Aegean
Neil Morris Fragrances (2007)

A Mediterranean breeze. Fresh. Clean. A wind blowing through a grove of fruit trees. A field of flowers, their blooms catch the breeze. Very evocative. Masterful mix of top & middle notes. The basil blossom and lavender are aromatic.

The base adds a deeper flavor with its notes. A most excellent warm month fragrance.

This is a fresh, herbal citrus-aromatic, with mandarin, basil & lavender dominating for the first couple of hours. It leans quite masculine, but thankfully does not resemble a mainstream "sport cologne" or a household cleaning product. The projection is good, but not overwhelming. Neil himself admits that he's never been to Greece; speaking as someone who has been there many times, I can say that this is only a very rough approximation of the scent of the maquis, & I don't get anything evocative of the sea here. After the first hour, it turns more resinous & sweet, with the addition of benzoin, & later a touch of neroli. From here it gives off a golden-brown warmth, slowly fading over the course of around nine hours.
This one leans a little too far to the masculine side for my taste, but I recommend trying it if you enjoy a traditional "barber shop"-style scent.

I find it difficult to talk about this scent. It's nice at first but turns really sour on me. A little floral and musk but I get nothing else.

What a disappointment! It simply doesn't work on my skin. The ingredients looked so promising. The style (Mediterranean, garrigue) seemed ideal. However, this scent sits like a muddled lump on me. No bracing citrus, no greenish basil (flower or herb), no aromatic lavender. On me, it is not delicate or translucent, it is thick and indeterminate with no stages that I can detect. And what do I get? A fairly sweet benzoin/vanilla and musk drydown. Failed potential.

Aegean and Drifting both remind me of Smarties -- those little pastel-coloured candies that come rolls covered by see-through cellophane wrap, and twistie-tied at each end. I guess because both Aegean and Drifting contain "mandarin." It must be the citrus I'm smelling there.But Drifting and Aegean part ways after that, because while Drifting is a sweet innocent baby-oil and Smarties scent, Aegean smells like Smarties and MUSK. Sexy Smarties. That's Aegean.After about 2-3 hours it dries down with something like lavender and soapy smell. Maybe some vetiver?Longevity was kind of poor for me. By 6 hours it was long gone. I guess I'd like it much more if it lasted longer

A gorgeous pool boy who wore Kouros yesterday. Very nice men's fragrance - perhaps it could also work on a woman, but my mind is firmly transported to glowing pecks.

Opening: Light and airy, the opening is dominated by a citrus – mandarin – with an even lighter touch of the basil flower. Unless I haven't been paying attention, the use of the basil flower in fragrance is new to me. I've always admired the smell of basil flowers but never thought they were solid enough for a fragrance – I've misjudged. The opening is sheer and subtle and extremely appealing. The middle notes are very different from the opening ones. Where the opening is citrus and slightly floral, the middle takes on a modern neutral texture with a highly modified lavender accord, and very gradually the quince claims its part in this lavender accord, causing the lavender to slowly lose its neutrality to take on the beautifully refined quince note. The middle accord is almost as transparent as the opening – beautifully refined and compulsively sniffable. I had to wait a long time for the base to show up. The base is very gentle and quite pleasant, but perhaps not as unique as the top levels, which is exactly what I would expect in a fragrance this light and delicate. It's a very good drydown and lasts quite long for a fragrance like this. Aegean is a totally impressive fragrance – thumbs way up.