Acqua di Sale

I wanted to talk about magic for a second. Every now and then you come across a perfume that, in contact with the skin, in the air, magic happens. Lately, I have the impression that most people in the field (the customers, and subsequently the manufacturers) are looking for performance. The compliments. The beastmode effect. That's understandable. Who wants to spend their money, and the smell isn't noticeable by you or others? But more exciting (for me at least), to come across a perfume that tells a story. That take you on a ride. Whether it's by evoking past memories, or describing future fantasies. Touching deeply. Many perfumes, in the marketing brief, try to make a connection between a story and the fragrance. We all know it. But... when it succeeds in reality, without effort and with a sense of natural quality, then it really is...a success. And if the performance is also great.. Then heyyyy! Acqua di sale By prufumum roma. water and salt. Seemingly simple. The category of aquatic perfumes is vast. And it's no wonder that Aqua di Sale has been at the top of the category for many years according to the community's discourse. This perfume should be given a chance. On first impression it is easy to rush and rule it out, and it happened to me. When I ordered a sample I quickly said no. A year later, I wore it properly and then I understood. This is not a regular Aquatic. The perfume has 4 ingredients: -Salt -algae - Myrtle -Virginia Cedar That's it. It smells like you passed by the sea, a little windy, and the wind also brings with it a slightly salty moisture, a little fresh, a little greenish/grassy from the vegetation in the area. This is how it opens. Both fresh/watery on the one hand but not ("transparent and light") and aromatic spices on the other. In the middle there is a dance of the marine notes, the algae, the woods and the myrtle for a good few hours, that gives a feeling of relaxed and luxurious European elegance for a long time. 3 hours after I sprayed 3 times, i was at the beach, it was windy, and from a distance of 4 meters, a girl I know said.. "Wow, is that you? What did you put on? ". What, do you smell from there? I asked.. "Sure, ...it's gooood" No wonder in Italy, it is the brand's top selling perfume. And in Dry Down, on my skin, I was surprised to regularly get such a cinnamony sweetness, mixed with the woods. It turns out that Myrtle has some sweet, smoky tones, something that makes the perfume pleasant even in the cooler months. I think it's important to note that this is a must-try perfume, and not a blind buy. In this sense it resembles Orto Parisi's Megamar. They are both in the marine category (not blue and clean) and both perform well above average, in my opinion the Aqua Di Sal is higher quality and more natural in terms of raw materials and the general feeling (the oiliness from the splash remains for about fifteen minutes). Scent wise, they are not really similar (there is a whole discussion on the subject here and on YouTube). The perfume in my opinion maybe leans a bit masculine, although I would be happy to smell it on a woman. it's interesting. Pleasant. Each wear is a little different, as each time other facits are revealed from the seemingly "simple" notes. That's it, I feel like I've rambled a bit, but sometimes when you come across magic like I said at the beginning ,and there's a lot of depth....

★★★★★ *Updated Review* This became my signature scent. Therefore I had to change my older review and talk about it in a more personal manner. YSL Kouros has been my signature scent, a scent forgotten in time where only vintage versions have the character I need from the scent as the new formula is a different scent to my nose. I needed to escape from the whole vintage hunting activity on ebay and other sources, and find a signature from scents I love that are still in production. A good signature for me is a scent that is capable to offer a pleasing aura during any season and at any temperature. A good signature scent also smells like an aura of indistinguishable notes, a blend of uniqueness (i dont want people to associate me with citrus or leather or any specific note). I have tried (trial means full wearing) all the fragrances of all of my favourite designer houses (Hermes, Kenzo, Chanel, Dior etc.) and many niche creations as well (Heeley, Miller Harris, Creed, L' Artisan Parfumeur, Amouage, Diptyque, Xerjoff and many, many more) Acqua Di Sale amazed me from the first sniff, only to gradually manage to get under my skin after months of wearing it. Acqua Di Sale is supposed to smell like a wild sea, and one would think that it is a scent appropriate for summer. The thing is, that the scent of the sea is a very personal and specific scent that its perception is relying on many different factors (is it a beach in Greece? Atlantic ocean? The beach in Brighton? What kind of vegetation is by the shore?) A fragrance won't smell exactly like the sea, but it will have a character that may evoke that mood or sentiment. To me, Acqua Di Sale smells like a luxurious aura, creamy and mysterious salty minerals with herbal sweet undertones. It doesn't evoke an exclusively summery setting as it is a quite melancholic scent in character, and also the outstanding sillage and longevity can shine through even in winter. Out of all the compliments I have received (many as you get noticed due to the amazing projection), nobody asked me "What's that fish scent that you're wearing?" or "Wow, you really smell like the beach, what is it?" therefore all the comments and reviews that talk about fish are just imaginations going wild based on the marketing that sets the fragrance in a seaside concept. This scent is an aura, not specific notes. It has a calm and mysterious character. It has a high concentration of perfume oil which justifies the amazing longevity and the price, whereas poor old Creeds that vanish in a couple of hours don't. Anything I smelled from this house is of a higher quality, but this one was the one that clicked with who I am and what could compliment my personality. This costs 170 euros in the Italian boutique and they ship online as well (Harrods sells it for 260 pounds) therefore, you all know what to do. One spray on my chest is enough, so a bottle will last me a long time, therefore I don't think it's a bad deal after all when many designer perfumes at a price of 80 last me less than 6 months due to respraying after they disappear. People can say whatever, the quality is undeniably there, and if you're in doubt, wear a Creed on your left hand and a Profumum on your right and test it throughout the day.

All of the fragrances from this house (besides acqua viva) are more challenging than you might expect going in. My first impression to the discovery set was terrible outside of acqua viva. You really do have to give them time to teach you about themselves. I was so confused why they put the scent profiles together the way they did at first. Why is this very fresh and airy but have this... "funk" about it? But what I'm really asking is "why does this have so much depth". This isn't a mass appealer imo but it definitely is an appealer and is one of those fragrances that will illicit stronger reactions either direction than your mass appealers. To someone that can't appreciate it, it will definitely stink but someone that enjoys it will really appreciate how unique it is. Smells like rich seaweed cleaned by crisp clear seawater drying in the sun on top of a piece of wood or something along those lines but amplified by 10. This stuff is loud. Definitely a high class marine fragrance that doesn't really jump out as a "fragrance" so much as an extension of self. It's got this very interesting balance of what could be considered challenge contrasted with its appealing freshness that would come across to others as being your bodywash, lotion, aftershave, or maybe you just came back from some aquatic activity. By that I mean it doesn't come across intentional, if that makes any sense. With Aventus, you know someone is wearing a fragrance. With this, you smell like it's more so YOU and the things you do (self care or activities) that has you smelling like that. Very clean scent that I would love my clothes always to smell like, and in that regard I'm saying it leans toward the linen feel but doesn't come across linen-ish at all. You really wanna be cleaned up nicely when you wear this. I wanna say white tee type vibes but you kinda wanna make this a button down tbh. Absolute button down, loose taco meat in the sun type vibes. Could definitely be considered unisex as there's nothing decidedly masculine but it does without a doubt lean masculine. Not a single feminine attribute outside of maybe the myrtle that serves as an excellent accompaniment to the wood because they blend seamlessly. I might even say it comes across a little barbershoppy. Very strong fragrance, sits in the same bracket as Ani by Nishane, maybe even a notch higher. You'll be lucky to catch a breath where you don't smell it. Especially if you're a wrist/arm sprayer. Just don't or you will almost definitely start to get sick of it quick. 1 spray is great, 2 nears overspray territory depending on where your other spray is. It is that loud. You'll want to go easy just because of the profile of the fragrance as well.

Acqua di Sale is pretty much in line with most of the review on Fragrantica: fresh, herbal ( myrtle/absinthe?), almost medicinal, over a mineralic salt that's more wet stone than ocean spray; however, it does also have an odd almost unpleasant undertone (not seaweed). Afer a week of wear I not only got used to it but actually started liking it. I definitely get a coastal vibe, for me it's summers on the Swedish Archipelago (WAAY north of the Med), laying on warm moss-spotted granite after a dip in the freezing Baltic, the smell of sea water slowly evaporating off the warm boulder. That exact moment, bottled. It's a very natural, unadorned experience, perfect in it's simplicity, but also very powerful/long lasting. Surprisingly, I got more compliments with this in a week of summer wear than anything else in my collection. I also discovered something else about this house that NO ONE on this forum talks about. Like Jo Malone who famoully made layering a thing, this house deliberately builds minimal structures meant to be layered. At their flagship store in Rome they'll walk you through recommended combinations. The difference is Jo Malone does it at cologne strength while Profumum works at some of the highest oil concentrations in the fragrance universe. Their releases aren't fragile compositions that other scent will crush. They fuse with whatever you put next to them and hold on for hours. So I tried it with one of their most recommended pairings: AdS over Ambra Aurea (I had a 5ml decant of this by coincidence). It was SPECTACULAR: layering the two combines the ambergris (Ambra Aurea) with the ocean it came from. Salty, warm, animalic, complete. Ay Caray!, I had an unexpected urge to make love to my arm!!! I suspect any simple amber or citrus forward scent witll work will with AdS. Update, I went for a 250 meter open water swim in San Diego bayy for the Coronado Jurnior Lifguard graduation father/son swim this morning at 8 am. I had one spray of AdS on my arm and it's now Noon and I can still smell it! Nuclear longevity!!!

Acqua di Sale is perhaps the best marine scent I have ever tried. Salty, aromatic and deeply refreshing, it is a high-quality, slightly unusual take on this scent profile. It is also very natural-smelling, thankfully avoiding the synthetic metallic pitfalls that mineralic marine scents so often fall foul of. There is no calone-esque molecule acting as a filler either. Evocative of a sea breeze, it is a summer holiday in a bottle. As @imnsvgz below puts it, it smells like your skin after swimming in the sea (in the very best way!). ADS is briskly salty from initial spray, cool and refreshing. The sea salt is complemented to perfection by aromatic myrtle, an underrated green floral note that is an inspired addition here. It is slightly camphorous, keeping things very fresh and bracing. As it develops, the seaweed comes to the fore, earthy and salty - a logical addition to this scent profile. It tempers the camphorous myrtle and enhances the salt. There is a lovely mineralic quality that emerges as it progresses, reminiscent of a rocky seaside. Soft woodiness comes to the fore as it begins to dry down, rounding out the base but remaining light and natural. The camphor overstays its welcome in my opinion, lingering until well into the drydown, but this isn't a dealbreaker. It fades to a musky, salty, slightly camphorous skin scent. The performance is impressive, particularly considering its scent profile - sillage is strong and longevity is moderate. A unisex summer daytime scent, this is olfactory art that perfectly encapsulates the sea. It is also quite wearable without being a crowdpleaser - while it is a summer freshie, it is a road less travelled. Profumum Roma's scents might be expensive, but they're worth it - this is what niche perfume should be like. Excellent. 4.5/5.