The weather is perfect “summer” in my corner of the world right now — warm (in the 70s) but not too humid, sunny and a little breezy. I wish Mr. Professor and I could take a day trip to Asbury Park or Coney Island, but since we’re both avoiding crowds and mass transit, that’s not something we’ll be doing anytime soon.
I dabbled in some beach-y perfumes last week, just to give myself an olfactory mini-vacation.
Reminiscence Rem
I learned about Reminiscence’s fragrances back in the days of Makeupalley.com and the early years of Now Smell This. I’ve only ever owned sample vials and decants of Rem, but I do like its vaguely Matisse-ish bottle design.
The scent itself is an aquatic blend with clean, melon-y water notes (Calone!) as well as a light base of vetiver and woods. My friend Nancy says the “crunchy” vetiver note makes her think of sand between her toes when she wears this one.
Creative Universe Mare
When I initially met fragrance designer Beth Terry at an event at Barneys and couldn’t decide which of her perfumes I enjoyed most. A little later, I purchased Mare (“sea”); I’m glad I took that plunge (hah), since Creative Universe and Barneys are both now extinct.
You can read an interview with Beth Terry here and a review of Mare (by Marlen) on Now Smell This here.
Kerosene Walk the Sea
Sea air, sand, driftwood…dirtied up just ever so slightly. I’ve taken samples of Walk the Sea to the actual seashore with me more than once, because they enhance what I’m already smelling when I step onto the boardwalk.
I reviewed Walk the Sea for NST, here.
DSH Perfumes La Plage/Sea Spray
I somehow missed this one until I was recently scrolling through Dawn’s website looking for something else, and I ordered a sample immediately. La Plage is a cheerful sea-breeze fragrance with citrus notes of bergamot and lemon. It’s bright yet sheer, like a watercolor sketch of a day at the beach.
You can read some customer reviews at the DSH website.
Gabriella Chieffo Acquasala
The Gabriella Chieffo sample vials in my stash are a few years old but still smell good! When I first tried it, I described it as “a seaside fragrance with facets of spice and minerals rather than melon or suntan oil.”
You can find my NST review here.
4160Tuesdays What I Did On My Holidays
If, on the other hand, you do want your beach-y perfume laced with notes of suntan lotion, Brighton Rock, and cotton candy, you need look (or sniff) no further than What I Did On My Holidays. Odd but fun!
Robin reviewed it for Now Smell This.
Do you have a favorite beach that you’ve been able to visit or are just missing right now? Or a favorite beach-y perfume?
PERFUME PROFESSOR ( 
I like Acqua di Sale or Batucada for a beach feeling
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I need to revisit Acqua di Sale! The Profumum collection is extensive and I used to get a little overwhelmed when browsing it at Osswald!
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Rem! I’m glad you still have the decant. My original bottle is long gone, but I remember the scent fondly.
In honor of this post I went in search of a beachy fragrance to wear today. “Beachy” is not a major theme in my collection, so my choices were few. I landed on India Hicks Island Living Spider Lily, an oldie from Crabtree & Evelyn. Lily notes sometimes create a salty impression that reads as beachy to me, and that’s the case here.
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I loved that India Hicks C&E collection!! I used up the body cream in a flash. It was lovely. I think lilies do have a salty note — Luca Turin mentioned it in his review of F Malle Lys Mediterranee, iirc!
The Rem is almost gone…but it still smells good! 🙂
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