Neroli Portofino Acqua

So today I was on the hunt for Oud Palao by Diptyque and much to my dismay it was out of stock at my local SpaceNK. I browsed for a bit when I noticed the frosted bottle of Neroli Portofino Acqua and something about it made me want to enquire further and since I was armed and ready with several blotters I thought hey why not? Now, I know that you shouldn’t judge a perfume by its bottle but I do and I tend to stay from bright and garish colours because 9 times out of 10 the scent is either very green and citrusy which I don’t really dabble in or a light-hearted floral. I’m all about boozy, musky and powerful scents which usually come in dark bottles so I had prejudged PA to smell like an aquatic herb garden.

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“Oh my God that’s tuberose” is what I said to myself as I inhaled; it was breathtakingly fresh and revitalising and was accompanied by fleeting pulses of neroli and citrus which transported me to the tranquil calm of the Riviera where I admired the rhythmic propagation of the sea. A cool breeze passed by that sent a chill down my spine but I didn’t care because I was at one with the world. It’s been 1 hour and some amber has kicked in but the composition hasn’t altered at all, it is incredibly smooth and gentle. I don’t tend to fall in love at first sniff because I believe that a perfume should court the intended wearer but every once in a while you have to disregard your principles and live a little!

These are my initial thoughts and I will update the post after several wears, I just got a little excited and decided to post a mini-review!

The bottle is a frosted cyanic beauty that is not captured very well in this picture. When I saw it I thought of water, purity and cleanliness and the scent emanates these traits somewhat

Update 22/03/16:

So a few hours have passed and I have been hit with that feeling of unknown familiarity that I dub olfactory déjà-vu. You know that feeling when you’re trying to enjoy a new scent but it reminds you of something and you will NOT rest until you’ve figured it out.. well it happened to me and after sitting around and pondering I realised that NPA smells like Reckless by Roja Dove as well as Armani Code; I’m really pleased with myself to have discovered dupe on dupe on dupe.