Driftwood

This fragrance opens up generically fresh, with the starflower and marine note. Then, at the drydown, it turns into a salty sea. This fragrance reminded me of something from my subconscious that I cannot name, a memory from the deep past, from before I got a stream of consciousness. When I got to the drydown, I started to cry. I don’t know why this fragrance made me emotional. I heard that smell is the closest sense to memory. Perfumes can connect us to our past in ways that we can’t name or describe. The emotions they evoke are unprompted and unexplainable. “Driftwood”, while not an excellent fragrance in my opinion, reminds me why I love fragrance so much: it taps on parts of our souls that we didn’t even know existed.

This little bottle was unceremoniously tossed onto a clearance rack at Walmart for $5, so of course I had to bring it home with me. The bottle itself is as cheap as its discounted price tag, but the juice is surprisingly lovely. Does it smell “expensive,” whatever that means? No, but it doesn’t smell cheap, either. Performance is fine, maybe 4 hours. It smells like the beach without smelling tropical. It’s the smell of the Outer Banks, not Cancun. It is like a burst of fresh sea spray on a pleasantly cool, overcast morning. Wear it in the summer, sure, but it’s not necessarily a summer vacation scent. I see myself wearing this into Autumn.

I got a little set of four roller ball purse perfumes from Wild Spirit, and driftwood was one of the four. To me it smells very similar to light blue by Dolce & Gabbana, and Saltwater breeze by bath and body works (thankfully without the dirty fish tank note that I don't like in saltwater breeze). I think it's a beautiful light summer time scent.

I'm reminded of Acqua di Gioia with this one, but I think I like this one more. Definitely a nice woodsy citrus. I have the Wild Spirit discovery set, and this is such an underrated collection!

Light and fresh, with hints of salt air on a cool Pacific Northwest beach.