Zagaria

A very prominent powdery cedar note with just the slightest underlying citrus character. Before I say anything else, let me say this, I do actually like it. It's a lovely soft blend. I see this work for formal occasions as well as on Polo shirt kind of days. And even if it leans a bit more masculine, I do think you could rock this as a woman too, especially if you like to play around a bit with androgynous styles. As for performance, longevity is okay-ish - about 3-4 hrs in hot weather, 4-6 hrs in cooler weather - there is not really a lot of projection going on. It's really more of an intimate kind of scent. All that being said, I will never ever be able to use this as it smells absolutely identical to the insect spray Baygon, at least the variant that is available and extensively used in India - I'm not sure if they compose its scent differently for different markets. Before moving to India I never saw or used Baygon in my life, in India it's something really every household has at home out of necessity. There is no escaping the mental association. If you're Indian and you know what Baygon smells like, you know exactly what Zagaria smells like. And one thing is for sure if you're not Indian but you wear this around people from the subcontinent they'll definitely wonder if you just had a bigger extermination procedure going on at home. It's a bit tragic, because I actually like the scent - I'm giving it a like anyway - but as for wear-ability for me it's an absolute no. As soft as it may be, not a safe blind buy. Make sure you don't draw similar associations to it before making a purchase.

Aqua Flor is a relatively new brand from Florence that offers a huge range of fragrances with an aesthetic that's not so distant from other, more popular, florentine farmacias such as Farmacia SS Annunziata or Santa Maria Novella. I approached a bunch of their fragrances knowing nothing about the brand and, overall, they all strikes as more or less successful replicas of other more popular compositions. Zagaria is a versatile, masculine citrusy cologne that shares similarities with both Bel Ami Vetiver and Etat Libre D'Orange Je Suis Un Homme. A pretty decent woody citrus with leathery nuances. Probably one of my favorite in their whole range but given the price I don't see many reasons to pick this over the aforementioned fragrances. Tends to become a bit generic during the late dry down. Rating: 6.5-7/10