Lago Acqua di Baviera 2016

Aquaten from Bavaria? Sounds somehow not right on paper. But this still relatively young brand has already conquered my heart with 2 fragrances and lent new wind to the genre.

But we first take a look at the bottle. The bottle is cube-shaped, quite heavy and seems from the feel pretty high quality. On the front we have a small fabric plaque with the name of the house as well as the fragrance. The bottle has a nice light blue color gradient. The fabric logo on the front is also a light blue color. The cap feels high quality and with this bottle, the sprayer also completely convinces me. A nice fine dosable spray. This is above average level.

But what good is the most beautiful bottle, if the content is not convincing? But there you do not have to worry here. Because my God, that is one of the best top notes I have probably ever smelled. Everything here is so fresh, invigorating and effervescent that it made me salivate at first. The oxygen accord (whatever it's composed of) makes perfect sense. It's like a breath of fresh air from an open window. The bergamot is so perfectly matched with the fresh and tart lime and backed by something minimally green. I honestly can't get out of gushing at the opening. Here, the distribution between fresh citrusy notes and aquatic notes is so perfectly balanced that everything just seems coherent and absolutely round. If I had to give scores for the top notes alone, we'd have a very clear 10 out of 10 here. This is the kind of top note that just blows you away and leaves you amazed. Now, of course, you might think that we're dealing with a top note blender here. But that's not the case. Even if the scent after the top note cannot completely maintain this masterful level, Lago is still an absolutely convincing scent over the entire course. Through the sage in the heart note, the fragrance gains something green-spicy that combines perfectly with the fresh elements of the top note. The driftwood gives the fragrance in the drydown then the basic base, which also turns out here as in the Monte minimally salty. The musk embeds the remaining notes on a pleasantly fresh cloud and gives the remaining elements enough space to unfold. The ambergris, here probably in a synthetic form rather than ambroxan, gives the fragrance a minimal showery freshness, but it seems absolutely stylish and skillfully used. In general, I have to say that at no time does this come across as usual aquatic-calone accidents. Calone is a chemical compound often used in aquatic fragrances to convey freshness or the smell of the sea. This coupled with an overdose of ambroxan, which is also a chemical compound meant to emulate natural ambergris, often results in aquatic scents smelling like test tube accidents. Both Monte and Lago are clear exceptions. The ambergris is present in both fragrances, but never used in an annoying or overbearing way. Here it is used exactly as it is intended. As a supporting means to fine-tune existing notes.

The durability is at 4-5 sprays at absolutely coherent 7-8 hours. The charisma decreases slightly after 2 hours, but is always perceptible in the closer sillage.

The Lago is thus for me the fresh-aquatic surprise of recent years. In this genre, no fragrance has convinced me so far on the whole line as this from the house Acqua di Baviera. If you want to buy e.g. an Afternoon Swim from Louis Vuitton for 220€, you should try Lago first. Here you get for a 1/3 of the price a fresh-aquatic fragrance with one of the most beautiful and fresh top notes ever. And you get a durability that also deserves its name. While the Afternoon Swim already runs out of breath after 5 hours, you come with the Lago without problems over a whole workday