Tonimria

Oh yes, I often read reviews like this, apparently the ultimate characteristic of a high-quality fragrance is extreme sillage, so that even those in the back of the subway car can still enjoy it. True to the motto "The bigger, the better."

My opinion is a little different. I think there's an occasion for every fragrance.
Do I want to wear a fragrance to really scare people away from the waiting room, to get to the dentist quicker, do I want a fragrance that is easy to smell at a party when you're standing next to me, or do I want a fragrance that maybe just really belongs to me and the people I'm hugging?

"Ethereal Wave | Liis" is definitely one of the latter scents. It has a super intimate and body-hugging sillage, but it also retains this. Durability is therefore good.
When you spray it on, you are first met with a surge of bergamot, which transforms on the skin into a beautiful, light cloud of green jasmine tea, fluffy musk and light wood. As delicate and beautiful as glittering threads dancing in a breeze. That's it. This combination is what the fragrance promises, and that's how it stays.

About the associations: what would I do if I had really, really a lot of money and was feeling upset and stressed? Maybe I'd be in over my head planning the latest annual champagne reception for dachshund owners, or deciding whether to get the latest Porsche in metallic fir green or matt.

I would definitely buy myself a stay at a luxury resort that offers vegan raw food, singing bowl courses and meditation sessions ad nauseam.
The resort is minimalist-chic, wood-clad and green. There are no people to be seen anywhere and mountain monk chanting plays softly in the background. Of course, there is also a spa area. And this spa area is guaranteed to smell like "Ethereal Wave | Liis". Restrained, elegantly designed and woody.

Unfortunately, I can't afford it, but "Ethereal Wave | Liis" still gives me that meditative feeling.

It's the late 50s. I'm sitting on the veranda, wrapped in a woolen blanket. A small house on a beach, with a choppy, turbulent sea right in front of me. The sky is cloudy and gray, seagulls make their rounds above me.

Why am I there? A doctor diagnosed me with hysteria due to my stubborn, feminine disposition and suggested that I should be sent to the sea, as this could probably have a positive effect on the furor caused by fanatical feminist ideas that is now common among women.
My family agreed, luckily we had a lonely cottage by the sea and it was time for me to normalize myself so that I could perhaps find a sensible man.
What the doctor couldn't know, of course, was that I had my required reading of Simone de Beauvoir's "The Opposite Sex" with me, which would only encourage me further in my renitence.

To clear my mind a little, I decide to go for a walk. I dig my toes into the cold sand, let the spray wash over my legs and feel the sun's rays breaking through the thick cloud cover tickle my salty skin.
A lonely, dry piece of driftwood lies on the white sand. I briefly consider throwing it back into the sea, but I pause and decide to take it back to my hut. I watch the seagulls gliding weightlessly through the air and wish I could fly with them to see the rough sea from above. Funnily enough, I don't mind my solitude by the sea one bit.

Fast forward 70 years. In the meantime, no doctor can attest to female hysteria, feminist ideas are no longer fanaticism but have reached a broad population and my family doesn't own a lonely house by the sea either. But I'm still stubborn and unmarried.

When I spray on "Une Nuit à Montauk - Nothing but Sea and Sky | Une Nuit Nomade", I still feel this melancholy, this longing for the sea and the vague feeling of being far away from home. This world-weariness that the fragrance conveys for me is beautiful and deeply touching.

For me, absolutely no tropical fragrance, vacation scent or coconut feeling, instead salty, rough sea, observed from the cozy embrace of a woolen blanket. Somehow comforting, this gentle breeze of dry wood and fresh sea air. It is scratchy and salty at first and then becomes creamier and very close to the skin as it progresses. Nevertheless, it retains its own scent, which can be clearly distinguished from the scent of the skin.

Not a sillage monster, not a night-out fragrance, but something quite indescribable that everyone must give meaning to for themselves.

I didn't choose this fragrance because I'm such a big fan of the Versace label or have a particular affection for the Italian 2000s, instead I followed a woman around town for over 10 minutes to make sure it was her I smelled.
At some point, after I felt too strange, I approached her. She laughed, it probably wasn't the first time she'd been approached. My relief was huge when I saw that it was a very affordable designer fragrance and not an unaffordable high performance niche fragrance, even if it could be in my opinion.
Now that I've been working with fragrances for longer, I know where this manic enthusiasm came from at that moment. I love cardamom, ginger and sandalwood paired with creaminess. This one just does it so effortlessly.

It opens with spicy ginger and pepper, loud and quite fierce, Then in the drydown the creaminess gradually takes over, but is cool and aloof rather than vanilla-y and warm. Coconut and sandalwood form the perfect frame for the floral yet somehow dark sweetness. I also notice fig, although it's not listed, in fact this one and "Gris Charnel (Eau de Parfum) | bdk Parfums" have a very similar vibe for me too. This unapproachable aura, which is nevertheless somehow inviting and soft, is what makes this fragrance an absolute repeat purchase candidate for me, unlike "Gris Charnel (Eau de Parfum) | bdk Parfums", which is cooler and less sweet, but somehow just can't give me the same sense of security.

It's not one of my beloved "cuddly fragrances" that I like to wear at home, it's an absolute candidate for going out. Like a little black dress, it always works and goes down very well. I'm also addicted to it and can never stop sniffing my wrist when I'm wearing it. Women in particular always approach me about this fragrance, which is why it has absolute stalker potential (see above). So if you don't want strange women chasing after you, you should probably avoid this fragrance.

Well, that can't be right. After all the Carolina Herrera hype, not one review has come out for this fragrance? Not one?
Admittedly, I'm not the biggest fan of the fragrance line with the high heels, they all smell a bit mundane to me, have smelled them before, may or may not be headache candidates.

It's different with this little treasure here. After the reformulation in 2017, they probably missed the opportunity to market the fragrance properly. Before that, the fragrance was probably more of a pleasant floral designer perfume with praline in it (?) and not particularly ... special.

It's completely different now. Although I would actually identify myself as a lover of creamy, woody fragrances, I dared to blind-buy this fragrance because it was so highly praised by a perfume enthusiast friend of mine.
The fragrance absolutely won me over and is the first freshie that has really picked me up. It opens with citrus fruits and the pepper also tickles the nose. I find floral notes barely perceptible. What convinced me about the fragrance is what comes immediately afterwards. A strong green tea note paired with a light jasmine aroma. Smells like iced tea served with a squeeze of lemon. The tea is clear and completely unsweetened. I'm not really an expert when it comes to tea fragrances, and I can imagine that there are more complex and niche fragrances than this one, but I simply appreciate it for its straightforwardness.

I could also imagine a fragrance like this from Goldfield&Banks, except that this one is available for a fraction of the price.
A really nice scent for hot days when the sun is beating down on sweaty skin and you want something refreshing that isn't aquatic or floral. You can stay, little Freshie.

I always thought I would only like vanilla in perfumes as an extra. "Goddess | Burberry" was too boring for me, too over-scented and I thought it was because of the vanilla. Other hyped vanilla fragrances such as "Vanilla | 28 | Kayali" also failed to win me over. Vanilla as the main player in fragrances often smells buttery, artificial and lame to me. That's why I had very low expectations of "Vanilla | Outremer / L'Aromarine" and ordered it because of its beautiful bottle and to have a straightforward fragrance for layering very tart scents.
Oh, how wrong I was about this note. Apparently it's just the vanilla combined with floral notes that bores me so much.
This fragrance is totally plain. Vanilla and really nothing but vanilla. No vanilla ice cream, no scented candle, no vanilla body lotion.
Vanilla, as if freshly scraped from the pod. Super linear, no surprise in the drydown, just pure sweetness that is not at all intrusive and very warm.
Very versatile too, I can imagine the fragrance on a cold winter's day, but also on a warm sunny day.

Unfortunately, it's probably no longer being produced, which makes me sad because my 50ml probably won't last forever. Our love story has only just begun and it's already coming to an end. So our love is a little bittersweet. It doesn't matter, I look forward to spraying it on all the more every time and, as we all know, the best things in life are finite.