mindcandy pennies from the overgenerous lunatic

Perfume Review: Bulgari Aqua Marine

In case you're wondering, the v in Bulgari and Aqua is actually u. It's written in V to reflect the greek influence.

Aqua Marine has been out for around 2 years now, i got mine around last year and kinda grew tired of it for a bit as i do not have much love for aquatic fragrances: mainly because they usually end up being too stereotypical, linear and boring. i prefer rich, opulent and complex scents but in any case, everyone needs a nice aquatic somewhere down the road to balance out the collection and also for it to be worn during a trip to the beach (nobody wants to smell like Aramis there!!!) and so i got it. It was actually chosen for me by a female friend whom i have seeked her advice on which perfume to get at that time. I got it and 2-3 months down the road regretted it and gotten egoiste and M7 instead. But using it once in a while does bring back its beauty.

The opening starts with a blast of neroli and grapefruit, with the neroli being played down (I detected it as the smell of rice) as it was blended with the grapefruit adding a floral touch to the otherwise citrusy grapefruit. This is not a fruity grapefruit but a very juicy and watery grapefruit that you can almost smell the juice dripping off (most probably Calone, the chemical that most aquatics are loaded with to give you the impression of water). This continues in to the mid notes where a somewhat salty note comes up. Bulgari claims that this is seaweed but logically speaking seaweed smells like the sea (i.e dead fish). the tinge of saltiness tones down the Grapefruit a little, in time for a drydown of pure Cedar.

Now, this is where the fragrance gets very annoying. It almost disappears after 2-3 hours. The Cedarwood base is nice but its barely detectable. And Bulgari stuff aint cheap. They're priced slightly above average your normal scents. And to add salt to the wound, you'll have to use a lot of this for it to last the whole day as an office/daily scent. So its not gotta be a nice journey.

Overall, amongst all of the aquatics that has been produced, Bulgari Aqua Marine has been one of the best and most interesting aquatics that has ever appeared. It's fresh and dosent smell squarely of calone. It has character (but not a very prominent one) and this interpretation of a fresh, aquatic sealike scent is quite accurate to boot.

Spraying this and sniffing it takes me to some posh seaside resort where i am walking out of the corridor with white walls, on a path lined with pebbles and black slabs in between with a nice herb garden on the sides, towards the sea. The sea is light blue with foam, its sands are white. I then dive into the the beach and get this really refreshing feeling on my face. That would be the impression of Bulgari Aqua marine to me when used during a long day on the evening to rejuvenate myself. I still like this fragrance, but just not everyday. If you love Issey Miyake, Hugo Boss and Aqua Di Gio, get this to give yourself something better.