COLOGNE CELESTE (2022) • BORTNIKOFF🔺 • ScentAdvice

As someone who has generally loved the Bortnikoff ‘colognes’, especially Musk Cologne, I was excited to get into the ‘Three Elements’ trilogy of colognes; starting with Cologne Celeste (which is an Extrait concentration, not to be confused).

Celeste is supposed to represent the sky element, which frankly is not the vibe I get from the fragrance, but I do really like it.

This is very citrussy. Heavy on the citron & lemon, thick, oily, liquid. It also lists grapefruit, mandarin and blood orange, but to my nose, the lemon clearly dominates.

I also get the honeyed sweetness aspect from beeswax straight away, albeit not overly sweet. There’s a lemon hard candy facet here though. Even the medicinal honey-lemon coughdrops.

After the opening, it becomes a bit more…earthy? Listing pine, moss, sandalwood and cedarwood as the base, there’s definitely a hint of a greener backdrop. More reminding me of ‘earth’ than ‘sky’.

I don’t get rose personally on first wear. The biggest development is the citrus losing some of its acidity and becoming a bit sweeter.

Not the most interesting or complex smelling composition, but a ‘beast’ of a citrus with a mossy backdrop. Really pleasant.