Trussardi — Trussardi Donna Levriero Limited Edition
Essence
A 2022 holiday limited edition that is, functionally, a richer “Intense” concentrate of the 2011 Trussardi Donna DNA dressed up in a heavy white-glass flacon capped with the house’s gilded Italian-greyhound (Levriero) head. Nathalie Lorson reworked the original Donna formula, and per the brand the brief was simply to “enhance the richness and quality of the historic Trussardi Donna” by adding “a touch of precious bergamot to emphasize the vivacious freshness of lemon. “ In practice it’s a creamy lemon-meringue-and-white-flowers EDP that trades the airy citrus of the standard Donna for a denser, sweeter, more powdery-woody body. Notable curiosity: for a long time the only reviews that surfaced were on the Russian wearer reports, leading collectors to suspect it was a Russia/CIS-focused distribution release before turning up at Western discounters.
Scent Profile
Spray and you get the signature Donna opening - a bright, slightly fizzy citrus that reviewers repeatedly liken to “a fizzy sprite when you first pop the cap off a glass bottle of soda,” or to a sweetened lemon meringue with an orange slice on top. Versus the standard Donna’s “nice slightly sour orange,” the Levriero’s citrus is read as “a sweet clementine that’s about to ferment,” a juicier, candied hesperidic that one experienced wearer reports user explicitly compared to the clementine in Montblanc Signature. Within roughly ten minutes the jasmine-tea/orange-blossom heart takes over; this is the soapy-white-floral phase, with the listed water lily lending a transparent, aquatic-floral cast. Several wearers find it goes “flat and soapy” here. The drydown is the divisive part: a creamy vanilla-sandalwood base with a “white patchouli” that most people read as soft and caressing rather than earthy, but a dusty, powdery facet emerges that multiple reviewers call “mature” or “grandma”-leaning. One side-by-side reviewer summarized the relationship cleanly: the original Donna is “more a lemon meringue,” while the Levriero is “heavier on the cedar and has a different, more bitter drydown. “ Compared to the 2019 Donna EDP Intense (which shares nearly identical notes), the Levriero reads as the most concentrated, vanilla-forward member of the family. Largely linear after the heart settles; this is a creamy-citrus skin scent, not a dramatic transformer.
Performance
Evidence is mixed and skews toward modest-to-moderate, which is notable for something marketed as an “Intense. “ Several wearer reports and wearer reports wearers report it nearly vanishing on skin: “after a quarter of an hour, I can’t smell anything anymore” and “I wore this a second time and I don’t smell it anymore” are recurring complaints. Others get respectable wear, especially in heat - one wearer specifically praised it as “absolutely suitable in sultry heat,” describing a lemon-vanilla effect that blooms when sweating. A retailer claims roughly 8 hours, but that figure comes from a sales page and isn’t corroborated by wearer wear-testing; treat it skeptically. Realistic read from the wearer pattern: moderate projection in the first hour or two, then a close-to-skin creamy drydown with average longevity that’s heavily skin-chemistry dependent. Apply generously - the consensus is that this rewards a heavy hand and performs best as wafts rather than a close sniff. Best in warm, humid weather where the citrus-vanilla accord turns milky and radiant.
Wearing Context
Spring and summer daytime is the sweet spot, with the caveat that the creamy-vanilla base also makes it work as a soft warm-weather evening scent. The brand’s own framing leans this way: greyhound-collection copy describes it as a scent that “loves the sun” and for which “rainy days and damp, cold weather are just as unwelcome. “ Office-friendly and inoffensive given the soapy-clean floral heart, though the dusty-powdery drydown is what triggers the “mature”/“grandma” reactions, so younger wearers chasing a trendy sweet profile may find it reads older than expected. Social-perception skew is feminine but soft and polite rather than sexy or loud. As a practical reading (not firm wearer consensus given thin coverage): treat it as a daytime comfort-citrus for warm months, skip it for cold-weather or clubby contexts where you’d want more punch.
Comparisons & DNA
The most- in-house reference is the standard Trussardi Donna (2011) and the Trussardi Donna Eau de Parfum Intense (2019) - the Levriero is essentially the densest sibling of that trio, sharing the yuzu/jasmine-tea/vanilla skeleton but pushing sweetness and the cedar-vanilla base further. Outside the house, a wearer drew a direct line to Carolina Herrera Very Good Girl, noting the “same sweet and strong currant” facet, while adding that Donna is less powdery and less intense than the CH - a useful pivot for someone who finds Very Good Girl too sweet. The creamy lemon-and-white-floral idea also lives in the same neighborhood as other “lemon-tart” gourmand-adjacent florals, but no clone or designer dupe is documented. If you want the same DNA with reliably stronger performance, the 2019 Donna Intense is the safer pick per wearer comparisons.
Reception
wearer sentiment is lukewarm-positive but genuinely split, and coverage is thin (this was a quiet, possibly region-limited release). Praise centers on the gorgeous, hefty bottle with the recycled-zamak greyhound cap - “the bottles are really heavy and they all seem good quality and fancy” - and on the pretty, easy creamy-citrus character, which fans call milky, radiant and “a dream in the heat. “ The dominant criticisms are weak longevity (“disappears after 15 minutes”) and the dusty/powdery, “mature” drydown that some find soapy or even “bathroom cleaner”-adjacent. Polarization runs along two axes: performance (vanishes vs. lasts well in heat) and the drydown (cozy-creamy vs. dated-powdery). Blind-buy verdict: reasonable only at the deep discounts where it now sells, and mainly if you already like the standard Donna and want a denser version; otherwise sample first because the performance is a real gamble.
Versions & Reformulation
This is itself a limited-edition reworking of the Donna line. The relevant family: Trussardi Donna (2011) EDP (the centenary original by Lorson), the Donna EDT (2016), the Donna Eau de Parfum Intense (2019), and this Levriero Collection Limited Edition (2022), sometimes labeled “Donna Intense Levriero. “ Per Angelini Beauty (Trussardi’s fragrance licensee, AB Parfums), the Levriero editions are “the contemporary version of the scent formulas first created in 2011,” with bottles and packaging using renewable/recycled materials. The Levriero is the most concentrated/sweetest of these. Now discontinued.
Acquisition Notes
Discontinued and clearing through discounters rather than boutiques. Sold as a 100ml EDP (Intense). Discount-channel pricing has run roughly in the $35-65 range at grey-market sites, with eBay listings spanning roughly $60-180 depending on seller and whether boxed. Decants are scarce because the release is obscure.
Notable Facts & Lore
- The Levriero (Italian greyhound) has been Trussardi’s emblem since the fashion house’s founding, and the 2022 Donna and Uomo limited editions made the dog literal - the cap is sculpted as a greyhound’s head in recycled zamak, white glass for Donna and black for Uomo.
- Lorson is documented speaking specifically about this reworking; per Trussardi Perfums (via best ingredients to enhance the richness and quality of the historic Trussardi Donna.
- I added a touch of precious bergamot to emphasize the vivacious freshness of lemon in the top notes.
- “ The genuinely odd lore point is distribution: the near-total absence of non-Russian reviews for a long stretch led wearer reports users to openly wonder whether it was “a Donna release only for Russia,” which would explain its scarcity and discount-bin afterlife in Western markets.