John Varvatos’ target audience for the Star USA line, clothing and fragrance, is “adults” (men in their 20s and beyond), but the effect of the name “Star USA” coupled with the new fragrance’s container — part beer bottle (note the metal-spring cap), part subway token (top) and part “microphone” — is more ‘Adolescent Avon’ than ‘Modern Metro-Man.’ (The bottle does fit with the Star USA m.o.: “being a little off.”1)
Star USA was developed by perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux and includes notes of red ginger, juniper berries, cédrat, blue spruce, cardamom, osmanthus, vetiver, Belambre and tonka bean. Star USA starts off with a sheer, very mainstream (verging on generic) accord of citrus, ginger (zingy, but fleeting) and juniper-spruce. The opening is crisp and a tad menthol-y. I don’t detect any osmanthus (too bad!), but there is a hint of cardamom in Star USA’s early and mid-development.
Judging from past Varvatos perfumes, I assume the designer or his creative team — or Flores-Roux (a Givaudan perfumer) — adores Belambre and Serenolide…
