Crabtree & Evelyn — Sienna
Essence
Sienna is a 1991 green-leather chypre cologne widely regarded as the best masculine fragrance Crabtree & Evelyn ever made — one that smells far more expensive than it cost. Built in the more-is-better idiom of the 1980s, layering citrus, herbs, spice, soft leather, oakmoss and patchouli, it is distinctive for a clever beeswax facet that lends a warm, soapy, golden glow, and for punching well above its modest original price. Discontinued in the mid-2010s as the brand’s men’s lines vanished, it has become a cult, collector-priced rarity.
Scent Profile
Sienna opens with fresh, warm, lemon-forward citrus over green aromatic herbs — rosemary, basil, clary sage — quickly settling into a classic fougere-chypre framework.
The heart introduces spice and a green violet-leaf nuance, and then the defining element arrives: the leather. Most wearers read it as soft, mild and birch-derived rather than raw or animalic — smooth rather than fierce, its imprint never dominant. A minority perceive a more pungent, almost animal-hide leather with a synthetic edge in the early going.
The base is where Sienna earns its name. Oakmoss and patchouli give chypre depth and warmth, sandalwood adds creaminess, and a beeswax facet buffers the greens and leather into what one wearer called a Tuscan evening sun dipping fields in golden ochre. The recurring descriptor is expensive soap: clean, refined, slightly powdery and soft-spoken — a medium-dry leathery chypre, well-blended rather than note-distinct.
Performance
Performance is a strength. Wearers consistently report strong longevity, often the whole day, with moderate and refined sillage — gentlemanly rather than loud, though one or two describe a near-overpowering trail from a single spray. A little goes a long way. It is warm enough to be recommended for fall and winter, and the cologne is held to outlast the aftershave version. A caveat: it is sensitive to skin chemistry, and a minority find it turns sour or headache-inducing.
Wearing Context
This is a cold-weather, autumn-and-winter fragrance, early spring at a stretch, suited to formal and business wear — ideal under a white shirt and suit. Its social read is classic, refined and very British, conjuring Jermyn Street and old-world gentlemen. Predominantly masculine, though its amber-beeswax warmth gives it some unisex potential. Both evening and daytime work; this is a put-together, mature scent rather than a casual or sporty one.
Comparisons & DNA
Sienna sits in classic green-leather chypre territory, deeply of its late-1980s moment. Wearers place it alongside the classics — Halston Z-14, Aramis and Geo F. Trumper Curzon — with the common shorthand being that lovers of Halston Z-14 will likely love Sienna. Aramis Tuscany per Uomo is the most-invoked relative, with some finding Sienna reminiscent of it above all else. For contrast, wearers explicitly distinguish Sienna’s mild birch leather from the raw, animalic leather of Tom Ford Ombre Leather. No legitimate clone exists.
Reception
Reception is overwhelmingly affectionate, with Sienna treated as a hidden gem and the standout of the C&E men’s range — often called the best of the line and effortlessly classy. Praise centers on its value-to-quality ratio, its balance, and its soapy-leathery refinement. The points of disagreement are narrow: skin-chemistry sensitivity that sends a minority to headache territory, a wish that the leather were sharper, and a small camp who find it too lavender-heavy and derivative of the era. No major critic reviewed it, so its authority rests in enthusiast accounts; a vintage-focused feature endorses it as little known and unique for its time. At original prices the verdict is strongly positive; at today’s inflated secondary prices, far more cautious.
Versions & Reformulation
Sienna spanned an eau de toilette / cologne plus a full grooming range of shaving soap, bath soap and aftershave balm, with wearers noting the body soap smells slightly different from the shave soap and cologne. Late in its life the packaging was updated from a splash bottle to a spray, welcomed for control, and the cologne is held to have more staying power than the aftershave. No deliberate juice reformulation is clearly documented; beyond the packaging change, treat it as a single composition.
Acquisition Notes
Discontinued and now a collector item with steeply inflated secondary pricing. At retail it was famously inexpensive, around $40, with some late outlet stock clearing well below that. Today partly used and full bottles in the 100-125 ml range often appear at vintage-fragrance prices rather than former mall-retail ones. With the C&E men’s line defunct, acquisition means the vintage secondary market, with the usual condition and evaporation caveats for older bottles. Its obscurity limits counterfeit risk, and no useful batch-code guidance is established.
Notable Facts & Lore
- The name comes from terra di Siena, the ochre pigment known as Siena earth, and the Tuscan city of Siena.
- The box art reportedly depicted Medici-era gentlemen in red against an old Siena cityscape.
- Crabtree & Evelyn began as a Massachusetts soap business and built a romantic, pseudo-British old-world identity; by 1996 it had 160 US outlets.
- That American fantasy of Europe is strongly reflected in Sienna, which bridges Tuscan warmth and barbershop grooming polish.
- The brand’s later collapse has intensified the nostalgic affection around the fragrance as a discontinued classic.