Cefiro
Floris (2001)

Cefiro by Floris (2001) shows a gender-neutral offering from the storied UK brand; and to be fair, all of its fragrances were effectively unisex until No. 89 by Floris (1951) landed mid-century. Yet, it would seem that in the spirit of the venerable Special No. 127 by Floris (1890), Cefiro would return the brand to quiet elegant "Britishness" after a decade of slightly-more globalist efforts amidst the "Cool Britannia" era. Tony Blair and his Labour Party had wrested long-held control away from conservative parts of the government, and while for some that might have been a boon for some, the long-indentured political landscape of the UK splintered and all sides became more extreme in its wake, leading to division that furthered after the 9/11 attacks in the US, and the outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth Disease in the north. The world as a whole was a scarier place, and amidst it all, Floris was just there reminding everyone of the finer things, especially with its larger global market now, thanks to lax importing/exporting across the pond. To this end, Cefiro reads as a modern interpretation of a classic English floral, lead by citruses, and based with sandalwood and musks, or more likely their aromachemical proxies by 2001.

Cefiro really reminds me of why in the race to have global sales successes, the individual qualities and idiosyncrasies of regional cultural taste can be lost. In the race to make French perfume global, and thus perfume from other countries more French, in essence you end up with none of it really being French at all, just a monocultural blob of whatever tests well, costs the least, and performs the most among what the European oil houses are selling to their macro-scale cosmetics giants contracting them for fine fragrance. You take a sniff of Cefiro and it is none of that. Floris could have very easily aped Millésime Impérial by Creed (1995), or even cK One by Calvin Klein (1994) to have something popular and familiar within this space; they sort of did this in part with the men's JF by Floris (1993), which was an ostensibly British take on the aquatic phenomenon, but that would have landed Cefiro with a thud amidst too many also-rans in the same unisex floral space. Instead of that, we get the tartness of lemon, lime and orange pith with a classic dry bergamot, placed over a white floral core of jasmine and neroli that although unlisted, contains a bit of may rose amidst its dry spices. This combined with just a bit of grassiness from tea and a soft cedarwood ambroxan base makes the traditional prim English floral and modern diffusiveness hold hands.

At first glance you may say "oh, this isn't really all that different from what global brands were doing", and you'd be right; but was what Special No. 127 did really all that different in concept to what Americans were doing with their Jockey Club fragrances at that time? To the layman, something like Caswell-Massey Jockey Club (1840) and Special No. 127 might not seem so different, until you realize it's not the form, but the individual materials and how they construct it that impart the "local" flavor of the perfume. Same here with Cefiro versus its structurally-similar competitors in the global space. Fragrances like Millésime Impérial or cK One either don't have lime and rose, or in the case of the Calvin Klein fragrance, have a form of rose buried underneath a myriad of other white floral materials because American men would not abide any noticeable rose at all; and if cK One was to be a successful unisex fragrance, it couldn't cross that line. Lime and lemon is to the English what Yuzu is to the Japanese, so with those inclusions, many a dandy English rose scent is recalled, alongside lemon wedge with an order of fish and chips, or lime in the gin and tonic. Ostensibly British, with global appeal, and modern execution (for 2001), is what Cefiro is all about. It's no wonder this stuff is a best-seller with a huge skincare line. Thumbs up

I don’t get much neroli - just a refreshing pithy orange that lasts ages when it’s hot, thanks to a very subtle woody base that doesn’t ever appear in full. It’s nice but just personally bit all that keen on bitter orange.

Magnifico! I've been looking for soapy scents and this one really delivers the suds. 🧼🫧 I had a bottle of vintage but sent it back as it smelled "off." The current NIB version I purchased instead is wonderfully clean and citrusy. Performance is okay; projection could be better but it maintains a close envelope so you'll get very pleasant whiffs for hours. This has some similarities to CK One as they're in the same neighborhood, however, it's definitely different and stands on its own; I happily have both. Highly recommend.

FLORIS – CEFIRO (2001)

Cefiro attempts to be a little bit of everything, beginning in a land of citrus notes, descending to a vaguely floral heart, and eventually settling on a woods and musk base.

It would seem that this has been reformulated, but that Floris has never bothered to re-print their sample cards to reflect the change of notes. The list on Basenotes is closer to the olfactory experience than those on the card. The addition of grapefruit and neroli and the elimination of jasmine, cardamom and nutmeg in the note tree would certainly affect the end product. With the two spices removed, the citrus notes have nowhere to go, nothing to descend upon and grace as they fade, they just fade.

The tea and musk notes are all we're left with after about ten minutes, as the memory of the citrus notes hovers above.

There is an overall synthetic plastic note that plunges the experience into modern generic aquatic territory, ultimately arriving at a mediocre rating from me. It's not awful, it's just not very good.

There are some differences between the sample sent to me by Floris and the information here in terms of notes, and I think this is worth recording. The notes on the packet are, then:

Top: bergamot, lemon, lime, mandarin, orange
Heart: cardamom, jasmine, nutmeg
Base: cedarwood, musk, sandalwood

I have to say that the notes provided above are much closer to what is detected by the nose; the overall composition on paper hints at something along the lines of Bulgari Pour Home Extreme. I wonder if some reformulation has taken place.

In any event, what ends up presenting itself is a fresh fragrance with prominent citrus but also a persistent floral accord much closer to neroli than to jasmine, backed up by a light take on musk and woods. It is reminiscent of ELO's "You or Someone Like You", and where it might be seen to have an advantage over that scent is in the musky backbone, which sits better on me that the long-lasting and somewhat aggressive rose of YOSLY. As befits the name, there is just the suggestion of wind blowing through washing on a breezy day. Performance in good in terms of sillage and longevity.

However, Cefiro moves too far to the feminine for my liking to compel me to do anything more than finish the sample. I would see this working best on women who like the freshness of many male perfume genres and have no wish to wear the latest oxygen-sapping Dior or Chanel. All in all, another success for a house that I tend to get on well with.

Citrus & Woods...

I do like fragrances by Floris. In fact, one of them is currently one of my favourite fragrances of all time. With this one though, I am not so impressed. Although it is of a good level and quality, I can't see anything which would distinguish it from the many different types of citrus, masculine types of fragrances consisting of citrus top, floral heart, and aromatic base. There really is very little difference I think. In conclusion, I would choose over this the famous Bleu de Chanel as a better alternative.