Mariella Burani
Mariella Burani (1992)

Mariella Burani by Mariella Burani (1992) is the debut perfume from an unlikely source: a schoolteacher turned fashionista who married the owner of Burani Garment Group - one Walter Burani - and turned her humble academic style into the vision of her fashion house, which served school children at first in the 1960's, then branched out into full women's wear lines by the 1990's. The debut perfume therefore comes rather late into the life of the house itself, which stopped making clothes by 2010 after Mariella's husband Walter and their son Giovanni were arrested for fraud concerning the bankruptcy and liquidation of the house. These days the name lives on as a "zombie house" fragrance license held by Sifarma Spa. I certainly can't ding Mariella Burani for quality, even if the originality here leaves something to be desired.

Mariella Burani is a well-built floral aldehyde chypre, being somewhat staid and classical by the standards of 1992. It was clear that this was built for older women, much as White Diamonds by Elizabeth Taylor (1991) was; this is a commanding, serious grown-up women's perfume with no teasing or fooling around to be found. The opening is very fruity with aldehydes mashing against violet, rose, and jasmine, coupled with tarragon and soft lemon that folds into buttery ylang juxtaposed with powdery iris. The development through to the base gets far more oriental, with sandalwood, benzoin, patchouli, amber, and contrasting clean/dirty tones with the musk choices. The dry down reminds me most of Avon Millenia (1997), for my own personal point of reference.

Mariella Burani worked with Mark Buxton quite a few times, alongside Jean Jacques later on, although he is not technically signed to this perfume specifically. What is known about Mariella Burani is that it saw a recomposition and relaunch 30 years later as Burani Classic by Mariella Burani (2023), when Sifarma Spa started making more perfumes to capitalize on their license. I don't know how much that newer version is like this original, but there's that tidbit for those curious about the house. All told, Mariella Burani was huge in Italy but never made a big splash outside of her home country, which is the same song and dance for many Italian houses, especially regarding their perfumes. This is nice, but if you were shopping women's fragrance in the late 1980's and early 1990's, you've already smelled something like it. Thumbs up

This smell is nothing like I've ever smelled. Smells really expensive. I think it could be unisex, also. Well I love it. Too bad they discontinued it. Update: using it this morning, it smelled like a musky old trunk. Dark with a complex of notes. This is not a bad thing for me, anyway. Absolutely unisex.

This is a beautiful scent but difficult to find now. I have been searching and searching. No luck.

Gorgeous musky-animalic and aldehydic fruity-floral. The juice is obscure (violet, muguet, rose, patchouli) and extremely changeful and sophisticated. I catch the bright  hesperidic and the aldehydic beginning, the complexity of the powdery floral tornado, the taste of the edible fruits, the velvet of the balsams and the shadowy mossy-animalic, ambery and powdery (tonka) dry down. I smell effectively some reminiscence of N. 5 ( with olfactory deja vu about the brewing character of Diva Ungaro) but this scent is less projecting and aldehydic and surely more complex, hesperidic and mysterious (more fruity vanilla and benzoin) than the Chanel one.  A work of art unfortunately hard to find.

I started wearing MB many years ago when it first came out and when I was living in Portland OR. The fragrance always makes me think of beautiful sunny PAC NW summers... MB is supremely wearable, sunny, happy "classic" style aldehyde floral with a wonderfully warm base. I do smell the connection to No 5 which does indeed seem uptight in comparison. And I love No 5 in perfume form, and also No 5 eau Premier. MB is kissing cousins to the relatively sunny and more floral No 5 eau Premier. MB is like No 5 took a villa in Italy for the summer, broke out the sundress, forgot the sunscreen, and ran around barefoot in an ancient garden. The opening is a burst of sunny aldhydes, citrus, and bergamot. There is definitely a prominent herbal characteristic in the development which gives the fragrance an outdoorsy, natural feeling - probably the geranium, but I swear there is a dash of lavender in there too. The fragrance develops over many hours - it lasts forever - and the sillage is perfect. The dry down is a long slow descent into plush warm vanilla and woods and it really is great. The heart and base are so "dry" and well blended it is hard to pick apart - it just becomes radiant and warmer as time passes. MB is the perfect fragrance - it is wonderful and slightly different during each of its stages of development. It is definitely there and very cheery. It is a beautiful composition. I highly recommend it to aldehyde lovers and lovers of classic style fragrances. It would be a great gateway aldehyde for those who have troubles with aldehydes in general and think they are too cold. MB shows how aldehydes can certainly be warm and amp up a fragrance. I liked it many years before I got over my fear of aldehydes, not realizing how aldehydic it was, and well before I discovered my love for No 5 parfum which just happened relatively recently for me. And the wonderful floral-herbal composition reminds me of some restrained, natural Goutals. If someone poured this into a Goutal bottle, no one would be surprised how beautiful it smells.

i agree with ubuandibeme.it renids me of Chanel 5 a lot!i like chanel very much ,but i prefer Mariella more because there is a citrus note in it that makes the perfum lighter .i just loved it from the first sniff