Acqua di Scandola

I could not be happier to have discovered the French Fragrance House 'Parfum D'Empire' I only wish it had been sooner than now! I thought I would only be wrestling with the decision of which herbally, aromatic green scent to buy; should I go fresh summer grass and tomato plants in Corsica Furiosa or dark green vegetale undergrowth in Mal-Aime? But now I've tested Acqua Di Scandola and I'm checking my bank balance to see if I can justify two bottles of perfume, one of them being this one! It's like being blasted with the most bracing fresh salty air and splashes of crystal clear sea waterfrom the shores of the hot Corsican shoreline. So refreshing, so energising, so summery. Then as the perfume settles the green accords begin to peek through amidst the marine joy and you are climbing (scent-wise) up the rocks away from the sea, into aromatic shrubs and late summer plants on the hillside. I've never smelt this combination before. There are so many layers that I am constantly smelling myself and trying to identify what is is I can smell. This is 'the' marine fragrance for people that hate all those screechy cheap marine smells you find in supermarket men's deoderants. This is ozonic, blue, green, transportative, scudding clouds and splashing water. I'm in danger of giving this perfume house the contents of my savings!

There are lots of oceanic fragrances, but it's surprisingly not always easy to find one that's right. Too many either overdo the marine notes, making them harsh, or the mitigating florals and fruity notes, rendering them cloying. This appealing fragrance from Parfum d'Empire hits the sweet spot, and seems neither too briny nor too overwhelmingly voluptuous. This smells to me very natural, with top-quality ingredients (almost always something you can count on from this niche house), and it smells like you would want it to smell: like you've been outdoors in a seaside Mediterranean grove. I cannot vouch for whether this really smells like Scandola in Corsica because that peninsula is pretty difficult to access; apparently that land inspired Marc-Antoine Corticchiato, a Corsican native, to create this lovely fragrance, and this does at least seems like the beautiful scent of a real space. This reminds me in particular of the feel of the charming Gerald Durrell travel books from mid-century about the Mediterranean islands.

I'm a big calone bomb hater; they're always sad, limp, and cheap excuses for perfumes. At this point, they always feel more referential to the idea of perfumery rather than, you know, the ocean. Acqua di Scandola, on the other hand, is completely evocative. Corticchiato constructed a complex and full bouquet of abstracted notes into a full, high-res image, perfectly layering marine, green, and citrusy aspects into the ideal sea breeze. It has a welcome grit and subtle earthiness that is so often missing from the genre, as well as a smokiness that somehow works. Masterfully done, I think it’s overlooked but it's easily a top-tier Parfum d'Empire.

I love the fresh spicy feel of this scent. There is a subtle warmness to balance the freshness and masculinity. I do feel the marine notes - like a hint of little saltiness. The initial impression was warmer. With time the scent becomes greener with the moss and oak surfacing. I test this as a sample (together with other Parfum d'Empire scents). So far this one really fits me - a true unisex, fresh but not cold - I would consider getting a full size bottle.

This smells like the idealized memory of being on the Mediterranean coast. It’s salty, a little sticky, and herbaceous without ever feeling “perfumey.” When I close my eyes, I’m back on the beach in Genoa at sunset, drinking a cheap spritz, surrounded by other young people doing the same. I can smell fresh basil, tart lemon, sun-kissed skin, a cool ocean breeze, and the faintest whiff of men’s designer cologne. An instant love and instant buy.

An uplifting delight to wear. The individual elements blend seamlessly into a deceptively simple but elegant whole. Smooth and bright, sea salt and herbal goodness rolled into one delightful package. The notes listed at LuckyScent (from the perfumer's own notes, I believe) lists the notes as algae extract, juniper, and immortelle flower, but it seems much more complex than just those notes to my nose. A perfect warm-weather scent.

As soon as the sample spritz of Acqua di Scandola settled down I thought, "I own something very similar". Yep, the OG, Royall Lyme. I am now wearing both, one on each arm. If you took Royall Lyme and used niche quality ingredients...backed off the lime a tad...and added a smidge of something mentholated like eucalyptus...you would have Acqua di Scandola! Beautiful. I can see a full bottle of this in my future.

The absolute best marine fragrance I have smelt period, bought soon after smelling.. hear me out Most marine or aquatic fragrances smell really boring to me yet something about this really captivated me.. the opening is a fresh squeeze of lemon in some blue ocean water, it dries down to more mineralic salty qualities, hyrax, juniper, green notes.. wonderful!!! I just wish it lasted a bit longer :cry:

Fragrance number 7 under the radar It starts very salty it’s reminds me of aqua di gio as much as I hate ADG but I liked this opening But in the dry down the saltiness gets mixed with aquatics and they become on the same level It was enjoyable but nothing revolutionary Would I buy it? No I have alot of similar scents Performance is great The closest thing to it is aqua amamra by bulgari

Having tested Acqua di Scandola a hand full of times, I was solidly in the camp of this being a decent scent for warm days: aquatic, salty, green, citrusy. It wasn't really grabbing my senses but was nice enough. However, I just tried it on a really hot day (99F) and, wow... much, much, better. Something about the extreme heat made it click.

Superb opening. Immediately conjures a vast ocean of crystal clear turquoise water reflecting a bright blue sky. Salty, briny, but nothing fishy or dark. It's gorgeously pleasant. But after just about 20 minutes, it fades away into a much thinner version of itself, far too thin. Still pleasant, but approaching nondescript level.

Best Marine fragrance alongside Sel Marin. If you like your marine fragrance green and seaweed like, take this one. Otherwise, for a more salty and citrusy marine fragrance, take Sel Marin. The greenness in this fragrance is unique and Corticchiato didn't use any Calone molecule in it for the marine vibe. 10/10

- aquatic, but not in a department store frag sort of way. It has that attractively funky dirty seaweed scent. - the lemon top note blends well to contribute to the overall scent. - this came across as a male frag to me, but I guess it's unisex if I think about it. - The geranium adds to the mature vibe.

I have a small vial of this that I once received as a press sample when it released and I have cherished it for so long that I might buy it once I'm out. (Which is wild because I have 50+ fragrances already and I don't often allow myself a full size purchase!)

If you like Eau de Rochas original, you'll love this. Same idea (with a few nuances) but powered by aldehydes. Feels three-dimensional compared with Rochas, just excellent.

lemon//herbal ,extremly realistic weirdo .Absolutely nothing about this fragrance feels like man made. Instant love from me

Most aquatic perfumes are awful. They are banshees shrieking their calone or dihydromyrcenol wails, clawing away at your nostrils before descending into nasty and predictable woody mossy dry downs. But, if there is anyone into whose hands I am willing to place my precious olfactory receptors to try to convince me that aquatic perfumes can be done well, can be evocative, and can be interesting, it’s Corticchiato. As usual, he doesn’t disappoint me. Yes, it has largely the usual cast of characters that come with most aquatics but there are some pleasantly unexpected guests and plot twists. This calone laden aquatic salad is topped with hesperidics, basil, and artemisia. Nothing particularly new or interesting here, except that it is worth noting Corticchiato makes sure you can hear the individual voices in the well-done harmony of excellent materials; it’s nicely composed, smooth, and tasteful in the way most aquatics are not but that we would hope and expect from Corticchiato. So far so good. The heart genuinely smells of saltwater and seaweed thanks largely to the calones but also an unexpected but well-calculated use of a ginny juniper. The mineralic, watery, and tight fruitiness that comes with a gin note is minutely but cleverly steered in a direction that gives me an impression of getting a big whiff of stale seawater sitting on top of very aromatic shore-side tide pool rocks. I can’t truly say I’m enjoying the smell of it; it’s not making grin like an idiot, tingling my spine, or making me weak at the knees, but it is certainly interesting and pleasantly refreshing. In the high-heat of this summer day it has a palpable cooling effect. This mineralic, salty, woody juniper type accord strings its way down to the base where, ahem, we get a massive dose of tree moss. So, yeah, ok... predictable and typical, but! - Corticchiato does what few dare to do at this point, which is to give us a massive slug of it. In most aquatics the woody mossy dry down is insipid, gratingly sharp, and generally unpleasant. This is because most perfumers will not overdose an aquatic perfume with their house's materials of choice for the dry down because they know it stinks, and they don’t want it to stink too loudly. Corticchiato chose an excellent quality material for the tree moss dry down, and then pumps the base full of it. Some clever additions of a very non-peppery patchouli and hyrax amp up the earthy, animalic and musky nature of this base that, in summation with the woody tree moss, take this perfume to a more petrichor direction than I anticipated. It smells like the wet ground of a forest line at the shore of the sea. Corticchiato’s materials of choice are so cleverly blended it’s hard to see where one ends and one begins, and that is most apparent with my perception that there doesn’t seem to be distinct heart and base layers so much as there is a massive base that lasts from beginning to end, imperceptible throughout most of the perfume’s life because of how cleverly it gets augmented by shorter lived materials. I realize, as should you, that this is Perfume Composition 101, but it still feels very novel in Acqua di Scandola simply because we rarely get this level of technical skill in an aquatic perfume! So, while it might not be for everyone - much like the aquatic genre itself since it is challenging and generally doesn’t smell “pleasant” in the way most want perfumes to be - I think it might be for even fewer still, since those who like aquatics generally speaking like the garbage we have on our retail shelves. Therefore, I don’t see this being particularly popular for the brand, little alone popular in general. The small number of people who will like it, maybe even love it, are probably the nerds like me with a soft-spot for summer freshies and a challenging perfume, and can take note of the technical care that has gone into it. I hope I’m wrong. I hope it’s well liked, or becomes well liked with some time, and sticks around for a while. I think it’s fantastic, and in anticipation of being right, I bought two bottles just in case - yeah, I like it that much.

Acqua di Scandola is an aquatic marine scent, and an excellent one at that. I have smelled more than my fair share of marine scents of late, and this is one of the best ones. While I thought Profumum Roma Acqua di Sale couldn't be topped, I actually think that AdS gives it a run for its money. Fresh and bracing, with a salty, earthy quality, it is evocative of a sea breeze and lacks the synthetic calone/metallic/ambroxan undertone that so often dominates the second act of such scents. It also avoids the window cleaner pitfall. While "marine" isn't my favourite scent profile, there is much to admire when it is done well. Santa Eulalia Marinis and James Heeley Sel Marin are honourable mentions, but Acqua di Sale or Acqua di Scandola come out on top. AdS has a bright, sunny opening thanks to the aldehydes and squeeze of citrus. The lemon is prominent, but is very effectively used - this is no D&G Light Blue. The lemon note smells fresh and natural and is tempered nicely by the other notes. AdS is salty from the beginning, evocative of a sea breeze on a sunny day. The green, earthy undertone - the DNA of sorts of this brand - adds a seaweed quality, bringing the coastal theme alive. The herbal notes that contribute to this effect are damp and just the right amount of bitter. As it develops, geranium comes to the fore, adding bright, peppery greenness. It is a less challenging alternative to the camphorous myrtle in Acqua di Sale. It is very aromatic, with a nice pine-like freshness emerging as it develops, likely thanks to the (very natural-smelling) juniper. It remains salty, damp and earthy as it dries down, with a light chypre base tying everything together - a predictable if satisfying conclusion. Sillage and longevity are moderate. There isn't much of a mineralic accord here, instead it is salt and citrus on a mossy chypre base, a surprisingly sunny take on a marine scent despite its earthiness. It is a unisex day scent for summertime. Another great scent from Parfum d'Empire. A viable alternative to Acqua di Sale that is perhaps less challenging, but they are distinct scents and preference depends on taste. 4/5.

The opening is a blast of semi-sweet citrus, aquatic-marine and immortelle-juniper bitterness. One of the best openings I've experienced. It's really a lovely combination of citrusy, aquatic, bitter and fresh, and green, as in seaweed- and herbal green. It works so incredibly well. As it is bitter, and quite herbal – this is not for everyone. Natural and elegant. There's a very soft balance. Aquatic notes are often over-done, but this is delicately composed. I agree, the opening has a mandarin-vibe to it, although it's not listed. Intersecting with Goutal, in a classic-conservative regard. Far away from current trend, or modernity. I'm not saying it's dated, not at all. Timeless elegance. Perfect for a Mediterranean island summer vacation. Unisex, leaning masculine. After having worn this for a while, it has certainly been growing on me. Incredibly versatile for spring and summer, and quite soft for being an aquatic. It doesn't feel as synthetic as many aquatics typically come across. This is really in a category of its own, and shouldn't be compared to designer fragrances. The elegant bitterness is what gets me in the end. So incredibly beautiful. More mature, than youthful.

This was a blind buy, and one that I did not regret. Acqua di Scandola is a surprising and refreshing pivot away from the typical “blue” aquatics that interest me. This is more like a clear see-through ocean water experience. You are not right by the ocean per se, but nearby, just a short walk across the clean warm sand, at an upscale beachside resort. You are seated in a comfy wicker chair near lovely ladies in floral sun dresses and relaxed gentlemen in white linen shirts. The breeze is light and you are contemplating how life could even get any better as you sip slowly on a refreshing Sprite cocktail. One of my first impressions of this fragrance was that it reminded me of Sprite or 7up. The lemon and green notes came off right away with a slight fizzle. Now don’t let that deter you because this smells 20x better than Sprite. I was also very impressed how perfectly unisex this feels. It is a grown-up, not sweet or flashy, fragrance. I purchased it for layering. I personally would like a more aquatic focus, and that is what I plan to do with layering. This fragrance is more like a snapshot experience that includes aquatics, and I believe that is what the designer intended.