Tocca Brigitte

Are you in the mood for a fruity floral? I can't say that I am, but if I were, Brigitte by Tocca might have been a really pleasant option, and I couldn't be more surprised. It has all the making of stuff I hate, and actually the first couple of times when I sprayed Brigitte all I got was that generic fruit-saturated rose-peony pink mess. But I started dabbing smaller amounts for more testing and all of a sudden the more interesting notes started to emerge.

Rhubarb is a nice choice for a fruity note. It's tart enough not to be cloying and it smells... red, I guess. There's a rumor about papaya, but I get none of that (a good thing, as I don't even like eating papaya, let alone wearing it).  The rhubarb is nicely accompanied by a mild ginger note and saffron. It's not really edgy or anything, but the saffron takes the pie into some darker places and the result on skin is quite sexy. I like saffron, with or without rose, and this could be a first step if you want to explore the note before trying the heavy hitters like Black Cashmere, Frapin, Idole and he various By Kilians that employ it.

The drydown is more sandalwood than the usual generic musk I've come to expect. Personally I would have liked a hint of vanilla or tonka bean, but I guess Tocca wasn't really going for a pie à la mode. The inspiration for the scent was Brigitte Bardot (in her younger days, I assume, and not the frumpy animal rights activist of the present) and the south of France in general. I can't say I fully get the olfactory reference, since Brigitte is more cute and naively pretty than anything else. Then again, there was this kind of naiveté to Brigitte Bardot even at her most sexualized moments, so maybe that's it.

Brigitte by Tocca ($68, 1.7oz EDP) is available at Sephora and Anthroplogie stores (and online), and for some reason also at Luckyscent.

Photo of Brigitte Bardot by Mark Shaw, 1956, myvintagevogue.com