Acqua Di Sale

This is pure Mediterranean salty sea air, with rustic herbal coastal greenery.

Launched in 1996, ‘Acqua Di Sale’ is a sentimental fragrance that’s woody and herbaceous with salty marine aromatics. It’s austere and traditional with the wistful smile of a hard working Mediterranean father. This scent belongs in a tranquil, picturesque bay where a few fishing boats gently rest.

The myrtle gives a fresh, green and camphorous accord that’s similar to bay leaves. The seaweed here is dry, brittle and adds an iodine aroma – it’s the non-slimy seaweed that you find in Japanese food, rather than the fishy, dead-plankton kind. It gives a dry, crisp greenness like nori, with its saline, roasted, slightly nutty notes. The salt note brings a mineralised, iodine, sodium-ions element to the scent. Some argue that salt is odourless, but it’s our perception of the TASTE of salt that influences or perception of scent. Interestingly, when we visit the coast and smell the salty sea air, we are actually smelling the dimethyl sulfide, which is a gas produced by bacteria consuming the ocean’s decay.

Salt may seem like an unconventional note to use in perfumery, but it was once highly prized and more valuable than gold. Roman soldiers earnt a ration of salt (rather than money) as their monthly allowance called “salarium” (“sal” being Latin for salt) which eventually makes it into the English language as “salary”. Interestingly, my favourite salty scent comes from ambergris (natural or synthetic). Last but not least, there’s the Virginia cedar note, which gives a smooth, gin-like juniper accord. It adds a clean woody freshness, akin to pencil shavings.

‘Acqua di Sale’ puts me in mind of idyllic settings: the sandy coastline and tranquil harbours of Sardinia, the hot and balmy olives groves of Andalucía and the white-washed villages of Greece, set against the blue Aegean sea. ‘Acqua Di Sale’ is the salt residue when you come out of the sea and the sun warms your skin to crystallise the scent. ‘Acqua Di Sale’ is the mineralised encapsulation of sun, sea and sex.

It’s £225 for 100ml and is the best quality salty scent that I’ve encountered. It has such a high percentage of oil that it lasts for over 12 hours on the skin, and as for clothes, it lasts for days! It’s been on my coat for almost a week and I can still smell its reassuring allure. For me, it wasn’t an immediate attraction, it took a few wears to find that I’d suddenly connected to it – only then did I crave its sentimental charm. It makes me feel like a loving male figure is protecting me – an unusual emotional reaction to a fragrance I know, but that’s the subjective and hugely individualistic personal experience of perfumery.

On me, it’s a very wearable, my-skin-but-better scent, since it’s just so aromatic and easy to wear but lasts and lasts and lasts – that’s major potential for a signature scent! It’s certainly becoming one of my absolute favourites. My all time favourite scent is Profumum Roma’s ‘Ichnusa’ and I think ‘Acqua Di Sale’ has just taken second place.

“The cure for anything is salted water – salt, tears or the sea” – Swedish proverb.

NOTES – Seaweed, Salt, Myrtle, Virginia Cedar