Tiziana Terenzi Sea Stars Collection

It’s no secret that I’m a sucker for a good fragrance. Fragrances tell a story- one of who you are or who you want to be. They convey mood, conjure memories and instantly transport you to exotic locales.

One of my greatest “discoveries” as a blogger has been niche fragrance brand Tiziana Terenzi. The brother sister duo behind a brand and I met a few years ago at an event at Barney’s New York. They captivated me with their ability to seamlessly meld modern with classic. The brand celebrates history while conversely at the same time is somehow completely forward thinking and innovative!

The dynamic Italian duo recently launched a new collection “Sea Stars”. The collection took three years to bring to fruition and let me tell you, it was well worth the wait.

For those that aren’t t familiar with the brand, Paulo Terenzi is a third generation perfumer known for his unconventional compositions whose philosophy is to “compose beauty”. He works only with natural raw materials which he sources personally all around the world. Focusing on 200-300 most precious notes he blends highly complex, sophisticated, rich compositions. Paolo has worked with some of the biggest fashion houses out there to create their fragrances (Gucci, Brioni, Ferragamo) but he and his sister Tiziana created their own signature brand Tiziana Terenzi in 2012.

All of the Tiziana Terenzi fragrances are unisex, in Paolo’s words his scents “Represent life, the emotion, the sentiment, the mood of life, and they have no gender”.

Their facilities in Italy produce using solar power in order to have as little effect on the environment as possible. They believe that you cannot create beauty if you are destroying the environment around it.

Tiziana and Paolo grew up with a passion for the sea. This passion was handed down to them by their Father Evelino, an expert navigator and “Old Sea
Dog”.

The Tiziana Terenzi new Sea Stars Collection is inspired by their families passion for the sea and for sailing.

Each fragrance is an experience whose journey begins with opening the box where you are delighted as you gaze upon the most beautifully crafted bottle I have ever seen. The bottle is revealed by a light inside the box. After you have taken in the beautiful design it’s time to take in the scent.

The collection features FIVE completely unique fragrances each with a magical infusion of the sea.

Telea

This mystical fragrance is infused with all the shrouded mystery of its namesake magical star (which is also the name of Paulo’s boat).

Top Notes: Calabrian Bergamot, Sicilian Orange, Hawthorn flower, Bulgarian Rose, Romagna Pear
Heart Notes: Ambergris, Locride Jasmine, Peruvian Heliotrope, Red Patchouli & Ylang-Ylang
Base Notes: Ambergris, Musk, Tahiti Vetiver, Mahogany, Tuscan Oak, Cambodian Agarwood & Durmast

Cubia

Inspired by an ancient sea talisman for good luck, the fragrance embodies the magical power of good luck.

Top Notes: Lemon of Sorrento, Bergamot of Calabria & Brazilian Orange
Heart Notes: White Peach, Yellow Peach & Cassis
Base Notes: Cedar Atlas, Indonesian Patchouli & Indian Sandalwood

Atlantide

A totally captivating scent that embraces the hypnotic aroma of the “flower of sin”, the tuberose. During the Renaissance, young girls were forbidden to smell its narcotic perfume for fear that they should “fall into temptation”. Similarly, the flower was also banned in India where its name, KiRani, means “suitor of the night”.

Top Notes: Tuberose Absolute, Bergamot, Rose, Passion Fruit
Heart Notes: Cassis, Redberry, Narcissus, Orris, Orange Blossom, Tuberose
Base Notes: Musk, Benzoin, Amber

This fragrance is packaged in a bottle of sea water. How cool is that!

Orza

From the Italian verb for to luff which means “to move” the bow of a sailing boat towards the direction of the wind.

Top Notes: Green Apple, Calabrian Mandarin, Red Plum of Romagna, Coconuts, Raspberry, Blackberry Mexican Magnolia & Himalaya Orchid
Heart Notes: Indian Jasmin, Bulgarian Rose & Lily of the Valley
Base Notes: Ambergris, Australian Sandalwood, Benzoin, White Musk, Vanilla from Madagascar & Caramel

Poggia

From the Italian verb for “to rest” which in sailing means to bear away or move the boat away from the direction in which the wind blows.

Top Notes: Bergamot of Calabria, Lemon of Sorrento, Blood Orange of Siracusa & Yellow Peach
Heart Notes: Rosemary, Plynesian Ylang-Ylang, Turkish Rose, Green Apple & Passion Fruit
Base Notes: Musk, Vanilla, Madagascar & Vanilla

Tiziana Terenzi Sea Stars Collection is Available at Neiman Marcus.

Click below to SHOP the Collection:

Olfactory Master Class with Paolo Terenzi

Last weekend I attended an olfactory master class with perfumer Paolo Terenzi of Tiziana Terenzi fragrances.

Paulo is a third generation perfumer known for his unconventional compositions whose philosophy is to “compose beauty”. He works only with natural raw materials which he sources personally all around the world. Focusing on 200-300 most precious notes he blends highly complex, sophisticated, rich compositions. Paolo has worked with some of the biggest fashion houses out there to create their fragrances (Gucci, Brioni, Ferragamo) but he and his sister Tiziana created their own signature brand Tiziana Terenzi in 2012.

All of the Tiziana Terenzi fragrances are unisex, in Paolo’s words his scents “Represent life, the emotion, the sentiment, the mood of life, and they have no gender”.

Their facilities in Italy produce using solar power in order to have as little effect on the environment as possible because they believe that you cannot create beauty if you are destroying the environment around it.

I sat down with Paolo to learn about notes, accords, scents and how they combine into a melody.

Fragrances are classified into families using a Fragrance Wheel (designed by Michael Edwards) which is released every year in the book “Fragrances of the World” – a guidebook used by the perfume industry.

Since its creation, Michael Edwards’ Fragrance Wheel and the developed fragrance classification scheme has been modified several times through the addition of different groups to encompass different fragrance types.

The four standard families are Floral, Oriental, Woody and Fresh. These are then divided into three sub-groups (e.g. in the Floral Family: Floral, Soft Floral, Floral Oriental) and arranged in a circle, each group being related to the next. Each of the subclasses are divided into Fresh, Crisp, Classical, and Rich compositions.

Fragrances have three levels of notes: Top, Middle and Base. When you breathe in a scent you use the top notes to classify it. What is the first thing you smell? Is it woody, citrus or fruity?

We sampled single notes, how they combine into an accord and then tested our noses in classifying them into the correct families.

What I found really interesting is that sampling scents stripped down in this way you can discover that something you previously thought you didn’t like is actually right up your alley!

We also discussed layering. Paolo recommends that when you start out begin by layering fragrances that are close to each other on the fragrance wheel and then once you have developed a more sophisticated nose you can play with combining fragrances from all over the spectrum.

Tiziana Terenzi divides their fragrances into five collection’s: The Gold Collection, The Black Collection, The Anniversary Collection, The Luna Collection and The Luna Stars Collection. Because they are candlemakers as well as perfumers, their fragrances tell a story of the stages of a journey consumed by fire and are all housed in luxe decorative bottles.

Ursa in the Luna Collection (with notes of nutmeg, dried fruits, tobacco and vanilla) sent me straight to heaven!

Some of Paolo’s compositions are so complex that they are almost impossible to place in a single fragrance family. Sirrah and Mirach, two of his scents from the Luna Stars Collection are pretty revolutionary in the fragrance world because they stay at the same level and never dry down. All of the molecules have the same specific weight which results in an ever changing and rotating cycle of fragrance. At one moment a certain component rises up while another steps back then after some time it’s visa versa, always evolving and rolling with your body temperature. It’s pretty magical.