Luna Rossa is the new woody citrus for men from Prada. It’s named for the the brand’s America’s Cup Challenge team, and is supposed to be an “unconventional marine fragrance” featuring lavender. Marine fragrances, unconventional or otherwise, are rarely my sort of thing — I do still adore Comptoir Sud Pacifique Aqua Motu, and I have a sort of soft spot (theoretical more than practical) for the old classic New West, but that’s about it for me on the marine front. On the sporty front, well, the less said the better. There are surely perfumistas who are fans of sporty fragrances, but they’re not exactly a majority contingent.

In its favor, Luna Rossa is by perfumer Daniela Andrier for Prada, and as a general rule, I like their style, even if I don’t uniformly love all of the fragrances. So I was at least mildly looking forward to Luna Rossa.

Lavender is the star of the show early on, but it’s a billowy and mild sort of lavender, with all the spikiness of natural lavender smoothed over — lavender haters probably won’t be unduly bothered…

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