Coastal Veil Pineward 2023

Coastal Veil is the only aquatic in the 39 sample set from Pineward. I still stand by my earlier statement that it's the best aquatic I've ever tried. What sets it apart is NOT that it's a mild aquatic. If you don't like aquatic fragrances, you will not like Coastal Veil. It is strongly aquatic with all the ocean, seaweed and salt. What set it apart in my book are two things. First, in addition to the aquatic accord, there's also the juniper notes that add to the picture as described on Pineward's website: twisted cypresses growing on the rocky cliffs above the shore. I totally got that picture in my mind by the scent of Coastal Veil. Secondly, it smells quite realistic to me without the strong synthetic/chemical impression Megamare has. The only criticism I have with Coastal Veil is that the juniper notes don't hang around for longer. As the hours tick by, they disappear and Coastal Veil becomes only an aquatic fragrance.

Considering that Coastal Veil is an EdT concentration, the longevity is super. I applied it in the evening and it was still a strong skin scent the next morning 12 hours later. Projection is low end strong for the first couple of hours and then pulls back significantly into a more intimate scent bubble.

Before Coastal Veil, Megamare was on my shopping list as the aquatic of choice. It's been replaced by Coastal Veil.

So, I grew up on the Atlantic Coast/Chesapeake Bay area. Where the salty sea and inland fresh water mix. Brackish blackwater.

This part of the U.S. is among the oldest of the Euro-inhabited. In fact, where I'm from, there's a spot called "First Landing," where some old timey English dude touched grass in 1607 on the way to "settle" Jamestown. (Nevermind that the Powhatan confederacy was already there, but I digress.)

Anywho . . . because the first thing the imigrants wanted to do in this part of the world was grow some lucrative crops, like tobacco, cotton, etc., the tidewater areas is littered with lots of old buildings, i.e., plantation houses. The Adam Thoroughgood house, built in 1719, still stands and you can tour it. So do houses like Ferry, Francis Land, etc. You can still visit them. Learn some history and such.

My point is that when you do, thanks to the extra humid coastal climate (temperate winters/soggy summers), these buildings have an unmistakeable smell. Marine, briny, mossy, dank, muddy, mushroomy. Musty, loamy, old. Like literal centuries of salt air breezing through these old hardwood hallways. Saturating the place. HOW on earth Pineward perfumer captured this aroma, I will never know. Chalk it up to sorcery.

Coastal Veil is the most, perhaps unintentionally, perfect scent of place I have ever experienced. I can spritz it, close my eyes, and be immediately transported through time to my youth. To my roots. I will savor this and wear it for no other reason than to experience this wave of nostalgia again and again. Slow clap, my friends. Sloooow clap.

Sampling Pineward Perfumes Coastal Veil, one of the house’s recent releases for spring, a fittingly maritime but also fresh and green scent, with sea spray meeting a medley of woods, conjuring being on the coast, smelling both the land and the ocean at the same time. It adds diversity to the catalogue, which to this point has not had any aquatic-dominant scents by my recollection, though the collection has grown significantly since its 2020 launch, delightfully expanding form a high concentration of darker/woodier scents to a more diverse array. I think Coastal Veil does a good job of conjuring the shore while not being insistent on any unusual aspects—green pines and salty sea spray sum it up fairly well. Overall, I like it.

Like most of the line, Coastal Veil is priced at $135/80 for 57/37ml, roughly the standard for fragrances in EDT concentration (much of the house’s higher-concentration fragrances are priced higher), and is sold exclusively via the house website.

7 out of 10

An incredible aquatic fragrance less like a marine beach and much more reminiscent of it's name-- Like the forest at the edge of a lake, saltwater spray in the fog of the coast, overcast, but knowing the sun will still shine that evening.

A great spring or summer fragrance. I bought this in another handful of Pineward samples from my second purchase from the house, which shares the same 5-ish hour longevity as most of their collection and incredibly unique blends: Coastal Veil has the same woodsy qualities as most Pineward perfumes, yet stands out with it's very, very strong aquatic and almost cooling notes which could be the cypress and eucalyptus-- However, personally, despite feeling them on my skin, I can't smell them-- which isn't entirely a bad thing!

The seaweed notes are most prominent throughout the entire wear time, from initial spray to dry down. At the very end of it is where most of the note layers begin to show through albeit very, very little; there's a hint of something earthy, like driftwood drying in the sun, almost musty which could be both the sandalwood and mushroom. The ambergris is little but makes the saltwater and seaweed much more wearable; I can tell it's included in the blend despite not being able to distinctly sniff it out because without it I fear this would just be a seaweed stinkbomb.

Despite being cooling at the end, it's quite warm in the opening and first hour or two of wear, incredibly reminiscent of that feeling when you let your feet sit in the saltwater of the shore; Something like heartache, maybe, for the rainclouds about to pass. Or appreciation for the minnows in the shallows kissing at your feet, joy, for the child running about with a big branch along the shore of the beach.

Coastal Veil is a truly unique fragrance that speaks to someone who's grown up near the coast, and anyone else that would love to feel that same love I hold for the woods I use to stomp around in.

Would truly recommend for someone looking for a watery fragrance that doesn't rely on citrus to carry it. However, it is quite strong, even for an EDT, so it could be headache inducing especially for those sensitive to mineral/saltwater smells, or gets sneezy around fresh scents.

One of the first reviews I made on this site was for Every Storm a Serenade (2024), which I praised from my point of view as a sailor as one of the most authentic oceanic scents I’d ever smelled. I was then surprised, though I’m not sure I should have been, to spray Coastal Veil on, and immediately smell… Every Storm A Serenade, with which it shares its basic eucalyptus-amber-evergreen-saltwater DNA.

This combination remains unmatched in evoking the sensation of a green, rainy coastline, but Coastal Veil adds some additional notes that push the sensation above and beyond. At the top, “water pepper” adds a cool, spicy touch to the earthy, aquatic proceedings, and during the drydown, Irish moss and bladderwrack bring the ambergris base note back to its origins as something washed up on the beach. Highly evocative of a place and a moment.