Costa Azzurra
Parfum, Tom Ford (2022)

The note pyramid on this is a bit empty. There’s more going on here than the brand states, but perhaps they got tired of taking flack for the ridiculous pyramid of the EdP. Less is more, perhaps. That seems to be the creative direction they decided to go with this parfum flanker as well: take the EdP, subtract *a lot* from it to leave the necessary skeletal structure, up the oil concentration, and put a bigger price tag on it. It worked. Actually, it has worked very well.

There is a tantalizing opening of lemon juice. Not bergamot, not lemon zest, actual lemon juice. It’s mouthwatering. Also making an appearance is a marine note that I can’t truly identify; something like calone or helional maybe, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a bit of dihydromyrcenol for good measure. It’s watery, ozonic, a bit salty yet also a bit clean. The pairing with the lemon juice is really quite nice, because, thankfully, TF has not overdone the marine note. What follows is an excellent cypress accord. It has been interestingly steered away from any of its hissy green facets to focus solely on the aromatic and piquant resinous woody facets. There is a lot of depth and low light to this cypress accord, as opposed to brightness and breadth that is usually associated with it. To help with this effect, TF proclaims an oakwood extract has been utilized in the perfume, and it’s a completely believable white oak aroma. There is something a bit sweet to it, a bit earthy fruity like beetroot, and a touch vanillic. It is an excellent partner to the darkly resinous cypress. The brand leaves us hanging there, but the perfume is not done. The brand said Costa Azzura is supposed to be a fougere, and in both the original and reformulated iterations of the EdP that claim always seemed a bit dubious to me. In the parfum it is more convincing. There is a more obvious use of evernyl in the parfum than in the EdP to create a true mossy fougere base. An earthy and resinous labdanum, and perhaps a touch of peppery patchouli, help to round it out.

This is quite a big, and quite a heavy fougere. Perhaps it’s a fougere for a Costa Azzura winter? It has a lot of power and a lot of muscle to be worn in the high heat and humidity of the summer, but I doubt it would feel sweltering and close. Despite its heft there is a lot of sprightly and determined energy to it. It’s able to relax and help a man feel clean, like a great fougere should, but it wants to be on its feet and have some fun too. It’s hands-down superior to the EdP in every way. Great stuff.

I blind brought and I really wish I didn't. It's a 'nice' smell, but it isn't 'me'. I had an urge to get into the world of aquatics (more mature than Cool Water), maybe because I was craving a beach holiday.

When I saw the notes, I really felt this would take me to sitting in a cafe on an isolated white pebble beach with a lush green forest backdrop on the Greek coast, the scent of freshly squeezed lemons drifting over the top of the crystal cleae ocean and the dry woods.

It didn't take me there. It's a salty citrus floral. It smells like an expensive washing powder straight out of the box (not after going through a cycle) with the floral smoothing out the citrus.

It's nice, but not for me.

Mediterranean, resinous, "sunny" and piquant aromatic with a barbershop/musky aura a la Beau de Jour Eau de Parfum (2020) but in a way less laundry aromatic, more lemony in vibe and "culinary" in style. Costa Azzurra Parfum by Tom Ford is a gentlemanly aromatic fougére fragrance (I consider it exclusively a fragrance for men indeed), launched in 2022. It follows just one year later its brother Eau de Parfum, the aromatic aquatic Tom Ford Costa Azzura Eau de Parfum released in 2021 which is a fragrance more focused on representing the olfactory interaction between the salty mineral breeze rising from the sea and the culinary green/citric/coniferous/resinous/aromatic molecules coming from the seaside mediterranean vegetation (being actually the 2021 Eau de Parfum version less resinous, more airy aromatic and with a breezy saltier presence mostly deriving from seaweeds and marine woods included in the mix). Tom Ford Parfum, by its well calibrated and minimalistic combination of aromatic energetic lemon/orange (not particularly acid and somewhat soapy mild), peppery herbs, mild spices (cinnamon in particular), lavender, a tad of cypress and mild sunny resins, smells like the olfactory representation of chaparral (mediterranean scrub) considered in its spring/summer time seasons (when the culinary plants and the resinous woods from the seaside's pine forests release their aromatic and dense - slightly salty - effluviums). Labdanum definitely imprints a mossy and vaguely smoky incensey profile to the final spark (especially along the drier stage of dry down) while resinous amber plays in part (in a way slightly lighter) the role a sticky note of elemi plays in the excellent Eau Sauvage Parfum (2017). I'd swear hints of vetiver could have been included in the mix (I actually pick up in it marked elements in common with a wonderful italian fragrance, namely Torre of Tuscany Vetiver Moderno 2011, a fantastic blend of culinary herbs, lavender, light spices, amber resin and slightly earthy vetiver). The figure of a fashinating in white linen clothed middle age man in sun glasses driving his coupé car jumps more than vaguely on mind and we can definitely assert that a certain dose of olfactory dandyism exudes from this daring seducing creation. If I eventually think to a Tom Ford Costa Azzurra Parfum's ancestor I cannot help but mention the great aromatic fougére Nino Cerruti Pour Homme by Cerruti (1979) for its equally rich inclusion (in its blend) of aromatic mediterranean plants, citrus, resins, aromatic herbs, labdanum and musks. Another more recent fragrance which I relate Costa Azzurra Parfum to is (as formerly mentioned above) the François Demachy's Dior Eau Sauvage Parfum (2017) which is equally sunny/sultry but heavier on lavender, resins and vetiver while the same (drier) Juniper Sling by Penhaligon's (2011) jumps as well on mind for its peppery aromatic presence of mediterranean herbs, amber and vetiver. Along the Costa Azzurra Parfum's dry down indeed the vivid mildness from resins and spices (definitely more apparent in the central stage) slightly recedes while a tad of smoky resinous woodiness, some seaside saltiness and the herbal aromatic "fizziness" from mediterranean herbal patterns (rosemary, juniper berries?) start blooming up in order to unfold a more restrained final outcome. On this final part the aroma is really mediterranean, virile, gentlemanly, kind of rooty herbal and dry. In conclusion I consider Costa Azzurra Parfum a wonderful fragrance with a high fashinating profile and a dandy temperament (a great signature choice for a wealthy man living life as a neverending holiday time). Either projection and duration are excellent and improved over the Eau de Parfum "breezier" 2021 creation.

It smells much more refined and of higher quality than the EDP. The DNA is the same, but the top notes of the EDP have a bit of a sweet floral quality that makes it smell cheaper. Most people are saying that the marine notes are less pronounced in the Parfum version, but I think I get a stronger aquatic vibe from the Parfum. Either my samples got switched up or my nose has gone blind. One user on Fragrantica has noted this as an ambery version of ADG Profumo. I think that's a good comparison.

I think this is a good release, but is it worth the price? If Acqua di Gio was selling this for $80-90, it would be a must-buy.

For nostalgia reasons I love this. It smells exactly like Jean Natè. Whether you want to spend Tom Ford money to smell like that is up to you. Fortunately mine was a gift. Doubtless, if the price was much lower this would be hugely popular with young folks.