Bvlgari Aqva

In the genre of aquatics, Bvlgari Aqva is a horse of a different color.

I am tempted almost to classify it as an oriental due to how thick it is. This is the most robust aquatic scent I've smelled. Perhaps more fitting as an evening scent, though I used to wear Aqva during the day as girls gave me compliments.

My problem with it is that it is too much. Too crowded. Aqva has intense marine notes against floral and fruity notes and spicy pepper notes and an amber/sage base. The marine is very interesting - it is salty and sour, the way these kinds of scents SHOULD smell. But some days I love the way the notes work with the floral and base notes, and other days I hate it.

Aqva, interestingly, is a moody fragrance. Most aquatics are light and fresh - this is somewhat fresh but a dark character. It is well suited to rainy days in summer, especially in Japan. But you could wear it anytime. As far as its babe-factor, all of my girl friends love it. It stands to reason, I suppose, given the Twilight Edward Cullen obsession.

Bvlgari Aqva's staying power is solid. Lasts a good 6 to 8 hours.

It can be found cheap at online retailers, which is another plus.

If I had to relate it to a song, it'd be Chopin's Ocean Etude in the video above. Throw this on your ipod and take a walk on a rainy midnight, wearing three good sprays of Aqva and perhaps a peacoat. Listen, breathe, experience the beautiful surreal effect.

Bvlgari Black

Black is one of Bvlgari's more interesting fragrances. It's supposed to have some weird sort of composition technique called an "olfactive block" which reveals all the notes to you immediately. Before I analyzed this I never really got it, but now I understand. It's more a technique that flattens out the fragrance so that there is not such a radical progression to it from top to bottom.

I first fell in love with this one a year and a half ago when I was working at Abercrombie and Fitch. The biggest factor in my loving it, funnily enough, was a hot as hell coworker who I let smell a test strip I'd picked up of it. She went nuts at the smell of it, even amidst all the Fierce that we'd sprayed on the mannequins. I was sold.

As it begins, Bvlgari Black you in the face with a bergamot, tea, and sandalwood. I have to say I am not sure what to think about the bergamot, it seems so out of its element but at the same time makes the cologne that much more interesting. Not more than fifteen minutes later, a light cedar underpins this opening accord in conjunction with leather which shows up a little after that. This must be what creates Black's smokey accord. It is nice, but can be overbearing if applied too liberally.

A sweet vanilla and subtle amber base come to life not more than thirty minutes into the fragrance. The character of Black comes from its smokey vanilla quality. A dark, sweet cologne.

There is a lot of talk about Black eliciting a rubber accord. I think most people make this association purely due to the bottle having a rubber rim. The bottle is an odd shape and used to have a strange on-off spray mechanism reminiscent of cleaning products, but it's been changed to a regular cologne sprayer we are so used to seeing.

Bvlgari Black is fairly long lasting and can be worn easily by both sexes. It is more of a night scent, not well suited to warm weather due to the leather, cedar, vanilla, sandalwood and amber notes.