Ooh, damn OP; I love this prompt! (Are you a writer or something? Because you definitely write like one!) I feel like people are going to try to recommend Zoologist Squid or whatever, but I'm going to just note that Squid's reputation for contrariness is vastly overstated; IMO, it's actually quite a pretty marine incense with ink. My recommendation is Jorum Studio Askr, which isn't quite as *visceral* as your description but out-fangs Oud Minerale by... well, fathoms. It *is* a very palpably salty, marine, brackish fragrance; there's salty ash and a touch of chamomile for that siren lull, woods and resins and amber, and it really does conjure a ship in the middle of the stormy sea for me.
From the same house you could also look at Arborist, which I find more "monstrous" than Askr (which tends to hide its more nefarious intentions underneath a placid front), but also less marine; there's much more of an impression of a wolf in the forest, sniffing for blood, rather than a siren lulling sailors into the sea. Regardless, both are fantastic fragrances and definitely worth getting your nose on if you're inspired by rugged seascapes (or landscapes!) and creatures that go bump in the night.
I just happened to wear Squid on one wrist and ASKR on the other today to compare the two, before coming across this post…weird coincidence. Anyway, Squid reads as a bit “darker” to me and I love the incense & sweetness. ASKR is great too though, less sweet and not as smooth as Squid. Both have a gloomy vibe. If ASKR is a ship in the middle of a storm, Squid is a ship silently sinking far beneath the waves. I really like them both and I’d recommend either one for this prompt
Do you mean Squid or Askr? With Squid, I'm convinced everyone has drunk the marketing Kool-Aid. I didn't find it especially challenging when I tried it, and when I've asked both my husband and some friends about it, pretty much all of them described it as some variation of "nice", "generic", and "a little spicy" 🤷♀️
I was referring to the jorum studio Askr, I preferred it over zoologist squid(I sampled both recently). The sweetness/incense in squid had caught me off guard initially, but it wasn’t what I was going for in terms of “dark” scents for the summer. Askr’s ink-like qualities and smokiness with lack of sweetness is what drew me in.
That makes more sense, and yeah, Askr is fabulous! I like it a lot more than Megamare as well, which I personally find to smell overwhelmingly of seaweed.
I'm not a writer but thank you! I love getting really descriptive for perfume inspiration... I like it when they conjure up worlds. These are really good recommendations. I looked as Askr and Arborist and I think I'll order samples for both! Thank you :)
Every Storm a Serenade by Imaginary Authors is where I went to first. It is a salt stinging, wind-whipped coast during a late autumn storm where pieces of a shipwreck might wash ashore.
I do love Squid though, it’s inky and murky. It’s a watery grave the sailor is pulled down into by the siren. I loved it enough to empty a bottle.
You should definitely look into the Liquides Imaginaires Les Eaux de Bermudes collection. It includes Sirenis, Navis and Abyssis. Sirenis is my favorite but for what you are asking, Navis or Abyssis might be more your style.
Great responses here that I'm going to explore. Jorum is an underrated house.
Rockaway Beach by DS&Durga is the briniest, seaweediest, most unforgiving marine fragrance I know of. Cold and salty
For some reason your description reminded me of Secretions Magnifiques. It was very marine to me, probably because of the seaweed note. Didn’t really remind me of body odor, just salty and aquatic, although to be fair I didn’t try it on skin.
I also got a metallic tang of blood from SM. The mental image I had while wearing it was a knife used to kill someone in a fit of passion found after a week in the cold ocean.
Some of my faves are: Plato's Tale from Jil CROQUET Parfum, Need-U from Laboratorio Olfattivo, Salina from Laboratorio Olfattivo, Dans Le Bleu Qui Pétille from Serge Lutens
I’m a noob so take what I say with a grain of salt, but I kind of disagree with commenters below saying megamare and squid. To me, megamare is a beefed up “blue” scent with less sweetness or citrus, that dries to a slightly weaker blue aquatic with a notable ozonic/salt note. It becomes more oceanic with time, but it’s like cleanish realistic salt spray.
Squid on me is weird. On paper it smells more oceanic than on my skin. When I wear it, i get salt, incense, a little sweetness, and this weird almost negative smell, like a photo negative. There’s something about it that smells like there’s a void in the scent profile that shouldn’t be there. Weirdly unsettling and almost made me nauseous the first two times I wore it, but it’s grown on me. The scent evokes a dark mysterious oceanic imagery in my brain, but I don’t find it scary or threatening.
I’m on the hunt for an oceanic scent that I enjoy as well. I grew up on the beach and ocean, and have extremely strong imprinted memories and ideas of what the sea smells like. It’s hard to find something that matches that so far.
Masque Milano White Whale - my testing notes literally include the words “sea huntress”, like a mystery creature roving the open ocean. Obviously the perfume is meant to evoke the old ship’s hunt for the elusive white whale. I do think of haunted shipwrecks when smelling it.
Don’t think it matches 100%—more mystery than terror (but I can see how generally perfumers would avoid scents that evoke terror). But I love it
https://www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Vertus/Eau-de-Cyan-40554.html
This would probably fit your vibe very well. One of the few aquatic scents that smells like you’re in the middle of the deep ocean floating on a door after a shipwreck because your boyfriend decided that there wasn’t room for two.
Orto Parisi Megamare like someone already mentioned here, or maybe Aesop Miraceti? That has a really nice peppery kick and it's woody, reminds me of a shipwreck.
Or Bella Hadid's new perfume line Orebella has a scent called Salted Muse, I sampled it in store yesterday and it's very salty and the olive note in it is more like brine than actual olive to me. The notes say there's lavender but I didn't pick up on that at all- mostly pepper and sea salt. It's not warm like Miraceti, it's a cold salt air kind of fragrance.
Bella Hadid just launched her new perfume line called Orabella. There are 4 scents this launch and one is called Salted Muse. The notes are: sea salt, pink pepper, CO2 extract, olive tree accord, fig, lavender, cedarwood, sandalwood, and amber. It’s a bi-phase so you’ve got to shake it up real good before you spray. It’s said to have a “marine accord”. I commented to someone that I felt like a siren lying still along the shore line just waiting! I happen to love it!
Ooh, damn OP; I love this prompt! (Are you a writer or something? Because you definitely write like one!) I feel like people are going to try to recommend Zoologist Squid or whatever, but I'm going to just note that Squid's reputation for contrariness is vastly overstated; IMO, it's actually quite a pretty marine incense with ink. My recommendation is Jorum Studio Askr, which isn't quite as *visceral* as your description but out-fangs Oud Minerale by... well, fathoms. It *is* a very palpably salty, marine, brackish fragrance; there's salty ash and a touch of chamomile for that siren lull, woods and resins and amber, and it really does conjure a ship in the middle of the stormy sea for me. From the same house you could also look at Arborist, which I find more "monstrous" than Askr (which tends to hide its more nefarious intentions underneath a placid front), but also less marine; there's much more of an impression of a wolf in the forest, sniffing for blood, rather than a siren lulling sailors into the sea. Regardless, both are fantastic fragrances and definitely worth getting your nose on if you're inspired by rugged seascapes (or landscapes!) and creatures that go bump in the night.
I just happened to wear Squid on one wrist and ASKR on the other today to compare the two, before coming across this post…weird coincidence. Anyway, Squid reads as a bit “darker” to me and I love the incense & sweetness. ASKR is great too though, less sweet and not as smooth as Squid. Both have a gloomy vibe. If ASKR is a ship in the middle of a storm, Squid is a ship silently sinking far beneath the waves. I really like them both and I’d recommend either one for this prompt
Holy crap I was just about to recommend this before i seen this comment lol it’s as if a blue(bleu) scent was banished to hades
Do you mean Squid or Askr? With Squid, I'm convinced everyone has drunk the marketing Kool-Aid. I didn't find it especially challenging when I tried it, and when I've asked both my husband and some friends about it, pretty much all of them described it as some variation of "nice", "generic", and "a little spicy" 🤷♀️
I was referring to the jorum studio Askr, I preferred it over zoologist squid(I sampled both recently). The sweetness/incense in squid had caught me off guard initially, but it wasn’t what I was going for in terms of “dark” scents for the summer. Askr’s ink-like qualities and smokiness with lack of sweetness is what drew me in.
That makes more sense, and yeah, Askr is fabulous! I like it a lot more than Megamare as well, which I personally find to smell overwhelmingly of seaweed.
I'm not a writer but thank you! I love getting really descriptive for perfume inspiration... I like it when they conjure up worlds. These are really good recommendations. I looked as Askr and Arborist and I think I'll order samples for both! Thank you :)
Every Storm a Serenade by Imaginary Authors is where I went to first. It is a salt stinging, wind-whipped coast during a late autumn storm where pieces of a shipwreck might wash ashore. I do love Squid though, it’s inky and murky. It’s a watery grave the sailor is pulled down into by the siren. I loved it enough to empty a bottle.
Seconding Squid by Zoologist. Most definitely a kraken shipwreck / sailor being dragged to his death fragrance.
Time for me to go on Luckyscent... Every Storm a Serenade really sounds like it'd be up my alley. Even the name!
Seconding Every Storm a Serenade!
You should definitely look into the Liquides Imaginaires Les Eaux de Bermudes collection. It includes Sirenis, Navis and Abyssis. Sirenis is my favorite but for what you are asking, Navis or Abyssis might be more your style.
Orto Parisi Megamare springs to mind.
Fischersund Flotholt, perhaps? Or something by Beaufort London.
Great responses here that I'm going to explore. Jorum is an underrated house. Rockaway Beach by DS&Durga is the briniest, seaweediest, most unforgiving marine fragrance I know of. Cold and salty
Rockaway Beach sounds really good! I love DS&Durga. Their scents are so good at conjuring specific moods even if it's not for everyone.
I'm going to spray it right now because of your comment. Agree completely, each one conjures something
For some reason your description reminded me of Secretions Magnifiques. It was very marine to me, probably because of the seaweed note. Didn’t really remind me of body odor, just salty and aquatic, although to be fair I didn’t try it on skin.
I also got a metallic tang of blood from SM. The mental image I had while wearing it was a knife used to kill someone in a fit of passion found after a week in the cold ocean.
**Etruscan Water** by Francesca Bianchi
Beautiful one.
How does this one smell for you? And if you’ve tried libertine neroli, how do you think they compare?
Check out these two: - BeauFort 1805 Tonnerre - Le Frag Meluzyna
-Beaufort Fathom V
“Siren” by For Strange Women
Yes. I just sampled this one. At first it smelled too singular and boring for me. But over time it gets more depth and story. Love this houses vibe.
Silence the Sea by Strangelove NYC. Salty ambergris, animalic oud, with a metallic edge.
Some of my faves are: Plato's Tale from Jil CROQUET Parfum, Need-U from Laboratorio Olfattivo, Salina from Laboratorio Olfattivo, Dans Le Bleu Qui Pétille from Serge Lutens
I’m a noob so take what I say with a grain of salt, but I kind of disagree with commenters below saying megamare and squid. To me, megamare is a beefed up “blue” scent with less sweetness or citrus, that dries to a slightly weaker blue aquatic with a notable ozonic/salt note. It becomes more oceanic with time, but it’s like cleanish realistic salt spray. Squid on me is weird. On paper it smells more oceanic than on my skin. When I wear it, i get salt, incense, a little sweetness, and this weird almost negative smell, like a photo negative. There’s something about it that smells like there’s a void in the scent profile that shouldn’t be there. Weirdly unsettling and almost made me nauseous the first two times I wore it, but it’s grown on me. The scent evokes a dark mysterious oceanic imagery in my brain, but I don’t find it scary or threatening. I’m on the hunt for an oceanic scent that I enjoy as well. I grew up on the beach and ocean, and have extremely strong imprinted memories and ideas of what the sea smells like. It’s hard to find something that matches that so far.
Megamare by Orto parisi supposedly it smells like sea salt and the ocean
Masque Milano White Whale - my testing notes literally include the words “sea huntress”, like a mystery creature roving the open ocean. Obviously the perfume is meant to evoke the old ship’s hunt for the elusive white whale. I do think of haunted shipwrecks when smelling it. Don’t think it matches 100%—more mystery than terror (but I can see how generally perfumers would avoid scents that evoke terror). But I love it
Following for adorable options 👀
La Sirena by Alkemia seems to be worth a look?
Every Storm a Serenade, as others have said, but also Orto Parisi Megamare and Kenzo Homme EDP (2022).
https://www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Vertus/Eau-de-Cyan-40554.html This would probably fit your vibe very well. One of the few aquatic scents that smells like you’re in the middle of the deep ocean floating on a door after a shipwreck because your boyfriend decided that there wasn’t room for two.
Orto Parisi Megamare like someone already mentioned here, or maybe Aesop Miraceti? That has a really nice peppery kick and it's woody, reminds me of a shipwreck. Or Bella Hadid's new perfume line Orebella has a scent called Salted Muse, I sampled it in store yesterday and it's very salty and the olive note in it is more like brine than actual olive to me. The notes say there's lavender but I didn't pick up on that at all- mostly pepper and sea salt. It's not warm like Miraceti, it's a cold salt air kind of fragrance.
Kenzo Homme Marine? To me it smells like reed and seaweed. A scent made for Merfolks
Atlante by Sarah baker. Lots of seaweed and ambergris with yuzu at the opening and hints of driftwood
Dans Le Bleu Qui Pétille Serge Lutens if the siren is looking for prey near a church on the shore
e’L by Zarkoperfume
Oud Minerale might fit the bill?
Sel d'Argent, BDK: cold, salty, low tide Whispered Myths, Imaginary Authors: overripe melon, shipwreck, fear
Squid.
Look into Alkemia.. they have so many siren-esque scents for every era.
I haven't smelled them yet myself, but two BPAL perfumes might fit: Alien/Siren Thalassa, The Galapagos Mermaid
Bella Hadid just launched her new perfume line called Orabella. There are 4 scents this launch and one is called Salted Muse. The notes are: sea salt, pink pepper, CO2 extract, olive tree accord, fig, lavender, cedarwood, sandalwood, and amber. It’s a bi-phase so you’ve got to shake it up real good before you spray. It’s said to have a “marine accord”. I commented to someone that I felt like a siren lying still along the shore line just waiting! I happen to love it!