Bloomed waterfall, pink cloud that invades the flowerbed. Corbeille of flowers and fruits at the window, crowns of pines, soft light of a new morning. A tangle of hands, a look from under the pillow, we stay embraced in the bed, our secret garden.

Silk is a natural wonder. The outer windings from the cocoon of the mulberry tree moth, it is strong, durable and, as discovered several millenia ago in China, is weavable into the most beautiful of fabrics. The thread itself is triangular in cross-section and, like the prisms demonstrated by Isaac Newton three hundred years ago (and like oil on water or soap bubbles) refracts light at defferent angles to produce a rainbow of colours. Silk, then, as we know, 'shimmers'.

Shangtung silk (from Shangdong in China) is one of the worl'd finest. And like it's namesake, Etro's new Shangtung perfume literally shimmers with radiance. A clear and vibrant fruity opening, mulitfacetted with shades of colour, leads down to the luxuriously smooth peony and rose petal heart where a warm woody musky base of incense and cedar cocoons the whole.

Shangtung perfume, like silk, is an easy wear. It is soft, gentle and smooth, durable and versatile, and is an excellant day-wear scent. But like silk, enhanced with its mandarine and lychee opening, there's a touch of oriental luxury, opulence, and mystery, such that Shangtung represents one of the best defined fragrances from the Etro house in years.