Reviews of Acqua di Sale
by Profumum

I'm going against the grain here, as I love this. Once you get past the first somewhat antiseptic burst, it lingers on my skin and smells fresh, slightly salty and fabulous.

rubber and strawberries in one fragrance(!)
i can find in this some hints of iodione but aqua di sale doesn't remind me the sea at all. it opens with rubber-latex, a carbon copy of comme des garcons garage, and evokes into stawberry cotton candy. very good longevity.

I tried this at the Scent Bar in Los Angeles today, pitting it against Il Profumo's Aria di Mare to see which was the more authentic marine fragrance. Lucky Scent describes Acqua di Sale as "the most realistic ocean scent we have ever encountered," and I am inclined to agree. There's no tanning lotion here; it just smells like you're catching an ocean breeze. Very authentic, and it lasts quite a while too. I applied it at 6pm and it is still detectable at 4am. And it hasn't morphed into some strange non-oceanic brew either; it's still just like sitting at the beach.

Having said that, it's pretty pricey, more than twice as much as the Aria di Mare for the same 100ml. And while the Aria di Mare starts out as a less authentic marine scent, it's drydown approaches a nice level of authenticity. So, if money is a concern and you can live with 95% of Acqua di Sale's authenticity, I recommend the Aria di Mare. But, if you really want total authenticity so that you can close your eyes and feel like you're really sitting right at the edge of the ocean, from application to drydown, Acqua di Sale is what you have been looking for.

I grew up in Florida and the beach and taking day trips in the boat really hold a special place in my heart. I received my sample of Acqua di Sale there, in Florida, and I had a chance to wear it in the setting. My mom and I sampled this together, and we both really crinkled our noses. Phew! It's more than a little off putting in the OPENING, with a strong Noxema-esque quality. I sense a melange of REALLY SOUR citrus coming together with sea weed to create this pungency, like extracting the bitterest part of the opening of a lemon/lime peel (just the sensation, not the actual fragrance note). It is so bitter at points, it actually makes my mouth water. After about an hour, when a lot of that pungency dissipates, it's not completely unlike imagining sticking your head over the side of a boat on a REALLY SUNNY DAY and dunking your head under, mouth open, and getting a little up your nose too.

So, in Florida I really didn't enjoy it. But now that I've returned home, it takes me right back to riding in the boat with my dad and the dogs: The smell of drying salt water on the dogs' fur, the smell of acidic slightly poluted Gulf of Mexico water. It's the smell of untying boat line from the dock, it's the smell of this scene: huge white boats, sails reaching toward the sky, barnacles, big blue sky and pillowy white clouds, sea gulls, salt and sun soaked beach furniture, warping boards of wood, the sun directly overhead putting a smile on everyone's face. Now that I've worn it several times, away from the beach, I'm sold.. it's a fantastically evocative fragrance.

Like some other Profumum fragrances, this one starts with a heavy, blatant mess: cold, metallic, sharp and somehow perfumey. But within a few minutes the squaller calms down and unfolds a wonderful array of notes reminding of a sea breeze: salt, algaes, cedarwood, myrtle and a mellow fruity accord. Although the scent gets more subtle by and by, it has some decent longevity and sillage. An interesting olfactory interpretation of a sunny seaside scenery, avoiding tanning oil associations (CB - at the Beach, Bond No 9 - Fire Island) but more geared to the marine flora (salt, sand, seaside plants) with certain similarities to Calypso Marine. An enchanting, distinctive spring or summer fragrance.