Akragas

#1169 in my "Tour de Fragrance" I miss the ocean. Half my life was spent living on the waterfront and I miss it. Left my home on Monterey Bay for a tour in Korea. Lost my house on Commencement Bay in a divorce. Moved from my home in Orange County for a promotion in a place that's a two hour drive from saltwater. But I spent the next twenty years traveling the globe, rarely seeing the inside of my own house. So, until smelling this scent, I haven't noticed the vague claustrophobia I feel being this far inland. This marine scent is the first to make me nostalgic for my former homes. To my mind, marine scents represent a departure from the fragrance roads most traveled. The first I owned was Ralph Lauren "Polo Sport", a fairly nondescript scent I bought at the pharmacy and kept in the gym bag. The second was Nautica "Blue Ambition", a scent I gave away because of it's terrible performance. Then I discovered Bvlgari's "Aqva" scents which I enjoy enough to have kept several to this day, along with one Maison Alhambra clone thereof, "Aquilo". I've tried decants of V Canto "P.D.F.", Bond No 9 "Wall Street" and "Island", all fine scents. But this "Akragas", for me, is next level. It smells like jogging along Monterey Bay at sunup (a waterfront since ruined by development). The really strong salt & seaweed calms down in about ten minutes when it smells more like the coastal rocks I used to sit on to watch the seals while they bobbed in the waves watching me. Yeah, this is very nostalgic for me. I don't know how attractive it is or who will or won't like it, but I don't know that I really care. I hate reviews that say things like, "There's a timeless quality to this scent. Like the ocean itself." Just kidding. It's so not timeless. While I like this scent very much, I find the performance disappointing. It completely disappears even as a skin scent by lunch, which seems a commonality with the marine scents I've tried and own. So you will definitely need to respray midday at work, and probably wouldn't make it through an hour of manual labor, but it'll last through a dinner date. And though I'm not sure smelling this is even emotionally healthy for me, I'm in for a bottle.

Akragas by Tiziana Terenzi represents a new direction for the brand, from the classic overly fruity, synthetic, sweet, musky, oudy, heavy and dense fragrances. I am aware that this fragrance was released three years ago, so it’s not a brand new launch, but I haven’t heard anything about it on social media, until I saw it on a shelf during a recent trip in the South of Spain. Me, being a huge lover of aromatic, marine, aquatic, salty, white florals, I felt instantly that I have to test, after checking out the notes. And I was right! It’s a glorious scent of this genre. It’s not an entirely unique scent profile, but from what I’ve tried from the brand, it’s unique. With that being said, if you already have perfumes like Salina, Aqua di Sale, A’mmare, Sandflower or Reveal, all mentioned by others reviewers to be similar to Akragas, you kind of have Akragas!!! I have bought Akragas even though I own three of the scents mentioned above because I love the source of inspiration for this scent, the town of Agrigento, in Sicily, because Tiziana Terenzi fragrances are performing impeccably (Akragas is no exception) and because I am running low on my Salina bottle. So I bought Akragas specifically as a replacement for Salina, which is 95% identical juice. Not to forget that the price was very reasonable, they were having summer sales up to half off price for quite a few niche brands, including Tiziana Terenzi! I would highly recommend Akragas to anyone who loves this scent DNA, irrespective of their gender! It’s not a beastly scent like others from the brand, but it has great longevity and moderate sillage. And nicer looking packaging/presentation compared to Salina, for example. Overall, exceptional aromatic, aquatic, salty summer weather fragrance!! Tiziana Terenzi hype has died down, but they still release beautiful scents, give the brand a shot, you might discover little gems as well.... I am eyeing next Tyrenum and Arethusa, both beautiful salty, marine scents, with a variety of fruits, tea, caramel and spices!

I really like this one. It's decent quality. The top and mid are fantastic, a 10/10. They don't last but an hour then it's the smooth base notes as listed which has a pretty common but quality smell with some lingering marine elements that I rate an 8/10. It's got some initial power that fades quicker than expected. The smooth base last awhile on my skin with me still detecting it the next morning. I would love if the top and mid lasted longer. An easy 9 out of 10 for me. Really enjoying this. As of now it's recently been available at an absolute steal of a bargain that I'm afraid to bring recognition to. Tiziani Terinzi is an enigma of sorts. Are they an ingredient showcase? They have some sort of extra access to premium ingredients. They flirt with being something between Mancera and Xerjoff. I'm enjoying going through their collections. Don't fear but use caution when exploring. This house has some of the most dynamic price volatility at discounters with some real treasures out there hiding and popping up once in awhile. So sample now and get that radar developed for the random deals. I recommend

I blind bought a bottle at an incredible price, and when it arrived and I tried it I wasn't impressed with it very much, but sniffing it for hours on my forearm, and felt how wonderfully it developed to a soft musky fresh scent I couldn't resist buying a backup. No regrets, this is not the typical cloying TT fragrance, it's elegant, sophisticated day time fragrance you can wear dressed up or casually. Between this and Foconero, I don't need to waste money on horribly overpriced designer fragrances anymore for the summer. These are fresh, high quality, non-offensive and I feel they more than the usual average of natural ingredients. This is better than Foconero, and while it's not bad, Foconero's opening is not its best attribute. They are both decently long lasting for freshies, but I do enjoy Akragas more.

Tiziana Terenzi boasts an absolute masterclass of a marine fragrance with Akragas. This transports me to a rocky coast, and it's almost as if all my troubles magically whisk away the moment I apply this. If only. Nevertheless, Akragas is undoubtedly one of my favourites in the marine / aquatic category. I'd argue this is certainly an underestimated fragrance. Have hardly heard a peep about it since its release, aside from what's on this page. It would benefit from lasting longer, as I really only get a noticeable 4 hours out of it. From then on, it really settles down, to the point where I can hardly detect it, aside from maybe the faintest of occasional traces (unless I'm just going nose blind). But really, everything else is completely positive in my books. Glad to have a bottle.