Mona di Orio Carnation

8 Reviews

1. 

   ferventMuesli1

   Reply

   This gorgeous, full-bodied floral is beautiful. Do not expect carnations! It is about the blush on a young woman’s cheek. It is smooth and full-bodied. It stays close to the wearer. Ylang is the most prominent of the notes, but it is so well-blended with the other florals that it cannot be called a ylang fragrance. This smells expensive. Notes: bergamot, clove, geranium, ylang ylang, violet, jasmine, precious woods, musk, amber and styrax (per the NonBlonde, I believe). I am taking off one lippie because I like more sillage.

2. 

   troubledSeafowl5

   Reply

   This is not Carnation as in the flower – I asked Mona herself in NYC a few years ago . Carnation in French means ” complexion ” and has nothing to do with the flower . Do your research .

3. 

   boredJaguar4

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   I’m really not sure why the reviewer below tried this when she obviously hates carnation. I did get a blast of perfect carnation when I first put this on. I didn’t get vomit, or indole or anything like what other reports indicate, just pure, lovely creamy cool carnation, for about five seconds.

   THEN it became horrible. Synthetic smoke and plastic replaced the lovely flower almost instantly and never went away. Didn’t change, didn’t morph, just fake smoke and melty poisonous plastic. So I had to scrub it. This is definitely a try before buy scent. I also have found that Mona di Orio scents act very strangely on me, so perhaps if you’ve had good luck with them before this will treat you better than it did me.

4. 

   sincerePoultry3

   Reply

   Let’s get the worst out of the way right off: yes, for the first minute this smells like vomit. No two ways around it, vomit. Purely awful. It reminds me of a waft of stink I get when something has “mango” listed as a note, although there’s no mango listed in this. Once in a while, you skip (for whatever reason) the vomit note. But I think you and the world you inhabit will be much happier if you ASSUME a vomit note and prepare for it, i.e. NEVER, for ANY reason, go anywhere wearing this during the first five minutes.

   Then, it shifts into VERY indolic jasmine for five minutes, about at the bad breath level of indole.

   But during the indolic bad breath jasmine, you smell hints of smoke beginning to open out, hints of other florals which grow, grow, grow, till you end up with something indescribably gorgeous. It begins to open out a leather, admittedly at first a bit like a shoe rack (as earlier reviewer mentioned). But as it unfolds, a richer, lighter, more aromatic leather. There’s also an unfolding, very aromatic top floral waft, a beautiful jasmine heart, and a lovely incense (not unlike Caron’s Narcisse Noir) begins to weave in and out, dancing around one of the more delicious musk notes. By 3-4 hours, MDO Carnation is a beautiful incense/soap and skin musk, intimate, fetching, sending out lovely little wafts, and still, a haunting, rich floral weaves in among the dry, complex smoke. WOW. Just… WOW. And to think you got here from what another reviewer described as “baby sick.”

5. 

   gutturalDoves5

   Reply

   I wish I could like Mona di Orio’s Carnation, I really do. But I just don’t.

   Carnation is an oddly depressing old fashioned smell of leather and powder, but not in a good way. Two of the three times I tried this, I got the smell that you smell when you are near the rack of rental leather shoes at a bowling alley. Not foot odor but the smell of worn leather shoes.

   I was mystified as to how it could be called Carnation when it bears absolutely no resemblance to that flower’s spicy smell. Then I read on-line that it is called Carnation because it is meant to be reminiscent of a “bloom on a maiden’s cheek”. Sheesh. What will those marketers and copywriters think of next??

   Here are the notes, per The Perfumed Court: top notes of bergamot, clove and geranium; middle notes of ylang ylang, violet, jasmine and precious woods; and base notes of musk, amber and styrax.

6. 

   eagerAntelope9

   Reply

   Lately I have been mildly obessessed with this scent, to say the least. Not in a straight-forward love manner though. I am attracted and also somewhat repulsed at the same time, but keep going back for more.

   Warmth is the theme for this fragrance, where the flowers (bergamot / wallflower / geranium / ylang-ylang / violet / jasmine) really do smell as if they had been under the summer sun and there is a definite human skin element.

   The opening is slightly nauseating, in fact it smells a bit like baby sick. The ylang-ylang is quite prominent then. However this part doesn’t last long and soon the flowers and the musky/ambery base (sandalwood / musk / amber / styrax) settle and merge into an amazing warm skin accord. It is not a sweaty cumin-like smell, more like a warm glow on scented skin, but still it smells like a person, another person, interesting but also a bit disturbing.

   It has to be tried and possibily more than once.

7. 

   brainyCoconut8

   Reply

   I got this as an extra in a swap and I was so excited because it was a rather large decant labled “MdO Carnation.” Oooohhhh carnations!! Squealling with delight (as I adore carnations) — I sprayed generously on my clean wrist and took a huge whiff! HUH!?!? My children began sneezing and asking me what I just sprayed. I told them to hold their horses and give it a few minutes ———-My 5 year old son came rushing into the room begging me to shower off ‘the nasty stuff’ it was so bad! I admitt I did go rather heavy on the spray. I pleaded with him to wait for the sillage to dissipate and the drydown to start. (Imagine that a 5 year old that understands all that!) He agreed after I told him the drydown would be beautiful to be patient and wait. Well a few more minutes later it was this floral menagerie of flower shoppe that surprisingly… still didn’t unleash any spicy carnations! Sacrebleu!! Carnations must be in there — its the name of the fragrance!! I kept sniffing and waiting.. and nothing. Not even a remote carnation note, just old school poofiness! Finally…. I HAD to take it off with vinegar as it was too over-bearing for my unsophisticated nose. Betrayal & disappointment is what I felt when I sat there, waiting and waiting for thw carnation clove spiciness to unleash itself. Sadly it never did. I summized that this is Old School! It’s definitely a haute style fragrance.

   Alas a few hours later after discussing on the fragrance board here on MUA; with some very knowledgable ladies I found out this fragrance bears no carnation notes at all! That Mona di Orio named Carnation regarding face complexion and not the flower. That disappoints me on so many levels and leaves me very unsatisfied. All I can say is I’m glad I didn’t shell out a clam for this one — as up for swap it goes and onto something my very simple and less sophisticated that my nose and children will fancy…

8. 

   amazedQuiche4

   Reply

   ‘Oh this is interesting, very interesting!’ was my initial response. ‘Here’s one for the grown ups,’ I thought. ‘Carnation’ has a kind of cheek-to-cheek intimacy which I have never encountered before in a fragrance. It’s warm and sensual and blends incredibly well with the skin. Initially it’s a heady but not overpowering mix of jasmine, ylang ylang and bergamot leading to hints of violets and an exquisite tuberose. Smooth, creamy, pleasantly musky. But it’s the addition of styrax which gives ‘Carnation’ its special character. Subtle, slightly spicy, ever so slightly burnt, even a feint whiff of nicotine. It’s like a warm embrace in a crowded bar, fond memories, sweet anticipation. Irresistible!