Agua Lavanda (1940)
by Antonio Puig

Lovely fresh lavender - smells so clean and soapy - excellent splash on

I first received a small bottle of Agua Lavanda as part of a boxed set of other small bottles of cologne when I was around 12 years old. Years later, in college years I would rediscover Agua Lavanda in many of the Hispanic cologne/perfume shops in New Jersey. While in Madrid in 1990, this is what I wore after I showered and left the hostel residencial on the Gran Via to meet Elaine, a young woman from Southern France, in the afternoon or early evening.

Agua Lavanda tells its story calmly: not an easy clean scent of deodorized brightness or athletic spice nor the story of the now stock, ubiquitous fruity sharpness of the "younger scents" of the last 10 to 15 years, scents often more acrid and disomforting, especially to one's eyes, than might be admitted by their wearers and admirers. These so called "lighter scents" are effectively heavy scents in my opinion often overly reliant at first on synthetic even girlish notes which seem to finally emerge as a piercing abiding generic wood note. Agua Lavanda is instead "the best soap," the body clean and alive and ready, less leaving the barber shop than the intimate waters of bathing and grooming. What is remarkanle to me about this cologne is the return of middle and even top notes that never really vanished but are again seemingly renewed. This accounts for the "suprising longevity" of this cologne, a longevity that is subtle not the blast and ever popular sustained slow meltdown into sometimes nauseating medleys for those who really have no time. Agua Lavanda: top notes which include bergamont's ultimate fullness, a sense of an ordinary man's luxury and middle notes which seem to compliment and contrast both top and base notes, not simply compete with or make their appearance like dullards when the top notes have nearly faded, nor due to the base notes endure as overly gentlemanly.

In a world of often interchangeable younger scents which yield their truth on scatch and sniff inserts, Agua Lavanda requires only one's hands and body for its best marketing. It remains for me the scent of starting the day and leaving the house, meeting the woman I love, and yes, conversation, laughter, embracing, making love, the intimate waters.

Among the freshest, cleanest most balanced "light" scents. It has a little bit of a barber shop feel but not enough to be a turn off. I find the lavender and bergamont balanced and the moss and tonka quite grounding.

As others have said it is a prefect splash and certainly as smooth and assured as Old Blue Eyes was... it was apparently his signature scent.

Awesome, refreshing and classic. It amazes me that this fragrance is still so readily available and NOT in CVS!

Wonderful. I got a huge bottle of splash for everyday after-shave use and it's terrific. What I like about it is that it *doesn't* last terribly long, so by the time I am dressed I can put on something a little more interesting and long-lasting. I really need to try the edt, but the splash is just delightful. It is sharp, crisp and not overwhelmed with lavender - there is just enough. There's also a "sec" quality to this that I especially like. As I said, this stuff is wonderful.

A clean, light, refreshing lavender scent that still retains a masculine edge.

I only wish it lasted a bit longer and had better sillage, but the quality/price ratio is tough to beat - a winner anyway you slice it.