Frida — Frida Kahlo's rose

Aug 27

2 min read

Updated: Aug 31

Frida by Edgardio Chilini is a selective perfume from the Chilini Private collection. Motto: Frida Kahlo's rose. Dedicated to a film about Frida Kahlo. A damask rose with wood and vanilla. For her when she wants clarity, not consolation. The name is not translated.

The truth of life is her credo. She lives aware of reality and chooses truth, so as not to feel the bitterness of deceit and not to give that bitterness to others.

There is clarity in her relationships. A short answer is worth more to her than a long consolation. She knows how to listen.

The niche fragrance Frida by Edgardio Chilini is dedicated to a film about Frida Kahlo. The film kept a character whole — a glance that holds passion. The name on the bottle comes from there.

The composition is built around a rose. Beside it the warmth of wood and vanilla, the light of aldehydes, berries, resins. The flower has density, warmth and tartness.

She chooses this fragrance when she wants to be herself. By evening the rose grows warmer and quieter.

I paint flowers so they will not die. — Frida Kahlo

How it wears

The opening is sharp and slightly spirituous: aldehydes, pink pepper, blackberry and tequila. This is not a cocktail. The spirit here is a solvent for the theme: it takes postcard sweetness off the rose and gives it air for the first minutes.

Then a damask rose comes forward — sweet and tart at once. Beside it orange blossom, jasmine, peony, lily of the valley, saffron. The white-floral chorus holds the width. Saffron adds a dry heat, almost cloth.

The base takes the composition out of the boudoir. Fir resin, white cedar, tobacco, sandalwood, vanilla, amber, musk. Resin and cedar give coolness and balsam. Vanilla and musk hold the rose after the fruit has gone. By the third or fourth hour the fragrance becomes even: rose, wood, a quiet sweetness.

This is not a monochrome rose. The construction is oriental-floral, with an aldehydic frame and a woody-resinous base. The rose is the axis. The rest are the facets that keep it from collapsing into one note.