WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING

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Digitalis is one of the more successful interpretations of cucumber I've smelled in perfume.

I tend to be critical of the note since it strikes me as something I should adore, but I find cucumber-centric fragrances largely disappointing. Instead of the watery crispness I want out of them, they tend to smell tepid, like you carelessly left out a pulverized vegetable in a warm room.

Digitalis, however, maintains a coldness throughout with the help of other chilly notes: airy spices like black pepper and coriander; dewy herbs like violet leaf and basil; an agrestic, shady moss & sharp galbanum. A clever weaving of incense holds all these disparate layers together, adding consistency to a nuanced composition.

Another note I should love but don't often enjoy – and another note this perfume excels in reproducing – is violet flower.

This charismatic floral is almost impossible to portray in perfume without powdery elements such as ionones or irones, naturally occurring aroma chemicals found in the flowers themselves. But as someone sensitive to powdery tones, I tend to avoid the classic French portrayal of the flower dusted in powder and pomp.

Digitalis, by contrast, works the cool, leafy, and slightly fruity (blueberry) tones out of the petals in a refreshing turn towards the subject flower in still life, glowing amid the greens and browns of ground cover.

The extended fade of Digitalis retains the watery and green sensations of cucumber but eschews that funky-vegetal smell for satisfyingly sheer incense and moss notes. The color association is a speckled forest green; the mood is relaxed yet attentive.

—Adam Forziati, Fragrantica

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