Note Pyramid
Acqua Essenziale Colonia
Clary sage is the material that makes Salvatore Ferragamo Acqua Essenziale Colonia Eau de Toilette 100ml worth a second look, because without it this would be a very ordinary citrus scent for men.
Bergamot opens it and does the expected job, bright and slightly bitter for the first few minutes. Then the sage comes through and changes the register completely. Clary sage is herbal and faintly sweet, with a dusty, almost hay like dryness to it that reads as grown up rather than sporty, and it is the hinge the whole fragrance turns on. Orange blossom sits beside it with a clean bitterness, and lavender adds a soapy herbal calm that keeps the middle tidy.
The base is modern and well judged. Ambroxan supplies that smooth, mineral, slightly salty warmth that makes a cheap scent smell more expensive than it is, vetiver keeps a dry rooty edge underneath, and tonka bean rounds it off with a soft, nutty sweetness. It is not a complicated drydown but it is a comfortable one, and it keeps the sage in play for longer than the opening leads you to expect. This is an eau de toilette pitched at daytime and it behaves accordingly, lasting five hours or so with moderate projection in the first. Four sprays is reasonable. It reads masculine, suits spring and summer, and it is the sort of thing you can wear to work every day without anyone tiring of it.
Alberto Morillas is the perfumer and the year was 2015. The house goes back to a shoemaker, Salvatore Ferragamo, who settled in Florence in 1927; perfume came a great deal later, with a first branded fragrance in 1999 made under licence from Bulgari.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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