Sel Marin
by Heeley

Very pleasant fresh juice. Smooth transparent citruses with watery note starts of by this fragrance. Smells very natural and well made right from the first seconds of application.

During the drydown it develops a very interesting scent of some rare herbal green – I believe it is that seaweed. This green tone smells very fresh and aromatically luscious, yet very subtle too at the same time.

I get very subdued woody undertones in this, and that is just fine; I think more of that vetiver-cedar-birch would have destroyed the delicate nature of this fairly beautiful scent.

Not particularly salty scent at all, but it indeed it capable to create a feeling of the ocean (or why not the lake or a river since it is not that salty…) on some warm ethereal summer evening.

This is definitely one of the better of these “salty ocean” themed fragrances.

Sel Marin is beautiful, very natural and gentle. It lasts very well and is absolutely suitable for both men and women.

Marvellous choice to be worn during the summer. Uplifting and soothing creation.

Sel Marin is essentially the crispy-clean licorice and vetiver accord from Heeley’s outstanding Cuir Pleine Fleur: Cuir Pleine Fleur without the Cuir. Shorn of the warm birch tar and soft leather, this accord is buoyant, breezy, and transparent. Garnished as it is in Sel Marin with just the lightest sprinkling of cucumber aquatic notes, it is brilliantly suggestive of a warm summer day on the dunes, complete with tufts of beach grass and a light ocean breeze. Projection and sillage are both moderate, but adequate. I’m particularly pleased that the aquatic notes remain reserved and quiet, since in most cases they project too much for my liking and leave me smelling like the victim of a chemical spill.

Luca Turin is spot-on when he describes Sel Marin as a close cousin of Diptyque’s great and tragically discontinued Virgilio. Virgilio has none of Sel Marin’s aquatic notes, and the Heeley is less green and less floral than the Diptyque, but the featured salty licorice accord in both is very, very close indeed. When one door closes, another one opens. Now I know what to by should I ever use up my beloved bottle of Virgilio.

Sel Marin is not obviously aquatic - in fact, I'd call it woody rather than aquatic - though it has a distinct marine feel to it despite being devoid of the usual harsh and shrill synthetic "marine" notes. The notes I can most clearly pick out are birch - the exact, sweet smell of fresh birch sap which I don't really associate with the sea but more with forests, meadows and possibly sweetwater - and cedarwood. The woods have a cool and wet feeling to them though - this is not your ordinary warm and dry wood fragrance, suitable for winter. The salt is there, though very soft - salt diluted in water and not the dry, mineralic salt note of, say, Miller Harris Fleurs du Sel. Pure saltwater - not really the scent of the ocean because there is not a trace of seaweed or dead fish in it. Sel Marin is like a romanticised, purified version of a sea scent - nothing rotting on the beach here! - or possibly the seabreeze felt from some distance, walking in a seaside pine forest. I normally don't get along with aquatic or marine fragrances at all but Sel Marin I get along with just fine and for that I love it. I especially enjoy the true to life birch sap note, which I detect in their Fine Leather too.

Though the notes don't appear in the composition, to my nose, it unexpectedly and strangely starts with a blast of cilantro and lime. Then, it turns into an unremarkable aquatic not unlike the many others on the market. Bottom line: It's nothing special.

Sel Marin is beach scent of the beach rather than of tanning oil. This one is very clean and bright with a bit of citrus and clean green in it. I get somewhat of the driftwood and the sun on sand smell. I also get the birch, and thankfully, it’s not birch tar, but birch wood. For some odd reason I’m not getting very much salt or seaweed. What distinguishes Sel Marin from the others I’ve tried is that is the purity and attractiveness of the notes and the fact that they are so well put together. Not only are they fresh and clean, but also refined and elegant. If I were to buy another aquatic, this would be the one I’d buy now because it is totally absent of any kind of negative vibe – synthetic or rasping – and I thought negative vibes were almost de rigueur in aquatics: Heeley Sel Marin proves that those slightly annoying notes aren’t necessary. For as subtle as it is, it has acceptable projection and good longevity.