NikEy

Hamburg, 11 March 2018: Driven out by the first warm day of the new year, our walk today leads us to the Elbe. Along huge container ships we walk along the banks: from the St. Pauli Landungsbrücken to the Elbe beach in Altona. In between, the sun bathes the city and the water in a wonderful light. The shadows of modern architecture and old cargo cranes are blurring. On the square in front of the fish auction hall, the last piles of garbage from the fish market are removed, while people are already happily strolling across the square between sweepers and cleaning staff.

Even though we are not at the sea, there is a certain maritime feeling - thanks to the harbour with its great variety of new and old ships.
On such a beautiful Sunday, people are relaxed, and the atmosphere of the city is different from that on busy weekdays

Fleurs de Sel has a similar effect to the hard concrete building landscape that stands right next to the water. This ensures that the colour of the river changes to brownish and gives the fresh air its dirty aftertaste. The wiry, parched, once-flowering herbs not only mark the beginning but set the tone for the entire fragrance. Dry and brown, but still giving off their aroma, they appear slightly dirty. With a background of leather notes - a bit like a classic-hot men's fragrance. Vegetables, like some others, I do not perceive, but only herbal spice

With time, an increasingly salty impression is added, but this never becomes superficial. A bit like fresh, unpurified, still slightly moist sea salt straight from the new glass. Forms a good contrast to the dry impression of wilted herbs. Towards the end, Eichmoos, in a dosage that even I like, together with the vetiver, doesn't let the fragrance fade out any less tart and green than it was at the beginning.
For me, the scent oscillates between the not yet exorcised, cloudy winter nature, which is located between all the dirt of the city and the water, which, not yet a sea itself, only gives a slight inkling of the real scent of the sea.

Fleurs de Sel conveys a certain desolation, which may not appeal to everyone. And it is certainly not a summer scent, as it has no freshness at all. While the shelf life is decent, the sillage is hardly present at the moment of spraying. It rarely shows itself and is a silent companion, similar to a tree that stands winterless at the side of the road and observes everything and whose smell you can only perceive if you get very close to its bark with your nose.

Entre Ciel et Mer was one of the aquatic animals that actually do not belong to my favourite prey spectrum, but came to me by chance and thus completed my test series. The scent is one of those that can be prescribed more in the direction of "southern Pacific". An area that is definitely attracting attention with my planned holiday destinations, but that I definitely do not prefer olofactorically to the Nordic seas.

I would like to describe the course of the fragrance with one word from the beginning: unagitated. No unexpected twists and turns, instead it begins with a radiant light blue aquatic scent that immediately conjures up the South Seas image for me. Azure blue water runs into turquoise to end in a fine, light yellow sandy beach. The pure white spray is not broken by rocks but covers the sand with fine bubbles. No sooner do we let this image in our minds than the fragrance brings us a delicate creaminess, which increases steadily in the heart note. It is sun cream, which - as much as one may reject it - always makes us think a little longingly of warm sea areas. Clearly sandalwood ensures that the creaminess remains unisex and makes the finish almost seem a bit dry.

I hardly notice any of the much sharper, dirtier notes indicated in the pyramid - iodine, algae or lichens are mentioned. A small edge, where I would have rather tipped on 'driftwood', is rarely visible and remains hidden. Pierre Guillaume creates a creamy-woody flatterer, gently aquatic, delicately fruity and underlaid with delicate green tones. A beautiful beach fragrance that always goes in summer and you don't have to worry about whether it fits the occasion, also because sillage and durability are of limited duration. Relaxation for mind and nose without excitement.
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edit 2020: Over time, Entre Ciel et Mer has turned out to be one of my aquatic favourites. It reminds me very much of southern holidays and in its entirety it is simply relaxing.

Finest barrels full of rum, tobacco and wine lie in the belly of the ship. And just as all these great stimulants can make you happy, this scent makes me happy. Some people know that wine has played a big role in my life and still does. But rather than a good white wine aged in barriques, this fragrance in all its facets reminds me of rum.

Typically stored in wooden barrels, it has soaked up the aromas of the burnt-out barrel. Tobacco, smoke, oak, vanilla, coconut, caramel. Old Havana plays a great aromatic cinema. Besides the warm side, we get aromas of eucalyptus, delicate citrus notes and salty sea air. The aquatic chord has been placed here in a wonderful bed and does not stand out, but supports in a wonderful way the image of drinking and smoking sailors hoisting their sails under a sunny sky. I can't make out a progression with this fragrance, although I should say that I have tested the oil version

With these comments we come to perhaps the most unusual aquatic of the whole test series. This scent consists mainly of warm instead of fresh scent components and reflects more of an abstract sea picture. Nevertheless, it lets you dive deep into a story.

Un Air de Bretagne takes off without detours with the typical Caloneaquatik. Here it is supported by creamy ambergris, which gives the fragrance a delicate sweetness that later diminishes but never loses itself.

At first I thought he would get lost among the other representatives of this kind. In the end, however, I could make out one unique selling point: the lightness of the Calone! While other fragrances are often rather clumsy and synthetic, one would probably prefer to use L'Artisan as a body spray. The distinctly algae notes bring astringency and skilfully play around the otherwise rather soft and light scents. The combination of both lies somewhere between sea and beach, but without slipping into a pure sea memory.

In the end, the question inevitably arises as to whether a test recommendation should be made, or whether the commentary in itself tends in one direction or another enough to automatically put the fragrance on the watch list or discard it. With a rating of 7.0 it is rather in the "quite nice" range for me. All in all, I wanted a little more airy breeze - and with it the herb-humid notes, herbs and cool surf - but instead I got the rather southern, mild sea with a delicate algae background

Nevertheless: I would like to make a test recommendation for all those who have perhaps not yet smelled too many scents of this direction. Un Air de Bretagne ranks somewhere between well done calone scents like "Mare Pacifico" and the sea scents like "Sel Marin", forming an interesting contrast, but not reinventing the direction.

Spring and summer - almost all perfume users will agree that the warm and sunny seasons are those for aquatic fragrances. Sea in winter may well be successful, but an autumnal fragrance? I have never come across that before. Until today.

Mare Mosso starts with creamy fresh aquatic. The short citrus flashes quickly disregarded, warm tones develop on the skin. Delicately ambered, almost vanilla-benzoin-like spices. Sweet woody ouzo and thus aniseed, which stands clearly above other fresh green notes, of which I only perceive little. Caraway (the classic, not cumin) and other earthy spices ensure that the fragrance gets warmer and warmer. Soon this impression is also perceptible from a distance and not only directly on the skin. In this combination the creation of M8 Moods makes me think of autumnal days. Fog over brown-coloured forests and villages, that sea is grey, the dishes in the homely kitchen become more hearty.

As time goes by, a similarity with Salina or Acqua di Sale can no longer be denied. The salty, salon-like and slightly algae underlay is clear, but the ambered warmth and spices nevertheless create a new interpretation of the theme, which no longer has too much to do with the actual scent of the sea. Despite the exciting combination, Mare Mosso and the other two fragrances are too clearly creamy-sweet for me to enjoy them permanently.

Durability and Sillage are pleasantly designed for a whole day. With this fragrance I test after "Lemoncello" - which really inspired me - the second fragrance of the brand which I find at least successful.