Mazzolari Marina
by Mazzolari

Notes (from LuckyScent.com): White blossoms, honey, green and aquatic notes.

Marina’s sweet mandarin and bergamot top notes are appetizing but not overtly foody, even when the bold honey note slides into place behind them. That’s largely because the honey is accompanied by some decisively inedible bitter green notes and crisp florals. Marina’s aquatic component is suggestive of melon, in the manner of Calone, but it’s unusually well blended, and in this green floral context smells far more smooth and natural than in most masculine sports fragrances.

Except for its aquatic accent, Marina reads like a honeyed green floral dwelling somewhere between Capucci’s late, lamented Yendi and Paco Rabanne’s infinitely darker, spicier (and likewise extinct) Ténéré. I find I’m particularly taken by the way the animalic overtones on Marina’s honey note interact with the clean, brisk green and aquatic elements. Their juxtaposition sets up the kind of balanced internal tension that can bring a scent to life. (Edmond Roudnitska was especially adept at this, as demonstrated in Le Parfum de Thérèse, Ocean Rain, and Diorella.)

As with most Mazzolari offerings I’ve tried, Marina offers ample sillage and projection, but unlike Mazzolari Lui or Patchouly, there’s little risk of overwhelming one’s sensorium without heavy application. Even with its conspicuous floral content, Marina’s sharp green edge renders it relatively comfortable for me to wear as a man: if you can deal with Chanel No. 19 or Silences, you can probably deal with Marina. Not perhaps Mazzolari’s most captivating scent, but certainly well worth trying if you like green florals.

25th September, 2010.

Have you tried Kenneth Cole Reaction for Woman? If the answer is Yes than you've tried Mazzolari Marina. At first I was really excited when I first tried it, until I smelled a friend who's wearing Reaction lotion, than realized it is an identical fragrance. What a disappointment for a boutique frag that duplicates a mass marketing product.

25th November, 2008.