Thursday 9 August 2001

A different Aquaman

Something had to be done. I can't rely on girl's perfumes - not that anyone less than an expert would notice with a so close to center fragrance as Gucci Rush. Still, it's time to make a statement of manly manliness. It is time for Aquaman!

I was walking back to the office from my haircut when I passed the perfumery shop. (Not sure what these are called in English - they are absent from the High Fantasy and SF novels that make up the foundation of my English vocabulary.) And there in bold blue was a new fragrance series I had never heard of: Aquaman by Rochas.

Actually I think Rochas released the fragrance series in the deep blue / indigo boxes in 2000. But this store, possibly the largest in Kristiansand, had not got them until this week. I may be the first in the city to wear it. Now THAT is severely out of character! Itland, trend-runner.

The price is mid-range by Norwegian standards: $80 +VAT (sales tax) got me a deo stick, after shave, and eau de toilette. (Despite its name, it does not smell like toilet water.) Yes, it is quite a bit more than the stuff on the grab-shelves near the supermarket counters. It is not the same stuff. (My conscience wants to note here that it may come back to this case. Says a spokesthought for the conscience: "This thought wants to point out that the author spent a similar amount a year ago on the perfume he now denounces as 'girly' ...") Well, it is girly. I just read so. ("... and this thought sees no reason to doubt that sometime in the future the author will again be ashamed of having spent all that money on a fad. Just like the CDs, the computer games, the books, the bikes ...") That's enough from you, Mr Thought. We'll just wait and see, OK?

***

I don't use musky scents. The world is full enough of temptation even if I don't add an undertone of vibrating furry lust. Musk is way too animal for a cerebral person such as me. Basically the first commandment from me to a fragrance is: Thou shalt not have any musk. It's no big surprise then that Aquaman is referred to as "clean" and "fresh" by reviewers.

Apart from "fresh" and "clean", I would add "subtle". When applied, the eau could hardly be smelled. If anything, it smelled slightly clinical, like some skin cleaning product maybe. But within minutes, the air developed a fresh spicy tang. It is not a whiff that will come into the room before you. Rather it builds up slowly round you if you stay in place for a little while. The fragrance remains fairly stable for a pretty long time, then slowly fades toward a hint of leather. (Actually the foundation is not leather but woods, but it combines with the skin to tend toward leather. Or so it feels to me.)

The upper tones of the fragrance are fruity/spicy, and I honestly would not associate it with the sea. Perhaps they allude to the freshness of freshwater and I am simply misled by my 35 years of friendship with the DC Comics character coincidentally also named Aquaman ... I don't know what deal Rochas has with DC comics, if at all. Apart from the name there is no hint of a connection at all. Perhaps trademarks only work within a more narrow definition, and no one is likely to mistake Aquaman the fragrance series with Aquaman the ocean-dwelling superhero. I am certainly no more likely to try to speak to fish after this.

><(((´> <`}}>><

But I do sit here enjoying the fragrance. It's so much better than the one I had before. Really, I can't see what I saw in the old one. I never really loved it anyway ... (j/k)
(Stopping just short of "I love Aquaman", which I suppose is not a very manly thing to say if quoted severely out of context ...)

But at least this time I got a receipt, and on it is written 3 times the word "herreduft", that is in English: "lordly fragrance". Now that's an accurate description. And certified manly!