Costa Azzurra

I just bought a 50ml bottle from Neimans today and I'll start off by saying that while many may think that this fragrance isn't interesting or different enough to be part of the Private Blend line... it needs to be. Yes, this is more your mainstream "cologne" scent, but regardless, its still very good. Tom Ford has been completely off his mark lately with the majority of the Atelier d'Orient collection, (aside from Plum Japonais), his Jardin Noir collection, Jasmin Rouge, Santal Blush, Tobacco Oud, etc. The majority of the ones he's been coming out with lately don't deserve to even be mentioned in the same sentence with some of the originals like Tobacco Vanille, Arabian Wood, the original Oud Wood, Noir de Noir, etc., much less actually sold as part of the same line. He's been needing to put out something that many people will like in order to keep the line alive, and this is exactly what he's done. Everybody should like Costa Azzurra, its not too strong, its a fairly "happy" scent, its just good overall. Nobody who smells it is going to think it smells bad, just some may like it more than others. To be honest, it reminds me a little of Z by Ermenegildo Zegna.... aside from the fact that Tom Ford's is much better quality of course, smells better, and isn't "chemically" the way Z sort of is. Overall this is just a good fragrance to have in your collection. If you don't want to spend as much money, you could get Chanel Allure Homme or something along those lines for a lot less money..... but still I like Costa Azzurra a lot. Its definitely more of an everyday "going to get Starbucks", "going out with your girlfriend to see a movie", "wanting to ask a girl on a date", etc. kind of fragrance. Its not going to be Tobacco Vanille, its not going to be Tuscan Leather, its not going to be Noir de Noir, but at the end of the day, its still a damn good Tom Ford that you can wear pretty much everywhere. Also as a side note, the 50ml bottle I purchased was sold for $215. I'm not sure if its only this one and Mandarino di Amalfi that are selling for $215 or if he's planning on upping the entire line to that same price... but I don't really understand what a $5 price difference does? If it only applies to the new ones, maybe it'll just be that way for a little while until they're sold in more stores, and then go down to the regular $210 (which is actually a price increase from what the bottles were originally priced at about 6 years ago when I first discovered the line lol). If anybody has any questions feel free to message me! Hope you all get a chance to smell it, because like I said, while its not anything super unique or groundbreaking for fragrances as a whole, its definitely unique and groundbreaking within the Tom Ford collection of fragrances. At the end of the day, it is a really good smelling fragrance.

I read some disparaging comments on this one so trying it for the first time I thought it was potentially going to be somewhat disappointing. Summery aquatics get a bad rap to begin with. Why? Longevity is always a factor. You just can't sustain natural citruses for any extended period of time due to their unstable and fleeting nature. Enter all sorts of synthetics, yet the result will still be the same...."fresh", "refreshing" and or "clean" will be the description. That being said, TF set the bar pretty high with Neroli Portofino as far as longevity and sillage was concerned. Unfortuantely you don't get too much variation with these types of creations either. More complex scents for winter or fall will invariably have some citruses as the top notes and they will immediately wear off, but it's no big deal when you have a huge batch of patchouli, musc, labdanum, cardamom, etc...underneath. Make a whole scent out of the top notes? It's not that easy folks and it ain't gonna last. All that being said, this is a pretty unique take on the aquatic/citrus genre. Salty, a little bit dirty yet clean, and a beautiful citrus backdrop make this way better than what many naysayers make it out to be. In fact, this is an excellent fragrance in my opinion. Huge sillage for the first hour to two, then it dies down pretty significantly sillage wise, but it does last on the skin for another four to five hours. It's not abnormal for this type of fragrance to need to be reapplied after a few hours. It's actually quite a joy to experience that first hour or so over and over again. Make a small decant, take it with you and freshen up. People will love you for the way you smell. As for the price, of course it's expensive. It's Tom Ford. That damn blue bottle is gorgeous so if you have trepidation about reapplying an expensive fragrance, stay away. However I don't feel this should detract from this genre or this particular scent. Yann Vansier is a master perfumer and this is a summer scent that is truly worth the price.

Bazı parfümlerde fiyat-performans dengesi önemli oluyor. Yüksek rakamlar ödediğiniz zaman beklentinizde benzer şekilde yükseliyor. Uzun süredir yaz ayları için uygun, öyle olduklarını iddia edenlerden ayrışan bir parfüm peşindeyim. Sayısız denemem sonrasında geriye sadece Cartier Declaration Essence ve St. Dupont Passenger Cruise kaldı. İkizi de bence üst düzey yaz parfümleri. Ancak hayranlık uyandıracak bir yapıları yok. Bu arayış devam ederken Tom Ford Costa Azzurra ya yapılan övgüler dikkatimi çekti ve kullanmaya başladım. Üste sıraladığım iki parfümden ileri gidebilmiş değil. Ancak fiyatı onların en az 2 katı. 50 ml olduğu düşünülürse aslında 3-4 katı. Ancak performans konusunda zayıf olduğu yönler var. Kalıcılık konusunda Cartier'in yanına yaklaşamıyor. Koku dağılımı konusunda ise St. Dupont la baş edemez. Koku güzel. Bu sayfadaki yorumların çoğunda söylendiği gibi "komplex" bir yapısı falan yok. Sadece sakız, ud gibi ayrıntılarla diğer limon-portakal, vetiver çizgisine sıkışmış yaz parfümlerinden ayrılıyor. Ancak yukarda yazdığım gibi kalıcılık ve dağılım konusunda "vasat" sınırını aşamıyor. Bol bol kullanabilecekseniz bu sizin için sorun olmaz. Ancak fiyatı dikkate alındığında bunun pek mantıklı olduğunu sanmıyorum. Bu markanın parfümlerini alırken dikkatli olmanızı öneririm. Basit ve temel kokular üzerinden ürettikleri bazı parfümler her ne kadar etkileyici olsa da gerçek anlamda "yeni", "tasarlanmış" işler çıkarma konusunda çok başarılı olduklarını söylemek zor. Batılılar şişelerini bile çok beğeniyor ancak bence son derece basit ve sıradan bir tasarımı var. Tom Ford ve ürünlerini maalesef piyasanın şişirdiği düzeyde "üst taraflarda" göremiyorum. Özetle, bu rakamları verecekseniz alternatifiniz çok. Bence bu markanın hiçbir parfümünü teninizde en az 3-4 saat denemeden satın almayın. Başarılı sayılabilecek çalışmaları olsa da orada da sertlik, aşırı yoğunluk gibi durumlar karşınıza çıkabilir. Koku: 7/10 Kalıcılık : 5/10 Koku dağılımı: 4/10

Tom Ford Costa Azzurra is an usual marine composition of driftwood, seaweed, oud, and vanilla. It embodies the beach and the ocean together in a way that I occasionally detect, for example, in Nautica Oceans, where the saltiness and near-bitterness are captured. CA has sweet vanilla, as well, though, so it does deviate from a purely natural beach smell in that respect. Not surprisingly, it starts out harsher and evolves into a sweeter dry down where the vanilla is expressed more. I've heard comparisons to Bond No. 9 Montauk and a host of other scents that I'm unfamiliar with, but CA still scores high with me in the uniqueness factor. It's a departure from most genres of aquatics, beach smells, citruses, etc. and so it has a welcome place in the TF Private Blend line. While its projection and longevity pale in comparison to its cold weather kin (Tobacco Vanille, Noir de Noir, Italian Cypress), it still performs strongly in both respects, but I can understand why a warm weather fragrance over $200 can be a challenge to justify. I'd certainly recommend at least trying it out since it's off the beaten path. I enjoy it as a warm weather option--it surely doesn't seem like typical Creeds, let alone designers, in the "fresh" realm, and rightly so, since it isn't purely fresh. I'm still puzzled by it to some extent but it fills an artistic beachy void in my collection. 8 out of 10

A very complex yet well blended fragrance to add to the robustly successful Tom Ford Private Collection. Its intricacy is evidenced by the wide array of ingredients utilized to portray the vision of the perfumer and Tom Ford. Inspired by the sprawling vegetation, hot sunlight and refreshing sea air of the Sardinia coastline, this fragrance takes one on a olfactory journey which is evocative of Meditteranean summers. The opening is sweet and refreshing, striking an accord which is reminiscent of odors of salt and brine encountered along the seashore. This is masterfully achieved by the careful blending of seaweed notes, ambrette seed, cardamom, faint oud and celery seed. Sweetness is added by yellow mandarin, lemon, and vanilla. As the fragrance evolves, we move away from the ocean towards the scraggly vegetation of the inland known as "macchia" in Italian. Here the tangled notes of juniper, lavender, myrtle, artemesia and oak collide. Wafts of resinous lentisque and olibanum filter in and out, creating a diffusing effect as if a gentle breeze is blowing by. One could argue the mainstream/pedestrian qualities of the fragrance, as it seems suitable for the masses. I chose to envelop myself in its beauty and be mesmerized by its ability to transport my mind to distant locales. (138)