Blu Mediterraneo : Cedro di Taormina
Acqua di Parma (2016)

One of those thin, hard-to-smell faux wood perfumes that frustrate me. It's sort of herbal, vaguely woody, but mostly comes off as sort of sweet and fruity. Given time, it gets less fruity and more herbal, but it kind of doesn't matter because 90% of the composition seems to be some kind of aquatic chemical that smells like an absence more than a real smell, like the sensation of smelling something without actually experiencing the accompanying odor. I'm aware that real beach ambergris can have this effect, but there's no way that a mass market perfume at this price is full of real ambergris, so they're clearly using some sort of chemical trick to simulate it.

It's pleasant and only remarkable in its refusal to actually be smelled. I wouldn't bother...

Shame this has been discontinued. Citrus with a noticeable aniseed accord, drying down to a pleasant light and fresh Vetiver. Overall, fresh and invigorating, somewhat aromatic. Could be a ‘spa' fragrance.

Although not an aquatic, this reminds me of the sea. Lovely, though performance isn't the best.

The opening is a sour, green, dirty lemon. In the drydown, I keep getting a mature incense that when mixed with that citrus from the opening is actually quite nice and interestingly unique. However, as the citrus fades hours into the drydown, it turns into mostly an incense scent and starts to remind me of Mr. Blass by Bill Blass. No incense listed but that's the impression I get.

Mature and dressed up feels about right, but casual wearing could be good too. Projection isn't bad at all. I was getting wafts of it throughout the 5-6 hours longevity.

[b]Blu Mediterraneo Cedro di Taormina by Acqua di Parma[/b]
[b]Category[/b]: 2 Eau de Cologne variant
[b]Rating[/b]: 3/5
[b]Longevity[/b]: 3/5

Bright bergamot with a lavender basil heart that comes across as minty and bracing. The bergamot is fleeting. I like it, but for this style I prefer Eau de Cologne Imperiale by Guerlain, even though it doesn't last.

Initially I get a peppery blast that has a herbal touch - think basil with whiffs of sage - a d is brightened up a bit by a restrained petitgrain in the background. The black pepper is rather dominant.

The drydown adds a Sicilian lemon that is not very fresh on me, and reminds me more of lemonade than the actual fruit. Is is gradually replaced by a discrete lavender, which is darkish and green and has a stem components that is woodsy in character.

In the base the wood side is expanded further by the addition of a cedar impression that is the same as discreet as the lavender comes across as, and there is a minimally noticeable guaiac somewhere lurking underground. Towards the and a slightly brighter feel is imbued by a low-key gently smoldering vetiver, which is light and shows not much of an earthy side. At the end the cedar, the lavender and the vetiver comfort and lovely trio, but unfortunately it is very close to my skin, too close to really impress.

I get soft sillage, just adequate projection with lavish application and eight hours of longevity on my skin, with the last hours it being very weak.

This scent for warmer autumn days is quite agreeable, but sone of the notes are rather generic, and the performance is mostly poor. Nonetheless, it is not bad but not much more than in the middle range. 2.75/5.

Sunlight in a bottle. I have a fantasy about being a well-groomed Italian gentleman in a crisp beige linen suit and jute espadrilles, luncheoning on freshly caught grilled octopus and caprese salad with a sparkling glass of white wine and beautiful madonna at my side on the patio of a seaside restaurant somewhere along the Amalfi Coast. This (or Essenza, Chinotto di Liguria, or Ginepro di Sardinia) would be my fragrance - sparkling, fresh, zesty, charismatic, sexy, and mama mia oh so Italian. BIG love.