A Grove by The Sea

Mediterranean vacation, sun kissed skin, linens, leather sandals and no phone. This has got my attention chic, sultry, effortlessly elegant and androgynous. The androgyny here is really difficult to achieve because on a woman this will startle you as it is classically a male profile however it’s well done and balanced it won’t feel out of place and on a man although this typically male it’s pretty and dandy enough that it feels a little feminine for this profile. This little bit of mystique and allure is the head turning bit. My only gripe with this is as I obviously identify as heterosexual male the brand’s vocal support for “pride” is probably the only thing between multiple bottles being purchased and me. I just wish everyone in the industry stuck to the fragrance in the bottle and stopped pushing propaganda. Why would you publish your support for LGBTQ at your business? If all the brands realize you as a perfume brand don’t matter politically to force change to such a controversial issue you will just lose the people on the other side of that issue. Same for the brands that are pro baby killers. I had to blurt this out because it’s good creative direction and well executed perfumery coupled with absolutely crap brand positioning. You see even if my comment offends you had the brand not gone down this alley this wouldn’t be here. To make another point, I’m rating this as a love 5/5 because it’s genuinely good the ratings are for fellow fragheads not to vent your anger. I am also giving a good value vote because for the creativity the price I think is justified.

On my skin the opening begins with the Adriatic fig leaves and the fennel cut with the bitterness of black olive. I think I can smell the sun-warmed clementine. It eventually settles down into a clean earthy pine forest smell. Salty, thyme and rosemary herbal, resinous, and mineral-rich earthy reminiscent of Tom Ford's Oud Minerale. It's layered in a way that feels almost tactile. I was last in the Dalmation Islands back in 2017, so I am stretching my olfactory memory here when I say the texture is a progression that mirrors walking from the shoreline into the shaded heart of a Mediterranean pine grove. After further thought later in the day as the scent become more linear, an opening oyster or fish note would push this composition towards a rawer, more maritime realism. A fishy nuance similar to Masque Milano's White Whale ambergris opening, if done carefully, could add an animalic undertone that mimics the scent of fishing nets drying on a dock or the faint trace of sea life carried on the wind along the shoreline. It would give the opening a slightly funky, organic quality before yielding to the fig, olive, and herbs. This would make the transition into the creamy olive oil and resinous woods even more striking like moving from the chaotic vitality of the Dalmation shoreline to the calm, cultivated order of the Mediterranean pine grove.

I am not sure I am even capable of describing how much I love this scent, but I will try. It was a bit out of my comfort zone -- I've been heard to say that I dislike fig scents, and I stay away from aromatics as the more traditional "masculine" colognes with lavender and such always felt too harsh on me. I dared to sample A Grove by the Sea because I was so curious about the olive note. It was an immediate yes to get a sample vial, and I wore it practically every day until I had a good excuse to splurge on the full size. The brand description of the lush grove on Lopud overlooking the Adriatic comes across incredibly well - the scent is fresh and airy like a summer breeze. The woodsy notes like cypress and fir are understated, but very realistic - just like standing in the grove itself. The olive note is really unique: not too savoury (tempered by the clementine I suppose), but fresh, warm, and appealing. The longevity is impressive on my skin, easily 7+ hours, but balanced by a relatively intimate sillage which is my preference. Overall, this is definitely a new every day favourite and I'm excited to see how it preforms as a warm weather perfume!

I have to say that it’d been a while since a perfume made me pause like this. My grandparents came on boats to Central America from the Mediterranean, and I’ve always felt instinctively and inexorably bound to that geography, its climate, its physical milieu, its soil and everything that comes out of it: from the oranges of Valencia and the olives of Salonika, to the figs and dates of the Levant, and the wine from the grapes that grow around the entire basin, from Jerez to Yafo. Rodrigo Flores-Roux, whose work for his own house, Xinú, I found to be lovely but not enough to splurge on a bottle, has created with Carlos Huber something (to me) memorable here: a uniquely Mesoamerican vision of the Mediterranean. I love that it’s bracingly fresh without a citrus note in sight. It’s resinous and old-school terpenic. I distinctly get black olives and olive oil, a delicious novelty to me in a fragrance. What follows is an evocation of sea salt and fig leafs and thyme and pine needles and cypress and fir balsam and earthy red clay and bright sunlight under a cloudless blue sky. Oh my! I ordered a full bottle after going through my decant. Just great.

A very nice marriage between green and aquatic. For all the herbs and conifers, it's not too aromatic or harsh. Even though I can smell both the rosemary and the thyme they're done with a light, skillful hand and don't overwhelm. There's only a very slight tinge of fennel underneath: a little oily, a little anise, but not spicy. I think it combines with the olive to create a surprisingly pleasant oily undertone. The fir is the strongest evergreen note, but it ties in with the more aquatic notes and creates a bridge. The strongest note to me is fig; it's a nice, watery, luscious fig, which contributes to the blue tone to this fragrance, along with the salt. I feel like I smell coconut, but Philosykos may have ruined my nose there. Quite nice, I might pick up a travel size. 8/10.

One of my new favorites, love at first smell! definitely my new spring and summer scent. It captures the concept of a grove by the sea flawlessly. Finding this has ended my hunt for the perfrct summer beach day scent. Truly a work of art, severely underrated and under appreciated. Herbaceous Fresh Oceanic Salty Olive note is both pronounced and well blended with other notes, always present but never over bearing. Very well blended, perfect sillage for a warm weather scent, great for the beach or summer road trips where you don't want to be drowned by anything too potent. Would blend well with other summer frags. Very unique Perfectly unisex Refined and versatile 10/10 highly recommend if the smell of olive groves by the sea is something special to you.

Can we say that A Grove by the Sea is the Carnal Flower of fig fragrances? I will. Here, the fig manifests in all its facets, supported by a green, spicy scaffolding of conifers, herbs, and an 'olive accord' that reveals itself through a subtly phenolic and briny nuance. With a little help from one's imagination, the understated earthy or sandy undertone in the background could indeed be construed as 'red clay'. This is no mere candied fig, nor yet another milky or lotion-like iteration of the fig scent. As a tribute to Lopud, an island off the Croatian coast, A Grove by the Sea comes across as fresh, yet its waxy, resinous, and woody elements provide a robustness that enables it to hold its own even on cooler days. Garrigue adriatique.

Think of the film The Godfather. Think of Michael in Italy. Congratulations, you've smelled A Grove by the Sea. It's elegant, exquisite, and every bit as sophisticated as you would expect. The longevity is impressive. The only setback is the price I can't justify. But holy fennel, does the fennel shine. The fir, the rosemary, the thyme! And the salt just lifts everything with both arms. I keep smelling myself and giving that sigh. You know the one. When you smell something exceptional on yourself or someone else, you just have to sigh with happiness. That's this, for me. For whatever reason, my skin cooperates very well with this formula. Definitely give it a try for yourself. Lucky Scent gives samples!

I don't think I spent enough time in Abercrombie to get that association so thankfully this does just smell like, well, a grove by the sea. I love the briny olive and clay notes. It's otherwise very figgy (which I also love) but different from Philosykos to me. Maybe leans a little more towards the greenness of Debaser but it's still distinct from that. It reminds me vaguely of the Hermes Jardin series but is much stronger and punchier. This is not the Ellena watercolour style, it's opaque, gouache style. It has a super salty, seaside vibe, like a just emerged from the ocean feel, and I can tell I'm gonna be wearing it all summer.

On paper there's something about it that's very classic green/marine scent but with a bit more depth and complexity! Those kinds of scents make me nauseous so this was surprising. On my skin however that takes a back seat, and it smells very juicy on me, but in a dark resinous kind of way. It's a ripe fruit yes but it feels kind of jammy and preserved if that makes sense. The olive aspect I didn't quite get or understand but the smell is very wet for me! Overtime it smells more like paper for me than fruit. Something about it (lol) reads like something between Pokemon trading cards and a old thickkk full color encyclopedia.

Soooo obsessed with this. On immediate spray, I am reminded of the figs I ate off the trees in Palestine. Just a bite into the juiciest, ripest of figs. In the background and in the dry down the pine and fir carry the scent. It is such a good fresh scent that isn't just citrus. It is also one of the longest lasting fresh scents I have tried. Definitely my favorite fig scent I have smelled. While some people have told me they smell olives/salt way more prominently than the fig, they seem to be the minority in my circles. I have to really focus to pick up on the olive/saltiness of this scent.

I cannot express how much I absolutely adore this. I would say i'm firmly not an enjoyer of floral scents, and finding any spring/summer fragrances that I actually enjoy and would like to wear has been tricky as they all lean too synthetic for my taste. This is genuinely perfect, as hedonistaustero said it's 'bracingly fresh' and yet does so in such a natural and aromatic way. Truly feels like a sunny island in the Adriatic as they market. Not artificial in the slightest. A shame it's so cold right now, can't wait to purchase a full bottle and wear it in the hotter months.

I have a complicated relationship with fougeres, most turn sour and bitter on my skin. But this? It's starts refreshingly sweet (I get mostly fennel + clementine but I don't doubt the fig's presence), and the sweet air light floats around you. Then it's overtaken by the deep minty freshness from the coniferous trees and salty air. It's a sort of menthol-y freshness but doesn't get too artificial, it stays in the realm of cool and dark and savory. I got this at the beginning of Fall and it was a truly special way to say goodbye to Summer and yearn for beach days to come.

A perfectly balanced rocky cliffside summer. I don't get the salt other reviews are mentioning, but the opening feels like a trail of Philosykos and fir needles on an ocean breeze. The olive accord comes across as a peppery fruity olive oil, more of a heart note or base note than a major part of the opening. Between this EVOO and the fig which is prominent throughout, the drydown has more of a polite just-showered character than the windblown recklessness of that first spray. Linearity's not a bad word, but I like how this perfume lives many lives throughout the day.

I'm nowhere near a wordsmith or a purveyor of fine fragrances, but I adore colognes and perfumes and great smells. This is one of my favorite new fragrances. I'm only sad for the fall because I need to put this on the shelf soon and will have to wait to wear it again. It's not a citrus or fake summer smelling scent. Its clean, green, herbal, zippy and fresh. I hate that there is only one place to get a sample online because they charge an exorbitant price for it. I am making myself save for a full bottle next year. GO FOR IT!!!

A Grove By The Sea is a bewitching fragrance! Rodrigo Flores-Roux's invention for Arquiste really manages to capture a sense of that place where the ocean meets with a rugged coastline, the wind carrying with it the scent of salty waves, dry wild herbs, conifers , the unmistakable tang of briny olives and the sweet sap of ripe black figs. It's a remarkably vivid olfactory landscape and I love it!

Arquiste: A Grove By The Sea. I get salty olive in the first hour. Very rich. Does not lean aquatic to me. Then pure fig. Fruit and stem. Perhaps the longest wearing fig I’ve found. Lush. Wet. 12+ hours with great projection. In competition with Debaser for best fig. Well liked by others. I want this but not sure I need another fig fragrance.

Really unique and really good, high quality. Aromatic with pine needles, olives, and salt, as well as fig leaves. It is fairly green like Ichnusa, but with the marine/coastal air current bringing in olives and salt. Its impressive how close to the ocean it feels without having a single sea note. It also feels very balanced and likable.

most unique scent I have ever tested. Does not last all day, but its beautiful and I smell my wrist every hour I cant get enough of it. Plan to buy a full bottle, I can't compare it to anything else I have smelled. Its very spring and summer forward, so I wish it wasnt October right now so I could wear it everyday!

This is one of my favorite scents of all time. it is unique, smells like nothing i’ve put my nose to before and is easy to wear. kind of reminds of a fancy library and fresh, but not citrus or body wash fresh. The olive and fig combo really shine, I would definitely recommend getting a sample at the very least!