Sensing Blue

A budget take on Tom Ford's Costa Azzurra, Sensing Blue opens with a breezy, salty blast of driftwood and seaweed, dusted with cardamom and a faint musky ambrette, evoking sun-warmed sea air. The heart turns green and herbal - lemon, juniper, lavender, artemisia and myrtle conjuring something like a high-end mojito - before the base grounds it in earthy vetiver, oak and a smoky thread of incense and olibanum with a touch of vanilla. Set beside the real Costa Azzurra it reads flatter and more straightforwardly fresh, the resinous incense and woods thinner, so it loses some of the niche depth and weight. Projection is moderate and turns close after the first hour, with the modest longevity typical of this aquatic-aromatic genre. Still, for the money it captures that coastal, herbaceous mood convincingly - a salty, green, sunlit freshness that suits warm-weather casual days, daily wear and the office through spring and summer, reading as fresh, grounded and effortlessly refined.