Costa Azzurra Acqua

This smells like a niche interpretation of Bleu de Chanel EDP with a wet green twist. Up until now, BDC was the highest quality iteration of this type of scent that I had smelled. Now this is. Citrusy top (get an icy fresh and unique-ish gin feel at the top of this one), incensey cypress and mastic. The cypress is fresh beautiful and wet. The mastic is full and round. Warm, rich, and powdery amber and labdanum base. Cypress hangs on until the end. Blue green. This smells much better and more interesting than BDC. Although it 'performs' worse depending on what your goals are. Both fragrances are in my top 40 for different reasons. This one has more details when you get closer, as if you magnified BDC and found out that there was no further information upon magnification. And then brought CAA under a microscope and found a wealth of detail and information. But from across the room they didnt look totally and completely different. The gallery lit CAA with soft cypress green lighting. I do get some similarity to Gucci by Gucci Pour Homme, the cypress note is similar. Overall feel is similar too. Another lense through which I view this fragrance (which concerns concept rather than scent) is as opposed to Jardin En Mediterranee where Jardin en Mediterranee is artistic and realistic and natural and abstract and costa azzurra acqua is smoothed out and idealized, polished. Much more of a playboy than jardin en Mediterranee who is content to hang out at the rose garden or art gallery alone. Azzurra acqua wants some good looking company.

As a fan of the original Costa Azzura I was thrilled to get a sample of this. Having assumed ‘acqua’ implied lighter and softer, I applied four sprays from the sample vial before a long drive. As a result, I sat in a lush, thick, happy cloud of a humid cypress grove for three hours. CAA opens with lovely green aromatics. Juniper is most prominent, but there’s something else herbal and green. Checking the notes after testing, I can only assume this is the myrtle, with which I am unfamiliar. The cypress is there from the start but takes over the composition within half an hour. There is also a presence of pine once the juniper has faded, but much less strong and forward than the lovely cypress. Five hours later the cypress and pine, which have already started to soften, fade gracefully into the mastic that rules the drydown. I catch the barest occasional whiff of leathery spicy warmth if I hunt for it, but it’s really all about the mastic, keeping everything fresh and woodsy through the end. Ten hours after applying, the mastic is still here, and while the sillage is soft I can still smell it well above my skin. CAA, while not weaker by any means, is a fresher, woodier, more straightforward interpretation of the original CA. If you like the original, or need a summer scent that doesn’t feature calone, fruits, flowers, or citrus, I encourage you to give CAA a try :)

Have you ever driven up the coast of northern California in the summertime? Up where the really big redwoods grow. The temperature climbs into the mid nineties in mid July. After you park your car, you start walking west towards the ocean. As you tote your ice chest towards a small clearing near a cliff that overlooks the Pacific Ocean, you look back to see your partner following with a blanket and a couple of plastic cups. It's nice, you can feel the sunshine on your skin and ocean breeze. The temperature drops a few degrees, you can smell the Redwood trees you just walked through, or is that the salty driftwood in the breeze hitting you in the face? And you can smell the yellow lemons that you're now cutting in half to squeeze into your plastic cups to make some makeshift Moscow Mules because your partner thought; lemons, limes, it's all the same... Cheers! Perfect for the summer and for the gym, works wonderfully with my chemistry when I sweat... but falls flat on its face as soon as the temperature drops below room temperature.

This is very fresh, herbal, and woody when first sprayed. I adore the slight resinous undertone of the pine, cypress, and especially juniper, but I don't get tons of citrus at any point. Comparatively, Costa Azzurra is definitely warmer and woodier. The Acqua is cooler, fresher, with more citrus, whereas the regular Costa Azzurra is more of a primarily fresh spicy experience. I like this in the same way I like Molton Brown Coastal Cypress and Sea Fennel. It has a similar marine, fresh, balsam vibe without the prominent leather note that the Molton Brown has. Also, on me the Acqua lasts longer and projects better, which is not what I'd expected. In my collection, the Acqua is more unique and up my alley, frankly. It would be an absolutely perfect summer fragrance. Moral of the story - Costa Azzurra and it's Acqua are worlds apart on me. Don't assume they will be similar just because one is a flanker - test first.

Excellent, truly perfect and refined summer scent. I purchased this scent in late summer of 2019, wherefore I used it for just about one month before leaves started to fall. However, during that month, I truly liked this scent. As for the summer scents, some kind of citrus is to be expected. As well as general freshness. Where this scent excells, is the fact that somehow, it manages to combine freshness of citrus, while at the same time, it somehow manages to remain butterly smooth, a scent without any bitter or hard edges. As for performance, initially it projects well. For a summer scent. Nothing spectacular, as that would not be be expected from summer scent, but all in all, appropriate projection for this kind of scents. With respect to longevity, it lasts about 6 hours on my skin. After that, it fades to skin scent. In conclusion: Very, very good summer scent, with some little performace issues, however.

I got a chance to smell this at Sephora last week. Wow. So fresh and clean. To me this is the grown up more mature version of John Varvatos Artisan Pure. It doesn’t smell exactly like it but, it is in the same vein. If you live here in Florida this is a must. I returned to the store yesterday and bought it. I wore it all night and again this morning. So bright yet woody comes along and tames things down a bit. After wearing over several hours I can still smell this on my neck. Beautiful skin scent. I have gotten two compliments in the first day. I have no clue what a Juniper Berry smells like. I grew up around Pine Trees and know their smell very well. This has cypress up front but I smell pine in the background. The brightness of the lemon is what I think makes this so wonderful. It plays well with the woods. Amber is present but not very noticeable.

I like this, and definitely another legitimate option in the top scents for the summer. From the first two sprays I get a fresh sweet aqua sea salt experience, pushing this to into my summer rotation. The fragrance stays on my skin for over 12 hours, but only projects for five. This scent is in the realm of Creed millemise Imperial and Creed Erolfa by the note play. But it has it own uniqueness. Better than the original Costa Azzura because this is an actual experience of sea salt, sweetness, freshness moving around and going up and down. It moves. The original scent sits there and smells ok. There is a small skirmish between the notes at each whiff. In the end we are winning. Even the marketing of this product, from its name, to its packaging, suits this fragrance better.

So far, and I’ve only been wearing this for about an hour and a half to two hours, but this one seems to have a lasting power that the original did not have ironically enough. The smell is very similar to the original, but may be a bit more fresh and aromatic and so far the performances better and that’s really surprising to me how the EDT would be performing better than the other EDP which performed horribly. Anyway I’ll continue to sniff this out on my arm and see how long it goes but right now I’m at the two hour mark and it still going pretty strong after about three sprays.

I just received this today. Costa Azzurra is already one of my favorite Tom Fords (it almost makes me salivate, that’s how good it is) and now I can add this flanker to the top. To my nose it’s different enough from the original to justify having both in my collection. It smells smokier and greener than CA. Less sweet and more like dark piney resin. To me there’s very little if any “acqua” in this. It’s a mature scent for 40+, very elegant and refined (but not “dressuppy”) and leans masculine. It feels assertive and I’m very happy to welcome it to my collection. BIG LOVE!

Quite reminiscent of L`Eau Bleu D`Issey, but more laidback and easier to like. I find the performance is good, but the key is temperature. Lately we've had nice summer-climate with 25-30 degrees celsius. I think it shines in this range. Bought this a couple of years ago, but it was laid aside and never used. Until now. Rediscovering it has been a great pleasure. I made myself a decant on a small atomiser and put it in the 2021 summer-collection together with Loewe Pour Homme, Creed Original Vetiver and Goutal Eau De Monsieur. Time to start dancing again.

One of my absolute favorite scents I've owned. Which is why its performance is all the more disappointing! Super masculine, clean, summer profile. Smelling the bottle and pressing your nose against your wrist is the only way to really smell it other than the first 30 minutes of application. Mediterranean and oceanic, really quite beautiful. Discontinued now, but a truly stunning skin scent.

This is really good. Improves on the OG where the screechy metallic (cypress) note is dialed down, subsumed into the TF aquatic overlay. This genre of perfumes is crowded but I thought this was more alive than most and found myself salivating, a Pavlovian response to the juicy aromachemical cocktail. For an aquatic this had above average performance. Its a love from me. 4.5/5

This is surprisingly long lasting for an "Aqcua". I really love this scent. It is quite fresh, but also woody. On me the opening is fresh, but there is a strong woody (I believe the juniper and cypress) that lasts for a while. There is good silage and longevity. This would work for any season and I'm sure would bring out different facets of the fragrance.

I don't know why but i got a dylan blue vibe from it. It smells amazing, but like i said i got a dylan blue vibe from it to where i was like why would i want to get a full bottle of this if i have dylan blue. Its VERY well blended and it changes into something softer as it goes on. I would test it first like i did.

I think this is what MFK Fluidity Silver wants to be minus the aquatics. This is so ozonic, fizzy fresh and classy aquatic and not those nauseating aquatic blues we smell everywhere. Reminds me of those 2000s aquatics so nostalgic and timeless. Projection is weak but for its notes its expected.

Nice aquatic fragrance, reminiscent of drinking lime juice by the sunny seaside. Piney, citrusy with hints of ozonic undertones throughout its lifespan. I just with it was a bit stronger though, its drydown is more of a skin scent after three hours.

I tried this and all I can say is this will be purchased by me. it is so beautiful blended wonderfully and unique for an aquatic style fragrance. longevity was more than decent. my GF smelled this on me and automatically said WOW!

This takes me right back to the huge forest shrine in Japan called Fushimi Inari Taisha!

Miles better scent than the original. Such a bright sexy fresh perfume.

Okay, so it arrived today and upon handing it over to himself to spritz, was nearly sent flying as he leapt up out of his chair shouting "I know this! I've got this!" before grabbing at a bottle near the back of his collection and thrusting it at me. "Try it! Smell it! They're almost exactly the same!" So I did. I smelled the squirt of 'Costa Azzurra Aqua' on his left wrist and the spritz of the other one on his right wrist. He was of course, completely right. The two fragrances were almost impossible to tell apart. "Obviously I like it..." he went on. "I mean...I wouldn't own this other one if I didn't...but I don't need another aftershave that smells exactly the same as one I already own!" So whilst we both agree that it's a lovely fragrance, I won't be buying a full bottle of 'Costa Azzurra Acqua' any time soon. Not when he already has 50% left of a 90ml bottle of its fragrance twin... ...'Hugo Boss - Just Different' (no, the irony of the name was not lost on either of us, lol!). If I had to give any detectable differences between the two scents I'd say that the Hugo Boss one is ever so slightly sweeter in the dry-down, but they're both cut from exactly the same cloth. Eminently wearable male fragrances, dark aquatic in accord, with faint salt wafts in the background. The bottle design definitely works well with the fragrance 'Costa Azzurra Aqua'. A beautiful cerulean glass that looks like something you'd associate with a Mediterranean Holiday. But the scent is much more reserved and sensible than the spiel generated around it. 'Costa Azzurra Aqua' is a completely inoffensive fragrance, suitable for the office, socialising, meeting the in-laws, first date....whatever. It's nicely put together and whilst pleasant, will never set the world on fire. It's bordering on sexy, without truly crossing the line and could be worn by any males between 14 and 104. Women will probably like smelling it on a guy, once it's had time to warm up and blend with his specific body chemistry. If you really like the smell, but like bargains more than labels, get yourself a bottle of 'Hugo Boss - Just Different'. If you want to try and get someone more interesting in niche ranges, but don't want to scare them off, buy them 'Costa Azzurra Acqua' and they'll be hard pressed to find anything disagreeable in it. If you're looking to gift someone something that is beautiful to look at, whilst not being sure what kind of aftershave they wear, then 'Costa Azzurra Acqua' is perfect. Me & himself however, will carry on working our way through a bunch of other 10ml decants from Tom Ford, in what has become my mission to find him a TF that he loves. Because there's no way he can roll his eyes at my wanting to spend stupid amounts of money keeping 'Lost Cherry' in my collection, if I manage to find a Tom Ford that hooks him in, equally as hard.