Custo Woman L’Eau

Custo Barcelona L’Eau is supposed to be a lighter version of the original Custo Barcelona fragrance that came out in 2008. The same “nose”, Alberto Morillas, developed both. For CB L’Eau, the top notes are bergamot, grapefruit and galbanum. Heart notes are peony, jasmine and “exotic fruits.” Base notes are musk, tonka bean, woody notes. It smells very European to me but not French. Catalan, perhaps! Definitely a citrusy floral with woody undertones: bright, cheerful, feminine, warm. A little offbeat and funky, like the fashions of Custo Barcelona, but like them also well within the mainstream. CB L’Eau starts off bright and juicy, but the galbanum top note gives it a green, herbal astringency that cuts the sweetness of the citrus notes and balances them. It slowly blossoms into a light, fruity floral — more flowers than fruits, which I like. This part of its progression matches the bright pink of the peony notes and the pretty bottle with its light silver metallic inset and asymmetrical cap. The last phase of CB L’Eau is lightly musky, with sweetness from the tonka bean and dryness from the woody notes. I can still smell the base notes on my wrist ten hours after first spraying myself. I like this fragrance a lot! It wouldn't be an everyday choice for me, but it reminds me of the playful side of Barcelona itself, all feminine curves and bright Gaudi-esque colors bathed in sunlight. This fragrance isn't taking itself too seriously and we shouldn't either. Just have fun with it!

A unique, enticing, fresh citrus and woody fragrance with a cool story and interesting design. At first I mistook this with the original Custo Barcelona but since I could smell a wooden note that was not listed in the original, I searched some more and found this L'eau. This is quite masculine if you compare with the citruses you can find in the market nowadays but to me this is definitely unisex, it is not sweet just subtly, it is mostly bitter citrus and spicy/balsamic wood - to me these notes stand out the most but my husband said the jasmine is also very noticeable so depends on the nose. Can recommend to those who want a nice, refreshing and unique fragrance.