Francesca Bianchi The Code of Emotion Extrait de Parfum

Fragrance Family:
Aromatic Fougere (Fruity)

Notes:
Bergamot, Pink Pepper, Exotic Fruit Accord, Lavender, Geranium, Sandalwood, Cedar, Oakmoss, Vetiver

Concentration:
Extrait de Parfum

Occasion:
All that is fantastic and wearable about a fougere, brightened and tweaked with a tropical fruit accord. Familiar difference, and as refreshing as a fruit sorbet: a daytime scent.

Francesca’s Inspiration:
"In this experiment, I started with the classic fougere structure – a green, aromatic, woody accord, which is familiar and recognizable. Besides, this is an accord that I only recently started to emotionally connect with. But I wanted to push it further, challenging its traditional boundaries by introducing an unexpected twist: a vibrant accord of tropical fruits, with juicy, mouthwatering mango at its heart.

This exotic note disrupts the predictable accord of the fougere, rewiring it into something both familiar and surprising. The result is a scent that feels recognizable but also refreshingly different, requiring a moment to detect the familiar fougère footprint beneath the luscious and original facet of fruitiness. To me, this fragrance sparks a joyful sense of surprise—a contrast between the grounding comfort of the fougere and the playful brightness of the tropical fruits. It feels pampering yet invigorating, deep but never heavy, mouthwatering without slipping into gourmand territory.

Additionally, I set a secondary challenge for myself: to avoid using iris or iris-like accords altogether and to keep animalic notes to a bare minimum, limited to only a couple of clean musks."

Made in Italy

For the Francesca Bianchi devotees, The Code of Emotion is a surprising departure from her signature accord of iris and animalics, while delight and intensity remains. Francesca achieves initial lightness and clarity, with an effective undercurrent of piquant vetiver and dry rounded woods. Things are never as they seem with this perfumer, and it is helpful to see The Code of Emotion as a complex matrix - many entries that can ultimately be classified into three.
First, a tropical fruit top, in the realm of mango, pineapple, green herbs, and bright citrus fruits, all tied together with a salty bow. In the heart, a traditional blend of lavender and geranium, present the clearest markers of this fern category, which pull back from the fruity exuberance of the top, lending a hazy texture, spice, and familiarity. In the base, it bends towards oakmoss until it snaps into woodiness - the smoky leathery tonality of vetiver, the animalic rasp of cedar, and the unshakable and pure ground of sandalwood all contributing to a fragrance that expertly revisits a genre that constantly undergoes reinvention. Delightful.