Every single molecule in Acqua di Scandola reflects Marc-Antoine Corticchiato’s love for Corsica and its wild, windswept beauty. Inspired by the eponymous Scandola, a tiny rocky outcrop of an island just off the Corsican coastline that can only be accessed by the sea, Acqua di Scandola is an unusual aquatic for two reasons. First, it conjures the natural scent of sea air without losing ground to the sweet, melony aromachemicals that ruin other aquatics. Second, Acqua di Scandola encapsulates not only the sea surrounding the island, but also the wild herbs, algae, aromatics, and grasses that cling to the rocks of the island itself.
We don’t see it listed in the notes, but we smell a lot of citrus in the opening. In fact, it’s as if Marc-Antoine Corticchiato borrowed the thrillingly bitter orange note from Azemour Les Orangers or the yuzu from Yuzu Fou, rubbed enough sea salt into its peel to make it crackle, and simply set it into a bed of algae, moss, and lichen. This citrus-in-a-sea-breeze accord is both natural-smelling and durable, occupying most of the scent’s trajectory from top to bottom. But in the background, a textured mélange of garrigue herbs and grasses adds subtle warmth that reminds us of salt-kissed skin, hay, and minerals evaporating under the sun. Incredibly invigorating and lung-expanding, Acqua di Scandola is the rare aquatic that will really make you feel like you’re on or near the sea itself, rather than in a chemical-driven fantasy of the real thing.
