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!

My favorite from this house! It is a savory olive with both the oily and fruity facets of the fruit. The pine keeps it from smelling rancid or gone off and offers some freshness. Truly smells like eating an olive picked fresh off a tree in the grove while the sea breeze floats by you on a hot day.

Unusual yet wearable. Soft and sweet and masculine. It feels warm and sunny; mad refreshing. Almost overwhelmingly salty for the first few minutes wet but mellows out so nicely into something mellow and ocean-green, develops over several hours and projects pretty nicely.

Immediately hit with creamy, salty, just picked an olive off of a tree notes. It smells like the summer sun warming up the trees and foliage around you as you're hiking through the Mediterranean coast. Heavy on the green, conifer, and whipped olive oil in the best way.

I love green scents and this is really growing on me. It opens very pungent and fresh, a mossy beach during sprinkling rain, and settles into salty fig and rosemary. Moderate projection for 2 hours for me; after 6 hours, it's a clean, masculine skin scent.

opening is a bit sharp but in 15 mins it turns into something very realistic and smooth. For someone who enjoys green scents, this is a very nice one. Maybe I am biased cuz this smells like home to me, but this is probably the best fig scent I've tried.

This is a 10/10 for me. It’s not a standard aquatic/beachy scent by a long shot, however, it is very evocative of walking along a bright, boulder strewn beach littered with gnarled old pine and olive trees and frigid water. Unique and a new favorite

So good! Fresh but dry, salty yet green with coniferous resin. A nice and different take on a fresh summer scent that doesn’t smell like citrus, white florals, or a piña colada. Lasts at least 28 hrs on my skin—Incredibly impressive!

Love this! As I get older, I tend to get fragrances that remind me of something. This smells like the Dalmation coast. Its spot on. I put a bit on my wrist and, every time I smell it, I'm there. Puts a smile on my face.

Wow — it’s been so long since a fragrance made me smile like this. Absolutely beautiful. Pure Mediterranean summer in a bottle. And hear me out: layering this with Rital Date by Versatile Paris is perfection.

This is lovely. One of those scents that I don't care if people around me don't like it, I am wearing it for me. Somehow, poetry rustled from courgettes. I appreciate their Sydney Rock Pool and Ella too.

This has a very familiar smell, like a fancy olive oil bodywash that someone cooler than you owns. Wearing this to the next dinner party to impress my friend with the PhD in Ancient Greek pottery.

Very nice and sophisticated perfume. I think forest, coastal pine forest. I see why people say Mediterranean. I love that it is green but very mass-appealing.

gorgeous, gorgeous scent. smells like a first date with a gorgeous greek BPD girl with a surprisingly clean car.

When I put this on I feel like Jennifer Coolidge in White Lotus Season 2 Palermo vibes

Office appropriate unisex herbal scent. Very pleasant.

I was highly anticipating this release as a lover of green aromatics, and have been wearing this non-stop for a little over a week. My impression is of my Italian family's kitchen— chopping fresh herbs and produce with the windows open, drizzling everything with olive oil, garnishing with a squeeze of lemon and flaky salt. It starts out brightly pungent, then olives and a whiff of fig come through, then the dry down is like the bottom of a bowl of rosemary EVOO for dipping salty foccacia. Such a comforting blend. I love smelling it on myself throughout the day, but it's certainly more savory than expected from the marketing. I was hoping it would stay crisper longer, or have more of a true green chlorophyll feel. I'm enamored with the color of the bottle, but not sure I can justify it in my everyday rotation because it can settle into a true olive scent on me depending on the circumstances. The clementine is undetectable, and I get only traces of tarragon and pine. Plenty of fennel and balsam, and yes oddly a hint of clay. As a potter, I'd say porcelain or a grey stoneware—more minerally than muddy. About an hour or two into wearing, it layers nicely with citruses to bring back the zinginess (I've worn it successfully with Lemon Dulci, Under the Lemon Trees, and California Clementine). It also plays well with breezy florals like Jake's House. Definitely give this one a smell. It's a very specific vibe, but it's delicious.

This is the perfume equivalent of “would you still love me if I was a worm” and it is exactly how I imagine moving through the world as a worm smells. The opening is intensely earthy and green, like standing at the edge of a lush, overgrown forest. There’s a coolness to it, with strong vegetal notes. Before I read the note list, I thought I was getting cucumber from this, though that may actually be the olive note that is listed. Either way, there’s absolutely no sweetness. You don’t get sun-warmed citrus growing six feet above, or breezy beach air wafting overhead (because you’re a worm, on the ground). The journey to the dry down is genuinely fun, and it really does feel like you’re burrowing deeper into the forest floor. Most of the wear is an uncomplicated salty green fragrance like chewing through leaves fallen from trees. A few hours later, this settles into a rich, damp woodiness that finally reveals some sweetness—cozy in a way that feels like the perfect place for a worm to have a nap. This may sound like a slow descent into psychosis but try this and I promise you will feel like a glamorous mediterranean worm.

This is... wow. Stunning. Wearing A Grove by the Sea is a transportive experience. A Grove by the Sea smells like I am sitting on a picnic blanket on a warm day under the boughs of lush trees. I just ground up a handful of savory, juicy black olives with a mortar and pestle, then added freshly picked herbs and a dash of salt. My lover and I are feeding plump figs to one another and licking the juice off our fingers. The dappled sun dances across our faces as we close our eyes and breathe in deeply. Life is good. I was worried after reading some reviews that liken this fragrance to the scent of an Abercrombie model, and thankfully I don’t smell that comparison on my skin. However, my partner says it smells like “the mall” and does agree with the Abercrombie comparison, much to my chagrin. Either way, this fragrance is luxurious, potent, and daydream-inducing. An instant mood-booster. I wish this fragrance came in multiple sizes because that bottle is gorgeous, but I don’t need 100ml. I’d buy a 30ml or 50ml in a heartbeat.

A grove by the sea is just that a grove by the sea. Salty, aromatic, green, fresh and herbal. It has a slight vinegar/sour tone from the olive but not in a bad way. Sour should be listed as one of the accords. Very invigorating. The type of fragrance for a go getter. A man's man IMO. The man who wears A grove by the sea is energetic, unique while remaining down to earth. He is ambitious yet still makes time for fun in the outdoors and time for his loved ones. He never tires and there remains a youthful quality to him as he ages. I enjoy this very much but for my husband as it is in my opinion extremely masculine in its tone and execution.

Out of the three newest Arquiste releases, I was certain this would be the one that would woo me the most. It has all the trappings I fall for: salty herbs, bright coniferous notes, and a verdant, watery quality. It's really quite lovely, but I couldn't help but feel that this pastiche of themes has been visited a number of times before by Jean-Claude Ellena and Christine Nagel in the Jardin series. I get the gist of the olive accord here, somewhat bitter-green, oily, tart, not bad—but something leaves me wanting a little more. It's good, though! It's just not galvanizing the fervor in me. Gosh, the bottle is a beauty, though.

This is a very photorealistic and transportive scent that does remind me very strongly of a Mediterranean olive grove by the sea. For the greater part of the fragrance's lifetime I pick up mainly on salty, mineralic, aromatic, and green notes from the olive, rosemary, and cypress. However, in the late drydown maybe 3-5 hours later the blue, atmospheric Abercrombie cologne starts becoming detectible! Up until this point, this is a beautiful scent that I'm glad I've got to try, but I'm not sure I'd upgrade to a full bottle to go around smelling like a summer salad I'd eat with focaccia bread before shopping at Abercrombie.

I smell olive oil, sand/clay, and very tame herbs. This is photorealistic of an arid olive tree grove in Greece, or an Italian beach with seaweed on the ground. I wanted a bit more tanginess, saltiness and fig, a bit more moisture and body. I like it, it transports me to the places I described, but I don't love it. I'm disappointed because this note breakdown is just amazing, literally thought this would be *the one*, but it's not. A Grove By The Sea is very similar to Un Jardin à Cythère by Hermès, but softer and more balanced. Jardin smells like bitter lemon juice in thick oil, whereas Grove smells like a sandy grove.

Salty, green and fresh. This would make a nice more unique alternative to citrus, blue marine, or fig scents for warmer weather. There is something slightly oily and green which could be interpreted as olive oil, but I get more of an olive oil based soap bar. Someone mentioned scented candle, I can see that too. It dries to more the salty aspects and gets a little warmer and woody (I don’t get much of the evergreen notes listed unfortunately as they are too soft and vague). I think they could have taken a little more of a risk with this one, but it wouldn’t match the slightly understated softer style of the brand.

I’m very intrigued by this fragrance. It’s unusual and very pleasant, but not sure it necessarily works on my skin. It smells like being transported to the Mediterranean, seated under a clear sunny sky right next to an olive grove lined with cypress trees, the salty sea air lightly blowing my hair. There’s a charcuterie board in front of me with juicy ripe olives, figs and bread with an olive oil mixed with herbs for dipping inside a small clay bowl. This is a vacation in a bottle, but perhaps better suited, at least for me, as a room spray. I would certainly love for my home to smell like this in the summer!

As an Arquiste devotee (Architect's Club & Sydney Rock Pool are long-time favorites), I thought this was going to be another hit! But on me (F who loves unisex), this leans very masculine, especially the silage. Up close, nose to my wrist, I get much more depth, complexity and nuance that I enjoy. But the olive oil, salt, any fruit / sweetness all vanish at arm's length and I get a lot of... well blended pine with a Mediterranean spine — yep, Abercrombie vibes. I'm hoping my husband likes it, as I think this could be really sexy and complex on a man, especially close up.

This is in unusual but for me an addictive fragrance. I can’t stop smelling my wrist. Who would’ve thought that olive oil and salt would translate into such a beautiful fragrance? This is definitely not for everybody. I find it wears close to the skin. I would love a full bottle but.Arquiste’s prices are a bit over the top for me. It is a beautifully constructed fragrance and if I’ve skimmed over the other notes, it’s only because to me the extra-virgin olive oil and salt notes are what really stand out. Absolutely beautiful if a bit unconventional.

This perfume is a chameleon of a scent! It's like the light fading, in a stand of tall trees..bright green sunny light, fading to soft blue green in twilight... The drydown is salty ocean... I love that. And I love fig. It's a favorite note...more fig in the drydown than the opening... But, the pine and balsam is not my thing. My dilemma is, can I tolerate the opening to get to the beautiful drydown... I'm not sure. Still, it's one of the best green scents I've smelled in a long time. A Grove by the Sea is the perfect name for this perfume.

If Ichnusa is too intense and punchy for you (in my case), then please give A Grove by the Sea a try. They are so similar in that they share the prominent woody-milky fig note, where A Grove by the Sea is more aromatic and, generally, is a bit more intriguing with its multiple facets. What is interesting is that you can catch the smell of the olive oil which gives its one of the kind oily bitterness to the fragrance. I was considering buying Ichnusa earlier but now I think I will get A Grove by the Sea.

The opening is a green that I'm not the hugest fan of, it might be the olives. But it takes about 10 minutes to settle into something that I can best describe as a somewhat masculine candle from Bath & Body Works, not my cup of tea but I get the appeal. After about 2 hours it finally settles into something more subtle that I really like, though at this point it's a skin scent. Overall interesting, and worth it if you know you like the notes listed, but I don't think it's for me.

A lovely olive and salty fragrance with a touch of citrus that quickly vanishes. It dried down to be warm and a little incensey to me. I kept trying to think of what it reminded me of, it was taking me back to the late 2000s and it wasn't until I read another review when it clicked! Old spice Fiji. I wore that all the time back in high school and it feels like a dressed up version of that. A very nice occasional summer fragrance that I think would be great on women as well.