earning LiTA only a very tepid recommendation, unless one loves the smell of burning firewood.

Dense tobacco notes, earthy patchouli & spicy aromatic smoke ground on an animalic interwoven chypre-base that is typical for Antonio Gardoni. A floral bouquet in the background brings light and sophistication to the dark. Reminds me a bit of T-Rex. The Gardoni dino with manners, something like that....
Thumbs up!

(Genre: Woody Oriental)

LiTA (sic) leaps off of my skin with the kind of thunderous, skip-to-the-base-notes fusillade familiar to admirers of Josh Lobb's Slumberhouse scents. Nonetheless, Antonio Gardoni's fingerprints are all over it: here are the mysterious and somehow archaic-smelling resins from Cologne Reloaded and the tuberose accord that hovers over MAAI; there the creosote of Tyrannosaurus Rex, and, perhaps most conspicuously, the dense burnt chocolate accord so central to his collaboration with Bruno Fazzolari, Cadavre Exquis. What immediately distinguishes LiTA, though, is a gargantuan civet that blares above the rest of this dense and busy composition like a bugle blast. Mind you, it's not as if Gardoni hasn't employed civet before, but in none of his previous compositions do I recall it being under so intense a spotlight.

I can't accurately describe LiTA as a gourmand. However strong the reminiscence of chocolate, the dried fruit accord (I think Luca Turin may have once referred to it as “raisins”) from Cadavre Exquis is noticeably absent, and all that foetid civet ensures that LiTA smells anything but edible. In case you haven't yet gleaned, this fragrance is far from shy. Wearing LiTA may entail the kind of confidence required for big old vintage “powerhouse” fragrances, or for more modern examples, the bolder, early Serge Lutens orientals or (again) Josh Lobb's Norne, Jeke, or Ore. (The latter of which I might be very vaguely reminded of when wearing LiTA.)

A thumbs-up, then, for a bold, and perversely fun scent – as so many of Gardoni's are – but I'm honestly not sure how many will find it wearable. If you do dare take LiTA out for a spin in public, be assured: you will be noticed.