Ocean Rain for Men (1990)
by Mario Valentino

I did a small wrist dab kind of sampling and I can't say there is anything pleasant about this one. The animalic quality is quite strong, but doesn't last very long. For a while, it seems like a bunch of discordant notes are competing for dominance. After perhaps 45 minutes, a much less potent scent is present, a little mossy, a little ambery, a little green, etc. I'd much rather wear Nino Cerruti Pour Homme, which features a similar idea in the base with a really nice thyme note that comes to the fore. This one doesn't seem to know what it wants to be, so to speak, and I can't think of any reason to wear it instead of another fragrance that has a sense of direction but is at least somewhat similar. Due to the strong animalic note in the opening, it's no surprise this one was discontinued. My guess is that a very small percentage of the population would have any interest in it if it were relaunched now.

19th August, 2011.

Much better names could be given to ocean rain. I'd name it fleur de fougere fraicheur cuir, which may not be very creative, but gives an idea about the scent.

The first time I wore it, I got a dank moist fougere, with green very sheer flowers mixed in. Later on I got the leather, which has become my favorite note in the scent, and now I find it in the fragrance immediately.

There is substantial indole in it and I guess hedione as well. This results in a very high contrast, ghost jasmine to my nose. It's sheer but skanky. The leather is between a tan suede, and a live cattle. Animalic, smooth and beautiful. There is also some pee in it, which I guess is civet. The rest is lush foliage, rotten watercolor flowers and fruits. It may not sound appealing but to me it is.

To me, it's a summer in deep country, with woods, flowers, wool/tweed overalls and livestock.

The notes are, jasmine, leather, green notes, citrus, citric & indolic rose, forest. Calone is not emphasized and it rather provides a lifting breeze, and a fruitiness that goes great with the floral part.

9th February, 2011. (Last Edited: 4th July, 2011.)

Read the name, look at the packaging, and you’d expect a standard issue Calone-drenched aquatic along the lines of Acqua di Gio. You’d also be wrong.

It takes a mere fraction of a second for Ocean Rain to reveal itself as the work of Edmond Roudnitska, and incidentally as a much less conventional fragrance. The citrus, cantaloupe, and fleshy, indolic jasmine introduction echoes the unmistakably weird opening accords of Le Parfum de Thérèse and Diorella, but what follows is somewhat different. Where Diorella and Thérèse set their fruity floral accord over a mossy, woody chypre-based foundation, Ocean Rain grows more brisk, green, and cool, yet paradoxically more dense and spicy, as it goes.

While there’s little actual resemblance between the two, the concept behind Ocean Rain is akin to that of Jean-Claude Elléna’s later Globe for Rochas: an unapologetically floral accord juxtaposed with a fruity, green fougère structure that’s loosely related to Cool Water and Green Irish Tweed. The Diorella top notes distinguish Ocean Rain immediately, and an abundance of herbs and conifer lead it in a colder, greener, and to some extent more aquatic direction than Globe, which smells warmer, sweeter, and more obviously fruity by comparison. I suspect that the subtle aquatic effect in Ocean Rain depends upon both hedione and Calone, though used here alongside the melon note borrowed from Le Parfum de Thérèse, Calone does not register as a distinct note. In fact, Ocean Rain could stand as a case study in how to use Calone without winding up with something that smells like shampoo.

Ocean Rain offers moderate sillage and projection, and lingers for several hours on the skin, with a pleasantly sweet ambery fougère drydown that’s rendered distinctive by some subtle but noticeable incense. I see Ocean Rain as Diorella and Thérèse’s forgotten brother. I suspect it would garner praise from fragrance lovers were it introduced today – in fact, with a less misleading name and sufficient advertising, it might even sell in the contemporary market.

11th December, 2009. (Last Edited: 9th May, 2010.)

An excellent green floral-ambery scent that was made by Edmond Roudnitska, a perfumer of the century who created such classics as Eau Sauvage and Eau D'Hermes. Too bad it's out of production and is almost impossible to find nowadays...

13rd December, 2002.