Valentino Donna Born in Roma
Valentino (2019)

Valentino Donna Born in Roma by Valentino (2019) released just before the pandemic, and just before anyone and everyone decided they needed to smell like MFK Baccarat Rouge 540 (2015); so despite being only a few years old itself, Valentino Donna Born in Roma somehow feels "older" than the actual older scent which replaced it in the mainstream. The reason for this, is that Valentino Donna really follows closely to more-traditional "girly" fruit and flower fragrances like the following year's My Way by Giorgio Armani (2020) or Prada Paradox (2022) would also seem to; the key difference is that unlike them, Valentino's offering didn't try to bring back big 80's tuberose in the worst way like Armani's scent, or sneak in an amber accord like Prada does with everything if not iris. Thus, it's a bit of a "just right" scenario where this is pretty, sweet, fizzy, modern but not too much, and this sort of marketing exercise was swept away by the oceans of ethyl maltol and evernyl that swept over the landscape when we were all locked inside watching rich girls on TikTok flex their collection of MFK and Initio fragrances.

Suddenly, that $125 designer and its safe bubblegum blackcurrant and jasmine tea over guaiac wood and vanilla just wasn't the "it girl" it would have been in a world where COVID-19 hadn't happened and the rich moved the goal posts several billion dollars further up field for the rest of us. Now you needed a $400 perfume to be the "it girl", or wear one of it's many $30-$70 clones from the middle east (sometimes better to be honest), and all thought of conventional wisdom regarding mainstream perfumes was lost. Valentino reacted by yearly flankers to this and its male counterpart, all with varying twists and turns to the basic structure, borrowing from Avon's century-old downmarket playbook of regular novelty to keep attention, since all designers were now also ostensibly downmarket when brands like Parfums de Marly were now the new standard of desirability. Yet, there is something endearing once the bubblegum goes, reflected by the pink liquid, and the currant mixed with jasmine tea, vanilla, and thin veneers of wood take over. There really is nothing special about this, but also nothing particularly bad either, and I can't find fault other than being in a style I wouldn't personally wear. Performance is perfectly loud enough, mostly due to the sweetness, which is on par with many men's releases from the brand.

I think designers finally figured out the secret to keeping interest is finding clever ways to re-introduce the same fragrance concept at ever-higher market placements with less in the bottle for more at the counter; this is something old houses like Guerlain and Caron have known forever, and older designers like Chanel who were their contemporaries for a time also perfected the trick of good, better, best. Thus, we've seen "intense" and now "extradose" versions of the concept, at higher concentrations with bigger-bang materials; we are in a fragrance equivalent to the 1990's "volume wars" with compact discs, or the 1970's and 1980's "powerhouse" era but done with individual aromachemical tells rather than overall louder perfumes. Either way, the more things ratchet up from parfum to parfum intense, from extrait to elixir, the more plain-old Valentino Donna Born in Roma looks appealing in the rear-view mirror, even if it hasn't really been back there all that long; another sign of the times that trends are speeding up to a fever pitch and the phrase "blink and you'll miss it" is less of a euphemism and more a statement of fact. Sometimes being ordinary is better than extraordinary, or "extradosed". Thumbs up

A really versatile and easy going young ladies pleaser perfume, suitable for daytime and night time, which could be worn as well by a more mature woman with a young and playful spirit and which is based as fragrance on a dominant fruity vanilla and on diverse jasmine's vests (each of them with a peculiar nectarinic, green or leafy rendition) with woody accents. Valentino Donna Born In Roma by Valentino is an oriental-floral fragrance for women launched in 2019 by the based in Rome notorious italian Maison. The key notes are in here black currant providing dark soapy fruitiness, jasmine eliciting grassiness and a syrupy floral intensity and velvety vanilla bourbon with its woody accents mostly provided by silky cashmeran. Definitely bergamot and vibrant peppery citrus introduce a sparkling, energetic and dynamic bright opening which is the fair background for a complex and multifaceted jasmine's rendition finally sliding in to a modern silky oriental final wave. Cashmeran and further woody accents (guaiac wood) are the contemporary final trace of this new generation super feminine accord. It's like to detect along the way something similar to floral chamomile or possibly it is just one of the jasmine's diverse facets. Glamour balmy black currant, fizzy pink pepper, super edgy jasmine and cashmeran represent the modern hyper chic front side of this contemporary designer couture italian fragrance dedicated to the ethernal city of Rome as homage to its dynamic and indipendent women. Woodiness in particular deserves attention since it finally settles down a warm intenser vaguely nutty base as structure for the central (sparkling, peppery and vibrant) fruity soapy dominant jasmine. Not as a genre my specific cup of tea when it comes to feminine accords but definitely an appealing solution for lovers of dynamic and affordable urban fragrances. Performances are on the average on my skin.

I feel like there were a lot of Women’s fragrances that came out in the past few years featuring black currant. I also feel like I probably bought a lot of them. While I do thoroughly enjoy this lil baby, it’s probably the least remarkable of the black currant, modern sweet florals that I own. That won’t stop me from wearing it as I do think it’s entirely pleasant, I just don’t think this one says anything strongly enough to give it its own identity among the masses of similar scents. It is pretty, and I think you’d be hard pressed to find any situation where this would be seen as offensive… so it’s a definite easy reach, but it’s kind of ehhh to me. A likable ehhh but an ehhh just the same.

Well there… it’s happened again. Edit as of April 2, 2023: turned into a full on love. It’s a veritable Goldilocks of scents… just right in all the ways. Love it. And when I walk my dog and the wind blows… I smell so pretty it makes me gasp. Thank goodness my dog doesn’t judge me.

It's not as unique or as elegant as the original Valentino Donna - but it's really pleasant and maybe even addictive. It's maybe a bit generic in its sexy sultry feminine sweetness, but it's really a pleasure to smell. The jasmine/vanilla duo is alluring, full and enveloping, and later it dries down to something woodier and more unisex, yet still lovely. Nice.