Luna Rossa Carbon

Cannot speak to the Sauvage comparisons, as I’ve never intentionally sought it out and don’t ever plan to. I’d consider this the first cologne I’ve ever really had. My dad passed it on to me because his wife thought it smelt like “a 70 year old Armenian man.” Can’t speak to that either; I only know a 50 year old one. Carbon was my signature throughout all of highschool. Wore it every single day, so naturally I’ve gone beyond nose blind to it. My girlfriend liked it because it was “spicy” so I’d spray it all over every hoodie I gave her. I probably liked it because of the patchouli buried in there, which I now blame for my current patchouli obsession. Sometimes I’ll still wear Carbon, albeit when I’m rushing to work and need something that just smells “good” in the conventional sense. That is pretty much the best descriptor I can give it nowadays: “good.” It doesn’t push the limits enough to be anything more or less, but there was once a time where I thought Carbon was the greatest invention of the modern times solely because it was spicy and woodsy unlike every other clean or aquatic blend I sampled at Sephora.

Opening is very fresh and citrusy, bright Bergamot. Very nice and juicy smelling. Not smelling much else besides the citrus for now. It’s very smooth and it synthetic at all, does not smell like a bathroom cleaner. At the 10 minute mark I’m starting to sense the softness of the Lavender poking through on the back end of the sharp Bergamot. There’s a slightest hint of spice from the Pepper but I’m having a hard time finding it honestly. This smells very clean, just bright citrusy clean backed by a soft Lavender powdery note. I can imagine the metallic smell that everyone else talks about but if I didn’t know about it I would never think “metal” smell. 30+ minute mark this just smells like a very nice bar of soap.. not synthetic scented body wash but a luxurious bar soap that’s rich and creamy. I haven’t smelled Sauvage so I can’t comment on the comparison but this smells universally clean and great! Very versatile and could be an easy daily driver.

I think this is one of the only scents that I have tested and I like it more and more each time. The dry down on this is great, extremely versatile for any office event, dressed up or business casual. Not a very playful scent, I would keep this away from the beach, a winter date night or anything of that sort. This scent is very inoffensive. I would go as far as to say a more refined, mature and elegant cousin to the Sauvage DNA, I believe in humid weather it outshines the Sauvage line due to the metallic notes. This makes a great spring, summer and early fall scent, I find myself primarily wearing it only on rainy days from 50-70 degrees. I'd say this is fairly priced, and a great reach if you don't know what to wear.

Used to be my go to scent, still love it everytime I smell it. I do understand the Sauvage comparisons but in my opinion it’s much better…like many people have said, it’s a bit more of a mature version and the pepper not really stands out. I wish it lasted longer and projected more as it smells incredible it just doesn’t last that long for me, maybe 4 hours or so. If you’re like me and you like to smell almost obnoxiously strong just double spray this everywhere and you might get 6-8 hours out of it but it’ll like be a skin scent by the end.

I love this scent in the dry down and the opening. Loved it at first smell. But now, I associate this scent with my friend's last straw with me before he decided to kick me out of our friend's server and end our 5+ year friendship. I don't regret them ever being my friends and having spent all that time with them, but I have to move on and go on with life. Seems we outgrew each other and the end has come. Thank you for this memory, Prada.