Fragrance Review: The Latest Scent from ALTAIA Is Nothing Less Than the Art of Seduction in a Bottle
WOO(E)D Eau de Parfum is the newest scent from ALTAIA featuring notes of Atlas cedarwood, Gaiac wood, supple leather, cardamom, and cistus. Photo courtesy of ALTAIA
Eau d’Italie, an exclusive line of fragrances inspired by Positano, was born on Italy’s Amalfi Coast in 2004. The origin story is also a love story, and it has more twists and turns than a 10-inversion rollercoaster.
Marina Sersale split her time between England and Italy as a documentary filmmaker. Sebastian Alvarez Murena was a journalist who lived in Argentina, Spain and Switzerland before settling in Italy where the couple met in 2001.
Call it fate, call it destiny, call it karma or kismet, but there’s simply no other explanation for why these two people met, fell in love, and got married. Their love story actually began 150 years earlier in South America with a chance encounter between three men who helped shape the future of modern-day Argentina.
General Bartoleme Mitre was a statesman and man of letters, while Charles and Walter Morrison were the sons of James Morrison, who rose from humble beginnings to become one of Victorian England’s most notable entrepreneurs.
Recently the couple found out that Sebastian is the great-great-grandson of Bartolome Mitre, while Marina is James Morrison’s great-great-granddaughter. Now if that isn’t a relationship that was written in the stars, I don’t know what is.
The ALTAIA collection includes seven other intoxicating scents. Two of my favorites are By Any Other Name with notes of bergamot, litchi, rose, peony, osmanthus, cedarwood and musk; and Any Day Now with notes of black pepper, Damascus rose, oud, patchouli, sandalwood, cedarwood, and amber. Photo courtesy of ALTAIA
Their first project together was to create a line of fragrances they called Eau d’Italie, which was inspired by Positano and their favorite places in Italy. Then in 2012, the chance discovery of the extraordinary events that centuries ago linked their families inspired them to create a new perfume collection, which they called ALTAIA.
The name is an acronym for “A Long Time Ago in Argentina,” and it celebrates their love for the art of perfumery and the power of storytelling through scent. Each Eau de Parfum contains olfactory elements evocatively associated with a strand of their interlaced past and present, and all of the fragrances are timeless and contemporary.
The latest scent in the collection is WOO(E)D. We woo because it’s in our nature to desire closeness, to spark intrigue, to awaken passion. WOO(E)D captures this desire with an enchanting composition with notes: the warmth of Atlas cedarwood, and the smoky elegance of Gaiac wood create a rich, grounding base.
Layers of supple leather and the spicy sweetness of cardamom add an intriguing edge, while cistus brings a resinous, amber-like depth that leaves a trail of wonder and longing in your wake.
WOO(E)D Eau de Parfum 100 ml Spray retails for $255 and the travel size Eau de Parfum 10 ml retails for $72. For more information and to purchase, visit ALTAIA’s website.
[Photos courtesy of ALTAIA]
Marianne Dougherty is an award-winning writer, editor and publisher, who has twice been a finalist for a Golden Quill Award for journalistic excellence.
Predicting the day spa trend, she founded American Spa magazine in 1998. She has also been editor in chief of American Salon, Launchpad, and Shades of Beauty magazines.
In 2023 she published her first novel, What We Remember, which was a Mariel Hemingway Book Club selection.
Follow her on Instagram: @mariannedoughertyauthor. Or visit her website: mariannedougherty.com