Turquoise
Olivier Durbano (2009)

Turquoise fit the bill for me as a dark marine scent, which is exactly what I was looking for at the time. Dark, as in a cold, desolate beach under the grey November sky ... dark, as in the depth where ocean turns to black because you're too deep for the sunlight to reach you. This scent accomplished that for me, while still maintaining a distinct, aquatic atmosphere. Unfortunately, the turpentine accord was problematic for me. It certainly added a level of intrigue to the perfume, but at the same time had the ability to somewhat nauseate me. Ultimately, this is why I had to pass on this fragrance, but I do recommend it for anybody that's interested in a unique take on the marine genre.

From January, 2016:

I enjoy this. Turquoise starts out like a designer aquatic, reminiscent of Acqua di Gio, with strong projection, some marine saltiness and a bit of a bright, sparkling character. It doesn't smell unusual at all until it shows its coniferous side, about an hour or so into its development. Turquoise's aquatic heart is flanked by a sweet juniper note and dry pine, neither of which dominate the fragrance but instead serve as accents. Further along, a mineralic quality emerges and gives Turquoise a bit of a gray tinge, the smell of wet stones, or rain on pavement. It's subtle and pleasant, a reserved presence and interesting nuance of the fragrance. Finally, a pretty significant immortelle accord makes itself known, with its bittersweet, syrupy nature, supported by a soothing lotus note that kind of takes the edge off the immortelle and keeps it pretty as opposed to obnoxious. This is where the development ends in my experience, Turquoise finishing things out on a pretty base of lotus and immortelle with traces of its aquatic roots remaining at hand. There's some gray incense here, and it's sort of buried in the immortelle. Either way, I found the development interesting and quite impressive considering the degree of change that occurs throughout its duration. This is a nice fragrance that can be worn by casual interests and connoisseurs alike. Versatile, casual, and with good performance, Turquoise is worth sampling if you enjoy aquatics or fragrances with interesting development. Thumbs up.

for me, this opens up smelling like an oil painting class that has some gentle incense burning in the background...turpentine might be offputting to some, but i love the smell , especially with the touches of incense and some greenery...suddenly turns more green and kind of swampy, but not in a bad way...definitely get the wet rock effect...a wee touch of flower, like lily pads among the reeds and seaweed...this is different...a green herby aquatic with a background of incense...interesting combination...soft, but projects just enough to get the job done...gets kind of piney/resiny...nice smooth ride, but doesn't quite make the cut to my to buy list...

Turquoise opens with a synthetic nebula of aldehydes and calone brutally superimposed on more realistic balsamic notes, red pepper, a freezing incense note, something anisic-resinous, amber, something like a dry leather note on the very base (not a “full” leather accord, but something dry and slightly “roasted” with a salty-rubber aftertaste – like quinolines and the like). It is an odd scent indeed, which intrigues you at first: not “pleasant”, actually, but not even unpleasant, at least at first. Or just a bit. But more than that, just weird. Actually the most prominent “weird” factor is the clash between the cold, azure, lunar synthetic notes of calone and the (synthetic, I guess) pine-incense accord with the more “realistic”, earthy warmth of resins, woods and spices. It's an extremely dimensional, almost “vertical” fragrance, somehow creating a sort of shade from cold/aqueous/azure to warm/resinous/brownish through a grey/greenish axe (that's how I would picture this scent), with quite some clashes between bold notes going on – calone, pepper, resins, incense, they're all quite loud and fighting for your attention. Now, once you get over the first impression, you'll probably realize that as much intellectually fascinating it may be (it isn't that much, though...), Turquoise isn't actually that nice to wear. Once you get over the first “wow?” and once the notes settle on skin and reach their drydown, it starts to smell a bit boring (not to say annoying). Mostly because of the calone-on-unrelated-stuff thing, which fits as good as a trout on a pancake (which is actually how Turquoise smells in its central and final phases). Shortly, it may be a “de gustibus” matter but I think this is one of those scents which are more intellectually fascinating than actually pleasant to wear (and I personally consider that a defect).

5,5-6/10

Minerals, a step above aquatics... I sort of realized that Turquoise is a strange one when I smelled the turpentine. Silly me, I had never thought of turpentine as a fragrance note. The opening turpentine is not as potent as I expected, so I don't dislike it, but I do wonder why it's there... It isn't anything that I want to smell… or smell like – especially at these prices. The turpentine lasts for eight – ten minutes and the movement travels to a nebulous aquatic accord that is tinged (or maybe confused) by some incense, coniferous woods, and a green-salty something (probably seaweed). These notes are not strong; rather they come across as almost weightless, cold… they are abstract-aquatics with an aromatic provenance and a rather aggressive mineral attitude. It smells strongly mineral and less-so metallic when I sniff it close to the skin, but the soft sillage that emanates off the skin presents a different story: I find the light mineral waftings-as-sillage especially nice, and the fragrance continues on this aquatic-mineral-incense, lightly-coniferous path for most of its run, which is quite long. I don't ever smell any sweet in the mix, but I don't miss it. I can't quite grasp this fragrance… What I see it as, is an highly refined version of the old Romeo Gigli's fragrance – Sud Est – that dynamo of aromatics. But Turquoise is no herbal dynamo; to its seaweed, juniper, and coriander it mixes aquatics and minerals to make an interesting… yes, even attractive …fragrance. I don't think it is something that I would especially like to wear myself, but I'll try to keep my options open about that. I do enjoy its sillage very much.Pros: Intriguing fragrance – earthy, creative, daring.Cons: Difficult to understand"

The opening is dominated by fresh aquatic notes which are very nice. After it settles, you get more resinous qualities and it projects a scent which has aquatic notes on a warm resinous woody base.

The scent matches well with what it is supposed to be: smell of Turquoise stone! That said, there are a lot of sharp fresh aquatic scents on the market which may serve the same purpose. Honestly, I need to warn you that Turquoise can be easily mistaken by one of those generic sharp fresh mass marketed scents. Hence, if you think you are paying price of niche product and will stand out of the crowd...think twice!

Good longevity and subtle projection. Overall: 5 out of 10.