Sandflowers

It’s really hard for me to understand why some people sound so offended by this, lol! Maybe a bad bottle? I’ve found Sandflowers to be an INCREDIBLY easy wear; fresh, interesting enough, and not overbearing (as some complain about Montale/Mancera). It is 100% the least perfumey perfume I’ve ever smelled... as in, it’s the most believable “this is just how good I smell” type scent. This might be your perfect “my skin but better” scent if you love nature or your spirit animal or soulmate is a mer-person. Plus, the realistic marine accord layers with everything I’ve tried so far and really enhances the performance of other scents! Try it with a vanillic gourmand and tell me I’m wrong! OBSESSED. There’s nothing spicy, sharp, floral, fruity, animalistic, overly vegetal, or “cooked.” It’s just airy, comforting, and guaranteed to trigger some ancient olfactory memories of kites and sandcastles. It’s how you hope you smell after swimming in the sea and air drying in the sun on a perfect day. It’s no saltier than Olympea (though Olympea has a lot more going on), less mossy than BR540, less juniper than Gentle Fluidity Gold, and maybe the same level of sandalwood as you’d find in Crystal Noir or Gris Charnel (but less than Vintage Radio). I find it exceptionally well balanced. Instant chakra aligner, lol! If you like clean “resort” or “spa” scents you’ll probably love this. This is like Musamam White’s less fruity or perfumey cousin from the Pacific NW. This is Wood Sage & Sea Salt if the soapy note was replaced with a literal fresh breeze. This is the exact feeling you get when you’ve been driving for hours to the beach, finally get out of the car, and take your first huge breath of sea spray and drying grasses on herby sand dunes bordering the forest. This one takes you there.

This perfume will forever remind me of Sardegna and my lovely host that wore Sandflowers as her signature perfume. Such a realistic interpretation of the vibe of that chic Mediterranean island, chilled, fresh, aromatic, salty sea breeze mixed with a creamy, smooth sandalwood and earthy, mossy accents. To me, it’s the perfect combination of notes that creates a refreshing, relaxing experience, almost like being in a spa. From what I’ve seen, it’s one of Montale’s lowest rated perfumes here and one of the most looked over by anyone on social media channels. Me, personally, I haven’t seen or heard anyone mentioning Sandflowers when they reviewed the house of Montale and it was my wonderful Italian host who introduced me to it after smelling it on her on several occasions, during a trip in the North of the island, last fall. It completely fell off my mind until today when I wore Salina by LO, which is another awesome aquatic, salty, marine, mineral fragrance that is somewhat similar to Sandflowers. I remembered instantly of her and Sandflowers and I am going to purchase a bottle for myself. It’s your typical gender neutral, summer time, easy reach perfume, with Montale’s usual performance and low prices. I am less than a quarter with my bottle of Salina and Sandflowers is cheaper, easily available for purchasing and longer lasting. It’s also less floral than Salina, even though judging by the name you’d expect the opposite, but will serve the same occasions and it has a meaningful, nostalgic value for me personally! For those who love this fresh, aromatic, salty, mossy, marine inspired perfume, I would highly recommend getting your nose on Sandflowers. It’s so slept on that’s unbelievable!!!

SO glad I bought this! It was a blind buy due to seeing a 100ml bottle for a really good price that I didn’t want to miss out on. I was apprehensive as to whether I’d like it based on reviews.. it seems to be quite polarising, but thankfully it’s a hit with me! A unique & interesting unisex fragrance for my collection. Firstly I can really see similarities between this & womanity, also hints of CK2 too (which is one of my fav fragrances & discontinued so happy to have this in my collection now). This & CK2 both have hard to pin notes I feel. They both have an outdoorsy & ozonic feel to them that’s not your every day scent profile - definitely together in the unusual scent family. As per some reviews, it does have a medicinal, iodine, metallic touch at the beginning but weirdly I don’t actually mind this. It’s also very cool, aquatic & minerally. It’s versatile so I actually think this could be worn all year round, because for me it doesn’t necessarily evoke being on a hot beach. It just makes me think of fresh, overcast (even rainy) afternoons. I’m very glad I got this & that this blind buy was successful on this occasion. That being said this definitely is not a safe blind buy because of how outside of the box this is. Edit: weirdly this stings/burns my skin on my neck when I spray 🤔

Thankfully this smells nothing at all like Womanity to my nose. Whereas Womanity has a sense of being 'wet' (over-ripe juicy figs, milky fig sap, salt water and caviar), Sandflowers to my nose has a sense of being 'dry'. That is, I pick up a sense of ocean salt air, dry sun-warmed sand, and dry woods. There is a sort of fruitiness about it, but I'm guessing this comes from the juniper berries and I don't find it too sweet at all (unlike Womanity's over-ripe sweetness). I've never smelt Aqua Motu so I'm unable to compare its likeness. I actually find Sandflowers a little similar to 4711's Acqua Colonia Intense Sunny Seaside of Zanzibar. While they don't share many notes at all, I do get a sense of watermelon from the Montale that doesn't seem to be reflected in its notes. It's definitely 'beachy', but not at all like sunscreen or tanning oil that I would usually associate with a beach type smell. I've been exploring more and more of Montale's creations and each time (so far) I have been very pleasantly surprised. As others have said it's not very 'Montale' like, but I do seem to get good performance from this.

I’ve been into Montale lately and this one really surprised me. It is a fresh and salty, slightly sweet great scent for summer. If you like marine scents but, don’t like a fishy sea weed smell, this may b worth a try. The opening is like a fresh juniper breeze that quickly moves into an ocean scent. Living in CA, this is what I smell when I go to the beach- the salty ocean air, some hints of juniper in the distance, sun-kissed sand and skin. To me it is a lighter and more youthful Profumum Aqua di sale. It is similar to Armani Bleu Turquoise without the heady vanilla, and density. Of these three, Sandflowers may b the most versatile and the least expensive. Moderate performer for a Montale, superior performer for most summer marine scents. Super interesting, unique and an instant love.