Aqva Divina by Bvlgari, the new modern and ageless perfume successfully captures the evading scent of sea mermaids: Imagine the smell of crusty sea salt on sun kissed skin and the scent of floraly emblazoned flowy hair , breezy and aquatic.
When you open the perfume bottle, you can actually see this imaginary sea creature sitting on a cove and watching the waves grow bigger in the distance.
When I first read that the perfumer Alberto Morillas was inspired by Botticelli’s masterpiece; The Birth of Venus, I expected another aquatic perfume, light, fresh, inoffensive and clearly forgettable.
While Aqva Divina is indeed light, fresh, inoffensive, there is a special string that prevents me from labeling the perfume as forgettable.
This is not yet another aquatic perfume in the sea of watery, ocean themed perfumes, which pride themselves in bringing you the ocean breeze, and then deliver the scent of heavy tropical, overtly sweet tanning-lotion like scents.
The bergamot and ginger note warrant a spurt of adrenaline that kicks the sea salt note into gear.
Soft woods keep Aqva Divina from being overtly salty, while the magnolia note delivers the much needed floral sweetness.
It is particularly the magnolia note that feels something shift inside the scent’s perfume pyramid; like a puzzle piece sliding into its niche.
Like a flower growing on a seaside rock, in its scent you can feel the serenity of the ocean breeze and the natural floral oils, Aqva Divina provides for the honest salty, tangy feeling, courtesy of the ocean breeze
Speaking in an honest tone, this is a perfume that requires stripping it to its nudity, layer by layer, in order to appreciate its master craft.
If you ever crave the ocean breeze during the winter, reach for this perfume: you will have it in a second.
