Si Bella...

The cult of celebrity doesn't hold much sway here in The Kingdom .

 Yet that doesn't seem to stop the endless torrent of emails which pour into our inbox, telling us who was spotted wearing which shoes or dress on the celeb red carpet.

Yet the other night the new commercial for Armani Si, stopped me in my tracks. The commercial was totally old school in that glamorous yet faintly ludicrous way ,the kind that has you staring at the screen, wondering what the hell is going on or what they are saying.

Cate Blanchett looked breathtaking, those cheekbones could have given Garbo a run for her money...

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsbLrZNYrCc] 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hZShxxASWo] 

Inspired by the classic chypre fragrances worn by his mother, Giorgio Armani’s Si exudes strength and modernity. I love the shape of the bottle and the pebble like stopper but I have to say that the logo somehow strikes me as a little  twee and seems unfinished to my eye.

The commercial worked so well in fact, that it led Grande Empresse Gillian and I to seek it out and  take a sniff the other night.

What a pleasant surprise it was too.

Soft and fruity with hint of grapefuit and vanilla, it made me think of one of my all time favourite smells Tres Jourdan, which of course, as is the way with all my favourite smells, was discontinued in the UK many years ago...

But what was really interesting, was how incredibly different yet wonderful it smelled on us both. You would have honestly thought we had tried on different perfumes.

I think I might buy a wee sample of this one before I make up my mind but Gillian has already added it to her Christmas list. I think it's pretty safe to say that a lot of people are going to be asking Santa for Si this year...

Queen Marie

x