Following Kevin’s review of Arquiste Él, I’m here to report on its feminine counterpart, Ella. Like Él, Ella was inspired by Acapulco in the 1970s and was developed by perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux. It was designed to evoke “a sultry night of disco, plunging necklines and champagne-soaked skin” followed by a rendezvous on a “golden beach, under a silvery moon,” with notes of cannonball tree flower (curupita), angelica root, carrot seed, rose, jasmine, cardamom, buckwheat honey, amber, patchouli, civet, vetiver, cigarette smoke accord and “chypre accord.”

I’ve never been anywhere near Acapulco, and I don’t think I’ve ever worn a “plunging neckline,” but I do have some very early memories of the 1970s (in New Jersey and New York, anyway). And Ella brought me right back to those days: it reminds me of the fragrances that women — glamorous grown-ups! — were wearing before the mid-80s arrived and everyone began dousing themselves in Poison and Giorgio…

Read the rest of this article »