Megamare Orto Parisi 2019

In Alessandro Gualtieri's olfactive mythology, where Risvelium embodies the Tarrasque, Orto Parisi's Megamare takes on the role of the Kraken... and if you don't know what I'm talking about, we don't need to be friends.

Megamare opens with a crisp blend of bergamot and lemon, giving way quickly to its dominant aquatic heart. Here, notes of seaweed, calone, and hedione create a robust marine accord. It’s a scent that will remind you of salty air, crashing waves, and the raw, untamed essence of the sea... if you want to romanticise those aspects.
The base settles into a long lasting combination of musk, ambroxan, and cedarwood, lending depth and a warmth that prevents it from becoming a boring fleeting fresh scent.

One of Megamare's most consistent attributes, frequently highlighted everywhere, is its remarkable longevity and projection. I tend to agree on the longevity side, whilst from a projection perspective I'd say that it is strong, but not nuclear.

Interestingly, while I’ve found that my wife didn't appreciate "Atlas / اطلس | Lattafa / لطافة" or Black Sea, she has a curious fondness for Megamare. Atlas, for her, possessed a green and almost "choking" tendency that she found unbearable (...and I agree). Its marine notes were perhaps too metallic or sharp. Black Sea, on the other hand, which hails from Pazzaglia and therefore has a slightly sweeter, softer overall profile with notes like orange blossom and ylang-ylang alongside its marine and salty accords, was still not to her liking, though less harsh than Atlas.

Megamare, despite its intensity and often challenging reputation, seems to strike a different chord, perhaps due to its particular balance of salty sweetness and deep musk, which avoids the green bitterness of Atlas or the specific sweetness of Black Sea that she found off-putting.
Of course we are talking about different price ranges, but this is another reason why you should sample when you can before buying a Kraken in a bottle - whichever declination you might decide to go for.

This scent, along with few others, made me sure I hated aquatics for a long, long time. Then I discovered actually good aquatics (as Cosmic Serpent or Black Salt) but this? It's good for you if you want to smell like fish. It's plain, boring, commercial, I can't stand it with all my heart and I do not trust your tastes in scents if you like this one. Overrated, overpriced, overhyped.

I don’t think I’ve ever owned many fragrances where one spray genuinely felt like enough.

Megamare is one of them.

This is an aquatic fragrance with absolutely no interest in being subtle. Half a spray behind each ear is more than enough to announce your presence, and anything beyond that starts feeling less like wearing a fragrance and more like launching an environmental attack.

I’m only half joking.

The scent itself is equally uncompromising. This is not the clean, refreshing aquatic profile most people associate with the genre. Megamare feels deeper, darker and almost aggressive in its marine character, which is exactly why I strongly recommend trying it on skin before buying.

You will probably know fairly quickly whether this style is for you.

Interestingly, despite its challenging personality, I once received a compliment while wearing it. So there is definitely something fascinating and attractive about Megamare for people who connect with this kind of scent.

Its greatest strength eventually became the reason I sold it.

The performance is absolutely monstrous, but because of that intensity, I rarely found the right occasion to wear it. With a large collection and so many other options available, Megamare simply wasn’t getting enough use to justify keeping the bottle.

I also find Aqua Sapphire similar in character and perhaps even more refined and layered. Still, for this particular style of fragrance, I personally don’t feel the need to spend significantly more than what Megamare costs.

I sold it because I wasn’t wearing it - not because it failed at what it was designed to do.

If anything, Megamare may simply do its job too well.

I'm not the kind of person who shies away from 'challenging' fragrances, especially aquatics. The more realistic, salty, low-tide, seaweed-skanky, the better. After hearing so many people decry Megamare as 'unwearable', I thought it sounded perfect for me!

Well, either I'm just a real sicko with a nose of steel, or everyone else is cowards, because there's not much to this at all. It's your classic men's "blue" fragrance— a vaguely lemony calone-bomb aquatic, pleasant and totally forgettable. If that's your thing, you might really like this! But I want a little more salt in my sea.

This is such an intriguing scent for me.

Is it oceanic? Well yes.
Is it fresh? Kinda
Is it a light and easy-breezy wear for the super hot days? Not quite.

I always say this: Imagine if Nasomatto Black Afgano was inspired by the ocean

Ocean inspired for sure, fresh in the opening certainly. But then I get almost a rich coffee/boozy/chocolaty feeling from it, just like Black Afgano.

I know, sounds weird. But I can’t stop smelling it! Being it because I'm intrigued by the composition or it’s sheer nuclear power.

Because yeah, get this on clothes and it won’t ever come off - And this is where my "hate" for it comes.
If this was the only scent that I had, it would be a positive (Kinda), but as a collector, I want to wear more than 1 fragrance per day, more often than not. With Megamare, this is just NOT possible.
I usually put on 1 spray of this on the back of my neck and it lasts easily through at least 2 showers on me. Oh and it sticks to everything it touches (and good luck getting it out of there).

That said, hating the excess of performance, I do like it as a Mad piece of perfumery. It intrigues me and has me coming back to it over and over again - because yeah, on me this isn't linear at all.

Polarising but I love it!