FRANCESCA BIANCHI
THE CODE OF EMOTION

2025

PERFUMER
Francesca Bianchi

bergamot
pink pepper

exotic fruits
mango
lavender
geranium

cedarwood
oakmoss
sandalwood
vetiver
musk

‘Even before I launched my first perfumes, I was obsessed with the idea of an “Emotion Generator Machine”. This is what drives me during my creation process: building fragrances with that specific purpose of igniting an emotion. Like a mechanic fine-tuning a powerful engine, I carefully place each note in order to trigger specific emotions — i.e. the intensity of passion of lovers, a memory of the smell of skin, a sense of nostalgia for an imaginary place, etc.  For this particular creation, my focus was to dig deeper into the very mechanism of the emotional response to my medium of expression, the art of perfumery. How can I make it work? Are there methods that can be replicated? And can they spark the same emotion in different people? I experimented in different directions, focusing on a method that I used many times already, but this once with more focus and intention. The goal was to decode an emotion, to deconstruct the input that ignites it, in other words to write a ‘Code of Emotion’. In this experiment, I started with the classic fougère structure – a green, aromatic, woody accord, which is familiar and recognizable. Besides, this is an accord that I only recently started to emotionally connect with. But I wanted to push it further, challenging its traditional boundaries by introducing an unexpected twist: a vibrant accord of tropical fruits, with juicy, mouthwatering mango at its heart. This exotic note disrupts the predictable accord of the fougère, rewiring it into something both familiar and surprising. The result is a scent that feels recognizable, but also refreshingly different, requiring a moment to detect the familiar fougère footprint beneath the luscious and original facet of fruitiness. To me, this fragrance sparks a joyful sense of surprise—a contrast between the grounding comfort of the fougère and the playful brightness of the tropical fruits. It feels pampering yet invigorating, deep but never heavy, mouthwatering without slipping into gourmand territory. Additionally, I set a secondary challenge for myself: to avoid using iris or iris-like accords altogether and to keep animalic notes to a bare minimum, limited to only a couple of clean musks.‘ – Francesca Bianchi

I did not quite know what to expect with The Code Of Emotion and I have to say… I’m not the biggest fan of this release. It feels by far the ‘least Bianchi’ out of all the Francesca Bianchi fragrances that I’ve tried. That being said, there is something intriguing here for sure.

It took a while for me to make sense of what I was smelling and even after that, the combination of aromatics and sweet tropical fruit is one I never got comfortable with. It’s a strange mix of spicy, aromatic, airy, masculine-leaning and an overripe, dense fruitiness that especially feels un-Francesca Bianchi-esque. I think the fruitiness takes the overhand a lot more than I would expect based on the brand’s description above. I think The Code Of Emotion will suit sweet exotic fruity-fragrance wearers more than it will traditional fougere wearers, by a large margin.

I was reminded of fragrances along the line of Stephane Humbert Lucas God Of Fire; that type of juicy, but very sweet mango. It gets cloying on my skin, but the mix with the fougere accord is unusual, and at some times, intriguing. It was a constant battle of not enjoying the sweet fruitiness and being entertained by the overall combination for me.

In a perhaps inexplicable way, I was also reminded a tiny bit of YSL Tuxedo, which has always had a fruity connection that I can’t place. But what I don’t like in The Code Of Emotion is the way the overripe, spicy, darker aspect of the fruit comes across. Some moments it feels too vibrant, too hefty, like an unbalanced Middle Eastern-styled fruity clone fragrance. Another perhaps far-fetched reference would be Gallivant Los Angeles, with it’s overripe, burnt pineapple. Other moments, it feels more uncommon; in the late drydown (after a quick shower), it still stuck to my skin, but now altered into a paprika/bell pepper type of scent.

Intriguing to try and if you like the mango or other fruity scents that I may find too cloying, this is one to put on your radar. For me, it’s more likely to be my least favorite Bianchi to date.