Benetroessere Raving
Etro (2001)

Etro's Raving is all about fresh Coriander. The fresh ginger citrous opening lives short and immediately the sweet coriander notes dominate the whole perfume. The sandalwood and the cloves can be identified very very subtlety in the background but you have to concentrate very hard on your nose to find them. Very refreshing, powdery,spicy-sweet herbal, you can't stop sniffing, just delicious, erotic, bold, different, narcissist, Mediterranean...unisex.

I was drawn to Raving by the listed notes, but alas the execution is sickly. Raving starts off as a very sweet and creamy effusion of spices and fruity tones with some hints of toasted flour. Sadly those things do not seem to want to belong together. Once it settles, the spice does the disappearing act and one is left with a version of chamomile lotion.

To my nose this is a lighter, creamier version of Kenzo's Jungle L'Elephant. Nice.

Ambiguous Etro. Impressive fresh opening with a mix of exotic fruits and a touch of cinnamon that leads to a rather disappointing warm floral-spicy heart. Too much vanilla and no woods for the base. Overall not bad but quite common and boring.

It's warm and spicy – it begins with a fast living citrus accord and quickly moves to a darker, heavier spice scent – nutmeg and cinnamon. I think it is supposed to be an exotic interpretation, but I'm not sure it works. Its overabundance of nutmeg turns me off because I've seen it so often in recent fragrances and I fail to understand the attraction. The spices stay and the scent becomes woodier, picking up an almost incense vibration. The movements of the fragrance do not seem to work with a natural progression… there's a disconnection here and I don't understand why it was made this way. There's what seems to be a signature Etro note in there, but it's not enough to hold the fragrance together. The musky / woody drydown does have a nice warmth to it but, before it can develop to a full degree, the scent is gone. I don't understand Raving – it eludes me and I'm confused. Its accords have the potential to go someplace, but they don't seem to make the effort. I don't get this one…

When I was a little girl, my mother would give me warm salt water to gargle when I had a sore throat. Raving smells like iodized salt mixed with tap water, plus a tiny bit of something sickeningly sweet. Really and truly, this is one of the worst fragrances I've ever inhaled.