Bvlgari – Aqua Amara eau de toilette review

Aqua Amara is a perfume by Italian fashion brand Bvlgari, which is known primarily for expensive jewelry done in Greco-Roman style. But also for very wearable, elegant perfumes like Bvlgari Pour Homme, Jasmin Noir, Omnia, Homme Soir, BLV, as well as their only powerhouse perfume Aqua Pour Homme. APH is the one perfume that can go side by side with the legendary Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male, Joop Homme, and other creations that last for days on the skin, and in memories for decades.

Aqua Amara’s inspiration and DNA is drawn from Aqua Pour Homme, and unlike another Aqua Atlantique flanker who (over) emphasized marine, ozone notes of the original, Aqua Amara gave a beautiful interpretation of the two, pairing them with a wonderful citrus-woody chord.

The creative direction of this perfume was:

Part of a broader strategy to promote Aqua and Omnia top-selling perfume lines that are made for the broadest possible audience. Bvlgari tries to uplift perfume as much as possible without losing the appeal to a large number of people and ordinary consumers. There are two approaches to this, either viewing the fragrance as a commercial blockbuster or as an exceptional object.

I think they have succeeded to some extent in this. Certainly the experience and the mega-talent of Jacques Cavallier, creator of many successful and fantastic perfumes like Pasha de Cartier, Dior Midnight Poison, Diesel Fuel for Life, Jean Paul Gaultier Classique, L’Eau d’Issey, Paco Rabanne Ultraviolet and many others have contributed to bringing these two seemingly conflicting goals into one.

Aqua Amara has succeeded in preserving the fragrant essence of the original Aqua Pour Homme, its fantastically imitative scent of the sea, sea herbs, salinity, and sand. The opening of the perfume is a mix of citruses, powerful, penetrating, extremely synthetic, and dry, dominated by tangerine notes, but not as juicy as in many of Guerlain’s Aqua Allegories, when you can feel like you’ve just squeezed a fresh, freshly picked tangerine. In Aqua Amara, the tangerine smells like a tangerine peel left to dry in the sun or radiator. The marine note then replaces the top notes, but with the citrus notes still present, to finally emerge from the sea chord, a mix of woody notes, especially exciting and elegant. Worth buying, but only for those who loved or still love the original Aqua Pour Homme. For them, Bvlgari created an appealing interpretation of their beloved one, kept what’s precious and unique in it, and enriched it with new chords. At the same time, for those like me who could never make themselves love it, this is just another in a series of creations that I admire, but from afar, on other people.

Perfume creator is Jacques Cavallier.