Mirto di Panarea Acqua di Parma 2008

~ Mirto di Panarea is my own personal taste of a Mediterranean paradise in a bottle! I am easily carried away with images evoked by scent and this fresh myrtle, citrus and basil scent is no exception. I am at a charming outside cafe seated by a flower cart on a breezy day and an open air market with various citrus fruits nearby. The notes all feel very natural lemon, orange and the white florals make for a realistic transporting scent to the sea. Fresh, floral, green and even a creaminess that is very appealing to my nose as my own personal skin scent. This is a lovely image in a bottle that will give me a momentary escape to another land and a pleasant blue diversion with each hint of it's seaside sillage breeze.
Kind Regards, Plat ~

Acqua di Parma’s blue colognes are in this sweet spot between mainstream and exclusive. Or should I say a blind spot, a void? They may be too outspoken for the designer audience and too much of a fancy shower gel for the ‘snobs’.

Personally, I find them effective but somewhat unexciting refreshers for casual daytime wear on summer days. Colognes with a fine quality and a clear Mediterranean Casanova vibe.

Mirto di Panarea adds an enjoyable touch of dry green herbs to the theme of citrus and sea breeze musks. A mild amber note in the base adds a little warmth and a tiny bit of sweetness.

The sillage is subtle and longevity is short. As it should be, it’s a cologne!

It is one of the freshest, most beautiful, natural smelling summer floral scents I have ever come across! I really like it and find it very nice!

It opens up with a beautiful sweet lemon accord. Not sugary sweet, just the natural sweetness of the lemon. It's coupled with a very soothing aromatic Basil note and the most wonderful rendition of sweet Myrtle flower blossom. Absolutely incredible! You can just imagine this wonderful Italian garden by the sea. I also get a hint of salty sea breeze coupled with the prominent flower blossom.

I highly recommend this if you want a very natural smelling, Mediterranean style floral fragrance. Acqua di Parma has really impressed me with this one. Try it if you get the chance!

Mirto di Panarea opens with a now all too familiar combination of lemon and bergamot and other citrus with a mildly herbal undertone of basil and myrtle, and a salty accord that is relatively well-repressed. The salty citrus and its underlying herbal greens remain into the heart as the scent remains linear in its presentation throughout only slightly changing up things a bit when a base note of amber replaces the now highly dissipated citrus late. Projection is average and longevity is below average.

It is now official... after having tried three of the four samples of the Blu Mediterraneo series I am pretty well convinced this segment of the Acqua di Parma brand is not for me. Like its sister scents I find Mirto di Pannarea to be extremely uninteresting and forgettable. The bergamot and lemon has been done so many times before and quite frankly done a lot better elsewhere. It also has been done by other scents in the Blu line, come to think of it... Why do these Blu line scents all seem like the same fragrance over and over again? I do like the amber dry-down, but it is nothing earth shattering and it is quite short-lived with no projection at all by the time it appears. Mirto di Panarea is yet another disappointing release in the generally disappointing Blu line, earning another average score of 2.5 stars out of 5. Skip it, says I.

Mirto di Panarea exemplifies the modus operandi of Acqua di Parma for making fresh citrus perfumes in the Blu Mediterraneo collection, which are named after various location around the Tyrrhenian Sea.  The perfumes differ in the aromatic notes on the top and woody, resins at the bottom.  But they are all anchored by a bold citrus note of some kind.  Typical of Blu Mediterraneo collection, the nose behind this perfume is not disclosed.  

Mirto di Panarea uses myrtle and basil to supplement the citrus notes of bergamot and lemon.  The middle floral notes are rose and jasmine, and these notes enhance the sunny nature of Mirto di Panarea by providing a nice diversion from the aromatic citrus opening.  The bottom notes are cedar, juniper and mastic, though these are not very conspicuous on my skin. The steep drop in performance undercuts the value of the later notes. 

I consider the entire Blu Mediterraneo collection to be colognes or eau-de-colognes.  So, I won’t belabor the longevity of this perfume.  The initial aromatic citrus is lovely, but there is a precipitous drop-off in performance after the first few hours.  This is a perfume that should be sprayed twice a day.  I am sure this will work as a lovely office perfume, as you can adjust the strength very easily.

I suspect this review can be used for every Blu Mediterraneo cologne with minor changes in the verbiage.  In short, Mirto di Panarea is a very good perfume for what it aspires to be.  I can visualize straw hats and linen pants when I smell Mirto di Panarea.  It is expensive for a cologne that is neither long-lasting nor unique.  But if you can get 100 ml for under $60, I wouldn’t quibble much.  I got it is part of a 12 ml set of three perfumes for $42 from Jomashop, which also includes Arancia di Capri and Fico di Amalfi.  These bottles are from a collaboration with the clothing brand forte_forte.  It is the same old colognes in a different packaging, not to be confused as a “forte” version.