Alphabeat have a new single, and it’s fantastic, as usual. Unsuprisingly, it got me thinking about perfume… because most things do.
Years of working in the perfume industry has left me disdainful of aquatic notes. They are ubiquitous in designer masculine scents, and I’d lumped them with “bad” perfume in my mind. However, there are some fantastically constructed fragrances in the genre. Here are a selection of my favourites:
Profumum Roma Acqua di Sale – The perfume equivalent of an azure ocean, that has been bottled and carbonated. Fizzy, bright, cool, crisp, and incredibly watery.
Kenzo pour Homme – Frothy water, like breaking waves and driftwood. Some herbal notes make it generally ‘feel’ more masculine, but don’t let that stop you, ladies. Especially if you like the smell of Matey bubble bath.
Heeley Sel Marin – More a breeze coming off of the ocean, when you are stood at the top of a cliff, than the ocean itself. British seaside in a bottle.
Bulgari Blu II – If mint grew in sea water, this is what it would smell like. Sparkly, reflective, and transparent.
Eau d’Italie Eau d’Italie – Whilst this is an olfactory evocation of (and fantastic marketing exercise) the Le Sirenuse hotel in Positano, it also has a distinctly warm, salty air quality about it against the smell of hot terracotta, hazy flowers, and incense.
Thierry Mugler Womanity – Salty sea air, figs, and shortbread. This is utterly genius. Wear it with a light touch though, because it has monstrous sillage.
Parfumerie Generale Bois Naufragé – This is the smell of a bizarre beach: figs, sun tan lotion, coconut-ty tanning lotion, and the driest, saltiest washed up wood that would crumble underfoot if it were trampled on.
Jump on in, the Love Sea with me…