Tepidarium
Calé (2008)

It's like someone spiked the popsicles! A juicey orange note with a slight lactonic feel to begin that turns tropical soon after. A coconut milk effect emerges, and it starts to smell more and more like sun tan lotion, only with oodles of booze involved. It does have noticeable Malibu vibe to it despite the orange popsicle effect trying to convince you that it's less wasted than it really is. Overall, the accords are complimentary, and the scent successfully sidesteps air freshener associations that are all too common in these kind of perfumes. You have to really like tropical and boozy aesthetics to pull this off, though, as it's a bit like Pina Colada hour at the Betty Ford Clinic.

A surprise...unfortunately in a negative sense. After the absolutely interesting Mistero, Preludio d'Oriente and Fulgor, Tepidarium is the first Cale' Fragranze d'Autore's concoction to appear flat and destructured. Zero texture. Apart an initial bitter-rooty (licorice-like) undertone all I detect is a pale balmy coconutty-orangy-spicy (cinnamon) synthetic whiff with a bath foam-like soapy final consistency. Frankly I don't catch the boozy accord, unless we decide to see (but we don't) the booziness in that pale initial earthy-spicy bitter feel. Pleasant and delicate "wave" frankly impossible to be defined a fragrance.

I'm not a fan of fragrances that smell like cocktails. On one side I love boozy accords but, when they're coupled with sweet citruses and "pina colada" they tend to become sticky, cloying and a bit odd. Said that Tepidarium smells halfway between a Mojito and a Pina Colada, funny but IMO nowhere close to a body fragrance.