It all began in 1951 when four brothers from the noble Neapolitan family of Sersale reunited and decided they’d like to use their 18th century palazzo to offer their hospitality to everyone. Thus Le Sirenuse was born – a 5-star luxury hotel placed in the picturesque region of Positano, on the Amalfi Coast in southern Italy. To celebrate 50 years of style and elegance, La Sirenuse launched its first scent, called Eau d’Italie in 2004. That’s how the perfume brand – Eau d’Italie was born.
Ignoring it for the past year it was Acqua Decima that drew my attention to Eau d’Italie range. I immediately fell in love with this classic citrus fragrance and purchased my own bottle very shortly after I bought a sample. When the package arrived, not only was it perfumed inside but it included 6 samples as a gift for my purchase. One of them had a green card with white letters. Turned out it was one of the earlier scents by Eau d’Italie – Jardin du Poete. To my surprise I liked it a lot!
On my skin Jardin du Poete starts with a juicy and bitter smell of bitter oranges. The aroma is quite intoxicating and very pleasant at the same time. Just a few minutes later the composition is joined by the grapefruit note. This one is tart, sour and juicy just like the bitter orange. Together they smell pretty nice and make a nice, lively and energetic opening of a fragrance.
After this citrus opening this green-colored Eau d’Italie becomes more and more green. First green note that appears is basil. It carries an intensive, green smell with a proper dose of herbal qualities. At some Italian restaurants they put a basil leaf on top of your spaghetti or pizza. The smell of basil in Jardin du Poete reminds me such a leaf on top of the dish. Why? Because such lone leaf has an intensive smell with a lot of warmth to it. Another 20 minutes into the fragrance development allows angelica accord to appear. It’s herbal and green but also spicy and smells a little bit of a sap. This far the perfume truly evokes a garden, somewhere close to the warm and sunny coast.
Later, the herbal aspect of the fragrance is continued with immortelle. This particular note introduced some rough quality to this perfume. It’s spicy and it doesn’t remind me of hot sand. Moreover – it doesn’t turn into burnt plastic after a few minutes and it doesn’t change into a syrup. That’s a good thing for Jardin du Poete. Green, herbal, spicy – that’s how it’s supposed to be here.
Woody characteristic of this fume appear close to the mark of first hour of wearing the fragrance. Cypress brings some dryness to Eau d’Italie Jardin du Poete. There’s also vetiver which in this scent is done slightly woody with a dominating rooty texture of this note. There’s also an element that evokes the smell of warm and dry earth. It was kind of nice. Maybe not really something to go head over heels for but definitely acceptable for me and probably enjoyable for many others. As the time flies the green and herbal notes slowly dissipate and the entire composition reaches the drydown phase.
Drydown of Jardin du Poete is interesting. First of all – it’s musky. But musk isn’t animalic, fluffy, clean or soapy here. It’s spicy. It has the quality and warmth of the herbal notes and it’s also infused with pepper. Later on the pepper note begins stronger because of the pink pepper in the middle notes. Fragrance remains in this form for the rest of the day. Longevity is 6-8 hours and sillage is ok.
Eau d’Italie Jardin du Poete, a Garden of the Poet is a pretty nice perfume. With its citrus opening, green and herbal center and warm-spicy drydown it makes for a perfect choice for the summer fragrance. It’s fresh and uplifting in a good way. Some people say that a part of this fragrance smells to them just like tomato leaf. When I sniffed my arm in a more intensive way I got that feeling too. To me this is an ideal perfume for the summer in the city.
Jardin du Poete was created for Eau d’Italie in 2011 by a famous perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour. This fragrance is available in eau de toilette concentration, in the bottles containing 100 ml of the liquid. The flacon is a characteristic thing for the brand. It’s white and almost non-transparent. The label is green with white letters. I highly recommend trying this perfume if you crave for a herbal scent with a twist during summer. I think you shouldn’t buy it unsniffed.
Chemist in the Bottle 
Ah! I very nearly craved this (as “green” is my second favourite note after citrus) and then I got to the bit about smelling like tomato leaf. I sometimes grow tomatoes, but can’t stand the smell on my hands after I have touched the leaves – for some strange reason this always reminds me of cat pee! Phew….. another lemming averted. But thank you for the lovely description.
So to the final paragraph you were thinking this might be for you and the tomato leaf association others get ( I DON’T!) stopped your lemming activity?
Glad you liked the review at least.
Of course I liked your review (as always)! And I very nearly liked the perfume too – just that worrying aspect of tomato leaf put me off. As Jordan says, it is interesting that it is by Dauchoufour, as he has created many in L’Artisan’s range, none of which have made me fall in love. Perhaps he uses notes that my nose doesn’t care for – even the one I like, Traversee du Bosphore, has an undercurrent that plays with me!
I see, that tomato leaf doesn’t sound appealing to me either but luckily I don’t get it in Jardin du Poete. This perfume is very different from L’Artisan perfumes.
Lucas, it sounds great including the name. And then at the bottom of your review I see the perfumer’s name and it all makes sense.
I like the name and the smell of Jardin du Poete really.
So Mr Duchaufour is known of creations like this one?
Not sure about that; he is very diversified. I mean I often find I like or love and then I find his signature on it.
Ah, I see. He definitely does a lot of perfumery today
I love the smell of tomato leaf. Combined with basil this would evoke memories of my Italian grandmother’s garden, where we woud grab a tomato off the vine, a leaf of basil, and chomp down right there.
Your grandma’s garden sounds wonderful!
Dearest Lucas
This sounds heavenly and summery all at once, a fresh citrus with grapefruit melding into greenery with spice.
Just finishing a very basil heavy salad, so this is riding on a herby high for me.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
It’s a great, green and light fragrance, ideal for a summer day.
If you like a basil salad then Jardin du Poete is for you.
It would be great if you review the rest of the line. They have some very unique scents.
That’s an idea 😉
At the moment I have one more sample of Eau d’Italie which is Paestrum Rose. I guess I will eventually score a few others to try.
I’m curious to hear what you think of Baum du Doge. I’ve smelled it in store and unfortunately I don’t have a sample. Otherwise, I would have sent it to you to try it out. It’s different than the rest of the line.
I will keep this name in mind, maybe I will get it in a next samples swap, who knows?
Love the review, dear Lucas. This sounds like a must try!
Thank you sweetie! I hope you’ll enjoy it!
Ah, I love the photos you’ve chosen to illustrate this. Makes me want to be in Italy. Ciao!
Thanks. The first picture was taken from Eau d’Italie website and it presents Le Sirenuse hotel, I think it’s a restaurant terrace