Costarela

Costarela opens with a deliciously fresh citrus zing (Italian bergamot), softened by some leathery, aromatic sweetness (saffron) and the distinctive salty, smooth, creamy note of Ambroxan. Unusual but enthralling is the combination of the bright bergamot and the sunny, warm saffron which almost feels like the sun sparkling on the sea. The Ambroxan though is not as penetrating as in some other creations where it overpowers all other notes right from the beginning. "Ambroxide, widely known by the brand name Ambroxan, is a naturally occurring terpenoid and one of the key constituents responsible for the odor of ambergris (natural grey amber). Ambroxide is synthesized from sclareol, a component of the essential oil of clary sage". (Wikipedia) Here it masterly supports the unique "hot sand" smell of this wonderful perfume which delivers a velvety-warm and sensual experience combined with mineral saltiness... it's especially lovely, if you spray it on, wait a while and then head to the beach (or just go outdoors). This adds an even more authentic note from sun-warmed skin with sea salt (provided, your skin gets to see some sun ;)). Sadly, all the other notes despite Ambroxan almost disappear on my skin after approximately 1-2 hours, so I started layering it with Creed's "Virgin Island Water" which is THE ultimate Masterpiece summer fragrance for me and which I completely adore due to its freshness, flanked by coconut, ylang-ylang and rum (and with enormous longevity). Layering those two adds a salty-hot-sand side note to the citrus-coconut-rum blend... and the dry-down of both together is ultimate perfection, if you prefer an outdoorsy-fresh-air-beach-wind-sun-touch to your overall impression/look, rather than being a walking bouquet of flowers (and I'm a white-flower-lover!), especially at work. Leave the "Virgin Island Water" out and use "just" Costarela and you get an even cleaner, very office-safe perfume which you can also use in autumn or spring or to add an interesting salty-mineral twist to other perfumes as it doesn't exactly smell like a perfume (a little similar to the Escentric Molecule perfumes...). It shows a perfect balance between salt, warmth and aquatic marine notes - while being more mineral and salty than the usual marine/aquatic theme and having no sticky suntan lotion touch at all. Overall longevity is also good (but projection very moderate) and you always smell as fresh as if coming from a walk at the seashore. It really evokes that unique feeling of freedom during summer holidays, where it’s only the sea, the sun and you which matters, while you are lying in the sand on the beach, dozing off, being lightly sunburned, carefree and tired from doing nothing, listening to the sound of the waves crashing on the shore. A dreamy scent of the sea. "When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused." (Rainer Maria Rilke)

As a lover of Tardes and El Born from the same house and quite different from Costarela, I had high hopes for the new Carner ! From my first little sample, yes I was slightly dissapointed. But it's only because it has a much lighter,, cologne like approuch. The smell is excellent and is beautifully wrapping your skin in its sheer softness. On me I get a lovely citrus start, musky and a tiny vibe of salt or "the beach vibe" but lacking the coconut or suntan oil feeling...wich I find great ! It is smooth, fresh , airy, breezy you name it. Very wearable but needs to be resprayed several times during the day, but really - its lovely, so I don't mind. From my point of view...CARNER Barcelona has done it again ! Congrats to another success to your perfume family !

Costarela is beach in a bottle! This one blown me away! As soon as I smelled the scent on my skin, I quickly imagined myself near to Marinha beach, located in Algarve, Portugal, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean, the water is cristal clear, surrounded by this natural and beautiful rocks and caves. The scent is very well balanced, where you can smell the bergamot, the saltiness of the ambegris/ambroxan, sand accord and I detect some musk too. Because of that, the versatility on this one might be short. I just see myself wearing this fragrance in casual situations, at the beach, holidays, summer parties... well, Summer, in general. Still need to try it more to have a clear opinion about the performance, but, scent wise, 10/10.

Such a pleasent and calming vibe this gives off. Daytime, bright and sunny. While the notes aren't anything "different" or "new". Who said we can't enjoy "pleasent" every once in a while? Edit (4-21-24): man oh man letting this beauty Macerate for a bit will do this fragrance WONDERS, easily has slowly climbed itself up my unique freshie list, went from partially regretting a full bottle to wanting to get a backup. Even my significant other will wear it from time to time in terms of a unisex option. Also unique enough to know I know no one else will be wearing this when I'm choosing to and nice enough to garner loads of compliments, let alone pretty solid sillage and projection throughout the day. Underrated Gem right here.

I really like this offering from Carner which I'm becoming a huge fan of. In my perpetual search for a perfect fresh, salty, marine fragrance I acquired this one recently. This is not anything new in the category of summer scents but it's very good nonetheless. I can detect note of bergamot the most and then in the background I get a hints of sandy, salty notes. It gives of a feeling like if you were siting at some classy beach café, having a cold, refreshing lemunade and light breeze is carying around scent of sea mist and warm sand. Very lovely indeed.