Milano Cento Eau de Parfum

I love a good back story, and if you’re familiar with the earlier Milano Cento eau de toilette, you may be aware of how this gem of a fragrance came about.

A kitchen table family business now has over 70 stockists in the UK, yet only ONE fragrance. If you’re going to do something as brave as this, then that one fragrance had better be good, and it is.

Here’s how it got there: Back in the eighties, Dean Tatum and his then business partner, Matthew Bright, founded an interior design business. They had planned to branch off into a fashion line but it made a natural inroad towards a fragrance, and Milano Cento was born. Fast forward to Dean Tatum’s 50^th and things had changed. Sadly, Matthew Bright had passed away, and Milano Cento was an eighties memory.

Dean’s wife, Valissa, thought she would arrange for a bottle to be recreated for Dean’s 50^th. However, the perfume business can be a right little madam sometimes and it proved easier to recreate a whole stack of Milano Cento rather than just one. Thus, Milano Cento was revived.

I said in my opening paragraph that if you’re only going to have one fragrance, it had better be a good one, and luckily, this one has what it takes.

I have a soft spot for Milano Cento because it has that eighties vibe we don’t really get much these days. For people of a certain generation (ahem, me) there’s a welcome rush of nostalgia at anything eighties and Milano Cento eau de parfum reminds me of school discos and the yearning glances I’d throw at boys who were always looking at the pretty girls and not at me. Some boys would overspray Quorum and Insignia but others would borrow their Dad’s expensive stuff, and the latter category is where I find myself when I smell Milano Cento eau de parfum.

First of all, this does smell similar to the eau de toilette, and I have one on each arm as I write. However, the eau de toilette is more astringent and refreshing, where the eau de parfum immediately moves into its velvety depths. It’s very gentlemanly, very barbershop and very vetiver. It has traditional touches of lavender and a sexy warmth from cinnamon that makes me think of manly, capable men in snuggly jumpers.

It smells a lot more expensive than it is and could easily pass for Chanel or Dior. One warning though: this has muscles and a hairy chest. Two sprays lasted at least seven hours on me, so go gently in the morning and use liberally on date night.

I asked my then fourteen-year-old son what he thought. He never edits his opinions, so this is it verbatim: “You know when you go into a posh hotel bathroom? It smells like that.” Just for a change, I’ll let him have the last word.

Where to buy it

You can buy Milano Cento in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia. Here’s a list of stockists.

Disclosure

I was sent my bottle of Milano Cento by the brand for my consideration as a blogger. The decision to review it and the opinions expressed are both my own.