A Slightly Bitter Taste Of Lost Things

“In no place on Earth are there so many opportunities for delicious peace and quiet as on this small island.” Charles Dickens.

The world is a place to take your breath away, but there are some pockets of the Earth in particular that are places of indescribable beauty. Capri in southern Italy is one of these enchanting places. It has been a holiday resort since the times of the Roman Republic, and its timeless appeal means it is just as popular today. The island is located just south of the Gulf of Naples in the beautiful Campania region. Brilliant blue waters splash over the quaint island’s limestone rocks and pebble beaches, creating a vision of ageless tranquility. Suppose it is noon on an early summer working day; the sun is high in the blue sky, which is bright and not a single cloud on the horizon. I’m on my lunch break, lying in the dunes, in a cove at the top of a long deserted beach. In front of me, there is only the sea of ​​turquoise and green shades, a light tide with soft waves breaking along the seashore and gently slapping the rocks. The air is sultry, but a light breeze rises from the sea. In solitude, I smell the warm pebbles, all the beaches of Capri are pebble, the scent of salt that rises from the seaweeds and rocks, and the aromatic myrtle that grows wild behind the beach. ALV Capri smells this way. It’s wild, wet, and cool. Creamy and mysterious salty minerals with sweet herbaceous undertones. Like Kenzo Pour Homme, it recreates the smell of the sea, in this case of the Tyrrhenian Sea, and of what surrounds it without being a water fragrance.

ALV Capri is playful, flowery, cheerful, delicately aromatic, and reflects the country's magic, the spectacle of a pearl set in the cobalt blue of its sea and enveloped by the Mediterranean scents of the vegetation. It is a deeply emotional perfume, and it differs uniquely for notes that recall the saltiness and the sea. It opens with a real breath of sea breeze and aromatic accords. The first few seconds the smell is sharp, almost like medicinal alcohol. Both the saltwater and the smell of myrtle are in the face. There is a slightly moist, green, medicinal note in the opening which I assume is myrtle interacting with the algae. If you know the Mirto di Sardegna liqueur, you know what I mean.

Then the true scent unfolds, and the salty and sweet solar air takes over, in a sweet, almost gourmand way. The heart is a kind of bouquet with poisonous lily of the valley, purple cyclamen, mellifluous ylang-ylang, and feathery acacia. They all come together to give rise to a chypre and rosy accord that is too floral and tender. Oh man, this is the part you don’t expect at all. So lovely, so enjoyable.

The fragrance doesn’t develop much from the heart onwards, but in the dry-down, there is a hint of something bitter, like sunburned skin. Does it have to be the patchouli interacting with the marine chords? The last notes, warm and persistent, develop from tones of white musk, not soapy but musky and earthy, vanilla and patchouli, and flow into elegant amber. I don’t get sweetness from the vanilla, while I get a hint of filthy patchouli. What remains is a trace of something similar to mineral wax; in some ways, the trail reminds me a lot of the smell of decorative candles with a marine note.

ALV Capri has some slightly sharp chords. It evokes the ocean but in a way less typical of classic aquatic scents inspired by freshwater, cool rain, dewy flowers, and wet leaves, or juicy summer fruit and vegetables. It has a marine scent, of wild water, of crystallized salt, which I would define as bitter and earthy like the ocean. The smell of salty water in the air splashing across your face from huge waves crashing against the rocks. The notes that dominate my skin are salty, floral, with a bitter hint, and a lot of creamy and earthy musk. If I have to find a similarity, I would say that this perfume closely resembles the most famous Rem by Reminiscence and Acqua di Sale by Profumum Roma; I can put all three of them on the same baseball field. The warm seasons, from late spring to early autumn, are appropriate and the scent is suitable for a day at the office, but also daily sporting and nocturnal events.

This review is based upon a 100ml bottle I own since March 2021.

-Elysium

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