Francesca Bianchi Perfumes Gauguin (Francesca Bianchi) 2026 + Mood Purple Draw

Francesca Bianchi Perfumes Gauguin AI IMAGE by Nicoleta

It is no secret that I have been a Francesca Bianchi “evangelist” for years. Her perfumes usually inspire a specific kind of devotion: people don’t just like her perfumes; they get head-over-heels obsessed. ( admit it – how many of you out there can stop at just one of her creations?) Yet, I have a confession to make. Despite my fan-girl status, I’ve always kept a polite distance from one of her icons: Sex and the Sea.

Ironically, it’s one of her most talked-about best-sellers, and while I loved the tension and the concept on paper, my skin chemistry refused to cooperate. Every time I tried it, I got this unnerving feeling, like wearing someone else’s clothes – and someone else’s memories. Even the sunnier, more floral lean of Sex and the Sea Neroli was simply a case of ‘it’s not you, it’s me,’ and we politely parted ways after trying to make it work a couple of times. I had made my peace with that. Well, until now. Let’s hurry up and come closer, because in this new limited edition, Sex and the Sea goes to Polynesia.

Francesca Bianchi, photo via Instagram

Francesca shares the background of how the ‘Gauguin’ concept first came to life: “Gauguin condenses into a perfume many emotional elements of my private life, which I have tried to make intelligible to everyone. Perhaps not everyone knows that I have a background as an Art Historian, specialized in artistic forms of the late 19th – early 20th century. Matisse was the subject of my graduation thesis, while Gauguin, with his exotic wanderings, is one of the painters I studied most deeply during my academic path. After graduating, I worked for the Italian publishing house Giunti, assisting Gloria Fossi, an exceptional art historian but above all a woman of great character and culture. At that time, she was the same age I am now, and she set off alone for Polynesia in search of Gauguin’s places. Of course, she found much more, as happens to those who search with an open mind. From that adventurous journey she brought me back a small bottle of Monoï – an oil obtained by macerating the Tiaré flower in coconut oil. At the time it was not widespread in Italy, and for me it was a wonderful discovery. Those were the years when I had begun experimenting with perfumes and cosmetics, among other things. That little bottle of Monoï, like a precious relic, has survived three country changes and I believe about seven moves.”

Francesca Bianchi Perfumes Gauguin and Sex and the Sea image via the brand website

First: just look at that purple! The unboxing itself, with all that tactile sumptuous purple velvet, is so unapologetically extravagant that I am immediately drawn in, all ears and fairing nostrils for that level of drama. And then the first drops touch my skin I know – I am in for a trip to the tropics that will not be just ‘postcard-pretty’. The core formula of Sex and the Sea leaves its European shores and its memories behind for a new exotic dreamscape. The olfactive world Francesca paints here leaves reality far, far behind; she draws us into a new space defined by hyper-saturated colors, sensual textures, and overripe fruits heavy with sweet juices.

The original’s raw intimacy is now viewed through a new, hazy lens, it is no longer the memory of an encounter on a beach, relived in macro detail with all its human carnality of flesh, bone, salt, and skin. Now, we are drawn into a dreamlike experience that feels as if it were viewed through the bottom of an absinthe glass. It feels like a sun-dappled, midday sleep on the sand, held tight in the arms of Morpheus, and then pushed back out into a reality that is strangely vibrant, distorted, and dangerously beautiful.

AI image by Nicoleta

The start, to me, feels like biting into a forbidden purple fruit. It’s lush, but there’s an undercurrent of sweet decay, a sense of an overripe fruit hanging in the heavy, humid air, a bit brooding, and saturated.  As it develops, the tropical white flowers begin bleeding into one another like watercolours mixed with milky ocean water. The Tiaré, with its subtle green nuances, dissolves into a coconut note that feels more like thick milk than sunscreen. Then, there is a new layer of velvet in the base. Everything begins to transform into a reconstructed accord of Monoï, rounded out by a buttery, creamy sweet ylang-ylang, the narcotic white edge of tuberose, and just a touch of geranium, just to keep the air moving. This creamy, floral potion is the very idea of a tropical scent sublimated into an abstract rendition, one that is amazingly cozy to wear even when buried under eight centimetres of fresh February snow.

Ultimately, Francesca Bianchi perfumes are liquid emotions that oscillate between comfort and unease, desire and restraint, sensuality and introspection. Her work is unapologetically human, possessing an unsettling, intelligent sensuality built on a razor’s edge of contrast, always balancing light against shadow. And now, that balance is struck perfectly. Gauguin asks you to leave the shore behind and dive into the deep waters of your subconsciousness, escaping the grey reality for a place where colors bloom and give off an intoxicating smell. This is a limited edition, has already sold out.

Mood: Exotic, Sophisticated, Carnal.
Olfactory family: Ambery White Floral with a Gourmand facet.

Notes: Bergamot, Aldehydes, Monoï accord, Tiaré with coconut oil, Ambery vanilla, vetiver, musks

Nicoleta Tomsa, Senior Editor

Disclosure: A bottle was offered by the brand; opinions are always my own.

AI image by Nicoleta

Thanks to the generosity of our team members we have a sample for one registered reader from the US or EU. You must register or your entry will not count. There is only one winner.                     To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what sparks your interest based on Nicoleta’s review and where you live. Draw closes 2/7/2026

Please check out Nicoleta’s reviews for: The Code of Emotions, Voluptuous Oud; Byzantine Amber, Unspoken Musk, Encounters and also Libertine Neroli 

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