Aqva Amara

I'm new to the fragrance community and my nose isn't trained so take this with a grain of salt. Consider it the perspective of someone who isn't very familiar with what is out there... kind of like most people out in society. This is not as intensely or brightly orange as Light Blue eau intense for men in the opening, but the orange stays around longer, is that the Neroli? Whatever it is, it sticks around after the opening has deteriorated and it's divine. The orange is also darker, dryer, and more masculine, and there is something in here that reminds me of Y edp by YSL but without the typical blue notes. Although I wonder if I don't perceive this to be blue because of the orange packaging. Would love to see if people consider this to be a "blue" fragrance in a double blind testing environment. I also smell a bit of very light smokyness similar to a toned down version of the smokyness in Afnan supremacy silver, but without the pineapple signature of Aventus clones. This might be what is giving me the impression of dirty, dry, or dark orange. It is also distinctly floral to my nose in the best way possible. This belies the common perception of florals being naturally feminine, and although I generally eschew notions of gender specific notes, these smell like "manly" flowers. Orange is my favorite citrus, so it is no surprise that I adore this fragrance. However, I do usually lean toward sweet fall and winter scents with more notes like spice, tobacco, leather, amber, incense, birch tar, sandalwood, cedar, vetiver, Carmel, chocolate, coffee, vanilla, frankincense, cinnamon, clove, almond, and berries. This is in no way sweet, so the fact that I instantly liked this freshie is remarkable in that regard. Perfectly acceptable for the office and the beach, inside or outside, during the hot days of spring and summer. Bvlgari simply MUST bring this back, I can't belive this was discontinued in the first place. At the 2.5 hour mark it is unsurprisingly still strong. I'll update this throughout the day with more notes on performance. Got a compliment from a female coworker around the 3.5 to 4 hour mark. Still good at the five hour mark. Six hour mark, either I'm anosmic or it's a skin scent at this point - I can smell it when I put my nose to my wrist or collar.

I absolutely adore this scent. Very artistic and what a cool release from the house, I’m saddened they discontinued it, but I understand why and I’m happy it exists and to own a couple bottles. Clearly not everyone appreciates this one and that’s ok. In a world full of ambroxin bombs, blue scents, sweet aquatics and gourmands, this one stands in a line of its own. Those looking for something different and who aren’t heavily influenced by trends or the negative reviews of others you may love this, if you can find it. Although I feel this one could be more trendy now than ever since more men’s florals are being released and unisex fragrances are rapidly becoming the direction of the industry. What I get primarily are lovely white florals (neroli) mixed with a tart mandarin, white incense and earthy patchouli. Simply beautiful. If I didn’t know this was marketed as an aquatic I never would have never guessed, but it is fresh and clean. Not exactly soapy clean, but maybe, I suppose there could be a soap out there with familiarities to this scent. This does have natural elements to it, like the smell of flowers in the summer air, of course this isn’t a very masculine scent, but this isn’t feminine, either. I think it’s unisex. This is very different from it’s flankers, which to my nose are clearly aquatics, the OG having deep sea mineral vibes, Marine having sweet and salty beach vibes, and Atlantique being a more aquatic typical blue scent. This is more inland IMO but can easily be worn poolside or along the beach. Better yet, the boardwalk. All versatile in their own right. Although this is a unique scent on its own, I believe it can be thrown into the mix of scents like MFK Aqua Vitae Forte, Amyris Homme Extrait, 1 Million Parfum, BDK Citrus Riviera, Reflection Man, maybe even Dunhill Icon or Terre D’Hermes. Love those and love this. Performance is excellent. I get a full wearing from it every time and pick up awesome whiffs of it throughout the wearing. It projects within an arms length for the first few hours then comes in closer which is to be expected. I’ve never had a problem wearing this on the hottest of summer days but find this to be exceptional warm spring days and mild summer days/evenings. Casual.

Bvlgari Aqva Amara (2014): "Let's try it again....." In 2019 I had what was then the #3 ranked review overall for Aqva Amara on this site. Unfortunately, a year or so later in an attempt to edit it just a bit, I inadvertently hit a wrong key and somehow deleted it ALL in a nanosecond!.....never recreating it. In the past 30+ years in fragrance, AA is in my top (3) men's fragrances of all time and my #1 Spring/Summer fragrance ever. That said, I wanted to take another opportunity to convey to those who may have never experienced this discontinued, quite unique, and highly memorable composition, the "special essence" of it---and how I specifically described it those years ago (and to this day): "Aqva Amara is a one-of-a-kind masculine experience of dominant bitter-sweet Sicilian mandarin, amber, patchouli and incense, perfectly integrated together with the distinctive smell of salty ocean waves crashing on coastline rocks, nearby a field of neroli." (as if located in a seaside town off the Amalfi Coast of Italy). Maybe not quite that dramatic, but all of the elements are definitely there. You'll want to sample AA first, since it's not recommended as a blind-buy fragrance for (3) reasons: 1) It's relatively bold smelling---yet easily regularly wearable if it fits you. 2) Based on various comments here it would seem to be constructed with "calone"--a fragrance compound sometimes used to create the aquatic effect--which for a small minority comes off as the smell of rotten eggs, or otherwise something less than tolerable. And third, the price is relatively high (being discontinued). Overall performance is generally above average to well above average for the majority---impressive considering it's a spring/ summer scent. How good was this fragrance in its heyday? For a solid 5+ year stretch it seemed to be in countless YouTube fragrance reviewer's top-ten spring/ summer lists, with many regularly putting it at the #1 spot.....Ultimately fitting for a spring/summer aquatic masterpiece.

Having tried the original and all of the flankers I can say for certain that this one is way too overhyped. And every Youtube fragrance channel is guilty for pushing this one. Don't get me wrong its good,but it was probably discontinued for a reason. If a scent is a good performer in the market it usually hangs around for at least 5-10 years so Bvlgari pulling this one says a lot. Without the Youtube hype this thing would have faded to obscurity long ago. I would put this behind the Marine and Atlantique flankers on my list. To my nose its a slightly less sweeter and slightly better performing version of of the Aqua Marine version. Marine has about an 8 hour performance on me while Amara clocked in at 10 hours. Amara is also doesn't have that mass apealing type scent that I pick up from the Aqva Marine flanker. I would advise you to get a sample or decant of this one or the Atlantique flanker as that sea note can be off putting. I also see that the neroli note is also giving people issues so keep that in mind. So if you try a sample and want to get a bottle I say go for it,but don't overpay. If the bottle costs more than anything in the Aqva line I say pass. I have seen this thing go as high as 60-70 bucks for the 1.7ml version and that's outrageous and this was on some discounters website. I think 40-50 bucks should be the top that anyone should pay for this stuff. And again if you can't find Amara anywhere please give Aqva Marine a try or Azzaro Chrome Pure which is also extremly close to the citrus sea notes found in Amara. So is this a good fragrance that you should buy? Yes,but please don't let the hype make you overpay for something when you can get just as good or better elsewhere. Also since it has been discontinued and likely not being manufactured anymore be careful that you don't get a bottle that is outdated. I have seen several reviews of people that just purchased bottles and the serial number is from batches from a couple of years ago

After using Clinique Happy For Men for several years, I tried this perfume because people recommended this one for a better projection and sillage. And they are right, this is a very strong and citric perfume, very hard to find everywhere else. It is natural, like pure orange oil. The citrics are backed up with a very sharp mineral note, like iodine floating on the sea mist. Yes, it smells like kelp and ocean, and that's why I love it because I was raised in the beach side and the ocean smells wonderful to me. Maybe, if you are not used to the real smell of the ocean, maybe you will hate this fragrance. It really smells like the beach, and the fragrance gives you a sense of individuality because it is a perfume that no one else is using. It was discontinued by the manufacturer, so no one else will have it in the future. The first time I applied this perfume on my skin it felt so powerful and distracting. I was able to feel the sweet oranges and sea notes all day long while I was working under the summer heat. After a while you get used to it, like with every other fragrance. But you really know the fragrance is there with you. That is important to know, because sometimes when using any other fragrance, your brain tricks you thinking that the smells disappeared and got weak. That is not true, it happens with any other fragrance, even with this one that is the strongest citrical EDT on the market. I used this fragrance for a long corporative charity mountain hike under Colorado's killer summer, and the perfume followed me everywhere for several hours. Refreshing. For me, after some hours this fragrance smells exactly like CH Men Sport, with those sweet mango terpenes and mineral notes. You can only use it if you have a powerful personality and after a very deep shower with clean clothes, otherwise it will make you smell like laundry water. Unisex, my mom uses this fragrance too.