Cape Ann, Massachusetts

As the young man who grew up on the beaches of South Florida made the transition to beginning his career in New England I was told I would grow to love the craggy beaches of the area. While this was true it wasn’t true in the way many who expressed this thought to me expected it to be. During the summer I missed the beaches of my boyhood and actually sort of cursed the rocky expanses that passed for beaches. You would hear me muttering “gravel pit” under my breath a lot. Then a funny thing happened I started going to the shore as autumn would take hold and now the turbulence of the surf and the spare evergreens standing sentinel on the shore over the rocky terrain became charming. I would sit on my favorite promontory and feel the seriousness of the Atlantic; the spray seemed more imbued with gravitas. The pines were in their glory as the wind soughed through them carrying a coniferous harmony for me to cogitate upon. Underneath all of this was the wet mineral quality of the rocks which were being reduced in infinitesimal increments by the water and the wind. I came to love this time of year in New England but I never expected to see it captured in a fragrance.

When I received the latest press release for the new Laboratorio Olfattivo release, Salina it talked about it evoking a sunset walk on one of the Sicilian islands of which the name is derived. I expected this to be a shank of summer aquatic full of citrus, light florals and marine accords. It does have all of those but it easily could have been named Autumn on Cape Ann as perfumer David Maruitte manages to find that scent I remember and crave especially at this time of year.

M. Maruitte assembles the usual Mediterranean suspects for the opening of Salina; lemon zest, an ozonic accord, and a light floral like myrtle. Then you get the first hints of something different as he uses a pine needle note which is a gentle evergreen breath just like the breeze I remember; it is distinct but not as extroverted as regular pine notes can be. This is matched with a mineralic accord which is called “hot sand” but I could just as easily call it wet rocks especially with the sea salt thrown on top of all of this. At this point I have the three ingredients of wind, spray and pine but then M. Maruitte adds the density of autumn to all of this. He uses absinthe as intensifier for the pine needles, vanilla turns the sea water into slightly sweet spray, and lavender takes over for the ozone as the high airy note in the final part of the development. There is a point about an hour in where if I close my eyes and breathe deep I can almost hear the crash of the waves.

Salina has all day longevity and moderate sillage.

Usually as the sweaters come out of storage the aquatics and Mediterranean inspired fragrances get put away with my shorts and sandals. With Salina it looks like one of them is going to stick around for the fall as I travel to my rocky point within my memory.

Disclosure: This review was based on a press sample provided by KAON.

–Mark Behnke, Managing Editor