The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
The Russian Flowers collection arrived in 2019 as Sergio Nero's study in feminine floral composition, and Exciting was its declaration. Where other houses treat 'floral' as shorthand for safe, this one aimed at something with more tension. The brief was simple on paper: make a rose that doesn't apologize for itself. The execution brought rhubarb and blackcurrant into conversation with the traditional heart notes, a choice that pushed the composition away from predictable sweetness and toward something with real character. It won the FiFi Russian Fragrance Awards that same year, a signal that the gamble paid off.
The rhubarb in the opening is the tell. Not the leafy, green rhubarb of some fragrances, something sharper, almost sour, that arrives and demands attention before it softens. It changes how the rose reads. Without that tart counterpoint, the violet and geranium heart would settle into something expected. With it, the floral becomes architectural. The blackcurrant adds a dark, almost wine-like depth beneath the brightness, and the mandarin keeps the whole thing from tipping into heaviness. Three ingredients doing the work of five.
The evolution
The opening hits with immediate impact, rhubarb and blackcurrant arrive together, tart and dark, while the mandarin adds a brief flash of citrus light. Within minutes the geranium shifts the register from fruity to dewy and green. The rose emerges around the 15-minute mark, not as a dominant but as part of a trio with violet and geranium that creates something powdery and almost waxy in texture. By the second hour the florals have settled and the base takes over: warm sandalwood, soft amber, and skin-close musk that never overwhelms. On fabric the drydown lasts longer than on skin, leaving a faint trace of warmth hours later.
Cultural impact
The 2019 FiFi Russian Fragrance Award validated what the composition was trying to do: take a classical floral structure and make it earn attention rather than assume it. In a landscape of safe florals marketed toward ease of wear, Russian Flowers Exciting stood apart by refusing to be background music. It appeals to the wearer who wants a floral with an opinion.
