Meh. More generic 'blue' but with an exorbitant price tag.
It's official. I'm a bonafide member of the "I hate the 'aqua/marine' designation that's associated with a generic 'blue' accord in men's perfumes" club. It's a MARKETING PLOY! Literally a scheme cooked up by corporate advertising suits in NYC after running focus groups on a bunch of impressionable dullards. And judging by the reviews here on Parfumo, fragrance enthusiasts appear to be no less resilient to being afflicted by this virulent PSYOP. After all, young men are eager and willing to open their wallets for the "upscale" experience of wearing a brand like Roja!
NO, this fragrance does NOT remind you of relaxing and sipping cocktails on a boat in the Mediterranean. That is a false association that was seeded in your brain, and subsequently watered, fed, and mimetically nurtured in your subconscious through your overindulgence in online perfume media run by shysters. Do you know what being on a boat in Italy actually smells like? Brackish salt brine, iodine-heavy kelp, crustaceans + mollusks, a hint of olive trees, a whiff of herbal aperitif from the Campari you spilled on your shirt earlier that day, and a vaguely fecal/humanoid-musk note that varies in intensity depending upon how near you are to a major urban area. This doesn't smell like that. At all.
Is Isola Blu a mass-appealing, citrus-forward, 'blue' scent? Absolutely. If that's what you're into, fantastic -- go forth and wear young man! But don't pretend that this somehow "captures the essence of an aquatic lifestyle" (*I just experienced pure physical revolt and cringe by typing that*). But remember, the market for synthetic 'blue' fragrances is completely saturated, and there are perhaps hundreds of options available to you as a consumer. If you feel inclined to drop $500 MSRP for 50mL of Isola Blu, more power to you, but you could also just get the sufficiently similar Blue Talisman by Ex Nihilo at half the price. Meanwhile, if you want something that's been thoughtfully composed, is uniquely refreshing, and does a fine job of capturing the aroma of coastal myrtle trees and salty, kelp-laden bodies of water -- go try Acqua di Sale by Profumum Roma and thank me later.
