Please define Aquatic

[Tuner_Watson]

The term is thrown around here frequently but I don't think it refers to an established fragrance family. Could someone please define the term for me and offer some examples? Thanks.

[teflondog]

The term aquatic is pretty self explanatory. It refers to scents that smell fresh and "watery". It's a little hard to describe but when I think of an aquatic fragrance, I think of a beach and what the ocean smells like. Have you ever came home from the beach and found that your clothes still had that beach smell? Well that's what aquatic colognes smell like to me. They've been pretty popular recently and many of them smell too much alike so different companies try to add their own twist to the scent by throwing in citrus notes. If you want some good aquatic scents then I would recommend you try out some of the popular ones such as acqua di gio, polo blue, and aqua quorum just to name a few. They're really good for the daytime when you don't want anything too strong.

[sentient]

Well, it is a complex evolution. First, there was some technological breakthroughs that allowed synthetic molecules to be produced which gave the impression of fresh, watery scents. Then marketing latched on to it and a whole slew of fragrances were released (starting mid-90's) which harped on - watery, fresh, aquatic, sporty images. The whole theme being you don't need a special occasion to wear fragrance, but you can wear the aquatic anywhere you want, it refreshens etc. That being said, the image/family that is portrayed is - Fresh, Marine, Grassy, Sporty etc. Eversince, mankind has been plagued as a result of this travesty --

Acqua Di Gio
Issey Miyake L'Issey
Kenzo PH (and L'Eau)
Polo blue
Bulgari Aqua
Aqua Motu etc..

A distinction with other fresh scents is the citrus family which has been extant since the beginning of time.

[Tuner_Watson]

Actually, the term "aquatic" is almost uniquely non-self-explanatory--and saying something smells "watery" doesn't add much. It sounds like a more accurate term might be unplaceable synthetic "fresh" scents sold to a mass market. Or are we really into the realm of Kramer's "smells like the beach" fragrance?

Am I being unfair in concluding these are all mass-market fragrances? Is there a niche example of an "aquatic"?

[sentient]

It sounds like a more accurate term might be unplaceable synthetic "fresh" scents sold to a mass market. Or are we really into the realm of Kramer's "smells like the beach" fragrance?

Am I being unfair in concluding these are all mass-market fragrances? Is there a niche example of an "aquatic"?

Yes, that is a good way to look at it. Actually when people look down upon aquatic frags in this forum they most likely mean ozonic/synthetic fragrances. To be more specific, a molecule named calone was discovered about 10 years back that has been put into a majority of scented products. Now most people using detergents, deos, room sprays, perfumes with this molecule immediately latch on to the aquatic/freshness theme. "Smells like the Beach" would be a very good example.

There are some good niche scents that you could classify as aquatics - Aqua Motu, Erolfa but these lack the calone molecule.

[CoL]

Am I being unfair in concluding these are all mass-market fragrances? *Is there a niche example of an "aquatic"?

GIT, Erolfa, Aqua Moto, MI, off the top of me head!

Aquatic to me means any kind of water really, whether fresh or sea. Oceanic obviously means just the sea I suppose. Hmmm

That didn't really explain anything did it!

When I think of aquatic I think of the atmosphere/aura of being around water, rather than the water itself cause it don't smell of much obvioulsy!

Does that make any sense?

[Xen]

Like Orientals, there are many variations to the aquatic theme. There are fragrances which replicate the salty scent of the sea like Kenzo pour Homme and are better referred to as oceanic fragrances. Then there are fragrances which replicate the transparency of water itself, L'eau par Kenzo would be the closest to water itself. Then there are fragrances with the smell of negative ions(the smell of rain) and a fine example would be L'eau D'issey pour Homme. Then there are fragrances which evokes the feeling of fine mist being sprayed on your face, and Azzaro Chrome would be a fine example. Then there are some fragrances which smell melony but are marketed as aquatic fragrances, so it's up to our imagination to conjure images of...water, a good example would be Acqua di Gio pour Homme and Bvlgari Aqva(which would also fit into the oceanic category).

[Concord]

Aquatic, ozonic, oceanic, transparent. The main ingredients that produce these effects are helional and calone. Helional smells vaguely melon-like, but brighter and piercing. Calone smells like seaweed and is disgusting. Both tend to dominate in a blend. I can hardly smell anything in L'Eau D'Issey except for the helional for example. It pierces the nose almost like menthol.



Here's some info too:

http://hjem.get2net.dk/bojensen/Esse...tialOils05.htm

[Concord]

I think that link I posted above was so great I bump it for you all. [smiley=happy.gif]