Legno di Nave / Seawood
by AbdesSalaam Attar Profumo

This doesn't smell like the sea per se, but more like an old spice-drenched and mossy bucket of water and sea weed from the sea. As Hirch put it, this is life-soup. I don't particularly ever want to wear it, but I love to sniff the vial, as it transports me to a mossy dock of decaying planks of wood, sea weed, spices and other organic matter from the sea. Very unique and quite frankly almost off-putting and ugly, but it still manages to come off smooth due to Profumo's blending skills. Supposedly the newer batches of Sea Wood no longer have ambergris in them, but I doubt it will make much of a difference as this stuff already feels so alive.

7.5/10

This is a fantastic and complex ambergris-centric fragrance. Of course, I'm biased. If a perfumer does even a remotely competent job with the note, I'm hooked. Such is the case and more with Legno di Nave ("Ship Wood"). I have to admit, though, that the powerful, spicy, clove-dominated scent (actually kinda "Kouros"-y) from the sample vial was enough to make me test a slew of others before I finally succumbed to curiosity, and I'm glad I did.

As I said, the top notes were (to my nose, at least) dominated by clove, although I could make out the ambergris (which is substantial throughout the development) and a slight vetiver. On my skin, the clove slightly recedes in less than an hour or so; at this point, the fragrance is immensely more enjoyable. The spices here are not overdone, not too clove-y. The cinammon becomes a little more recognizable, and a deep, dark resinous wood scent (almost sap-like - more on that later) emerges. And, of course, ever-present and interconnecting is the ambergris, which is very well-represented here. This is the scent's best stage.

As if this is not enough, the aforementioned resinous note develops in a such a way that it dominates and screams loudly at hour 5 or so (yes, that late in the game). It was at about this time that I began to question my own opinion of this great beast! Gladly, after a little while, the resinous note tired of its screaming, and what I was left with for the next 4 hours (and counting!) was a softer (though still pronounced) spicy ambergris scent with an almost balsamic twang.

I consider this to be very closely related to CSP's Eau Grise, a scent that I treasure above almost all others, even though I do not own it and sadly cannot find it due to its having been discontinued. Although I like Eau Grise a little better - mainly because it omits the spice and tree sap notes that can make this a little overbearing, but only at times - I could definitely see myself using this instead.

I strongly recommend this fragrance.

This is a review of the pure perfume oil.

A deep, complex woody fragrance with vetiver, spices and sandalwood all infused with the fascinating and slightly bizzare sweet/savoury multi faceted scent of ambergris. It captures the idea of aged wood from a ship perfectly, spices from the cargo absorbed in small quantity but deeply inside the timbers and the distinct smell of the sea in the amber. This is the smell of the sea as life-soup not the platonic ideal of oceanic scents provided by modern synthetics.

It is dark and mid-base note dominated and somewhat serious in its outlook.

The quality of the ingredients and strength of the composition shines through. There is a focus and coherence in this which is very compelling; it has deep roots and is born of conviction.

Upon application the sillage just floated around me like bubbles, so nice. There's nothing harsh or offensive at any stage. After about an hour, I began to detect a hint of something like cedar or citrus occasionally popping through the smooth, grounded woodiness. A little later I thought I caught wind of a patchouli, then a salty-sea accord. As the hours went by, the sillage shrunk, so that the last few hours required nose-to-skin smelling. The scent grew softer and sweeter. Right at the end I found some peppery vetiver and amber. It's now nine hours into drydown, and there's still fragrance to be found if I sniff hard enough.

Official notes: Cinnamon, cloves, ginger, ambergris, vetiver.

What's funny is, I don't particularly care for perfumes with cinnamon, and I really don't care for the scent of cloves or ginger, but in Sea Wood, I liked them all. Go figure. Since I own Sel de Vetiver, I was able to appreciate the sea-and-vetiver effect in SW.