Ariel is a green floral perfume created by perfumer Giovanni Sammarco for his brand, Sammarco, and released in 2015.
The perfumer describes the scent as ” A romantic and sensual perfume dedicated to redheads.” He says that hidden within the formula of the perfume is the name of a woman. I don’t know any more than that (although I’ve spent a little time trying to puzzle it out for myself), but I do think that the woman who inspired this perfume must be spectacular.
ARIEL, THE WOMAN OF DESIRE
Ariel smells like powdered feminine flesh. There’s really no other way to describe it, and the review could end right there. It’s heavenly. It’s clean, but with a suggestive edge. There are beautiful nuances running throughout it that weave a magical story that captivates my imagination.
I want to see her. I want to be her. I want to be with her. I want her.
Because Ariel creates such a feminine fantasy, every person’s vision will be different, but there is no mistaking it — Ariel is the scent of a beautiful woman. And she has great taste in powder.
BOROTALCO
In order to understand Ariel, as I experience it, I think it helps to be familiar with Borotalco.
Borotalco is a particular brand of talcum powder. It was created by Henry Roberts for his farmacia in Florence in 1878 and quickly became a staple in Italian households. The name comes from the formula of boric acid (an antiseptic) and talc (for absorbing perspiration). The powder was scented with natural floral oils, and although the boric acid has been removed from the formula today, it still has the same heavenly scent.
Today, Borotalco is a luxury talcum powder that’s known around the world. I absolutely ADORE it, and will not even consider any other powder (including the finest dusting powders from favorite perfume brands). It is the finest natural talc, and even though talc gets a bad rap (cosmetic talc is generally considered to be safe) I have never stopped using Borotalco because it’s amazing.
I’ve seen Borotalco called “the champagne of body powders,” and I have to say that this is absolutely true. There is nothing else like it in terms of silky, luxurious feel, or beautiful, clean scent. Borotalco is made with the finest natural talc and floral oils, and its scent is just heavenly. The scent is sheer and definitely the smell of talcum powder, but so much more elegant than the powder products I’m used to in the U.S. When I first discovered it, I was low-key jealous of Italian babies….
Besides use for babies and as a body powder, Borotalco is commonly used to powder linens. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m obsessed with my bed and linens, so this is a ritual that I endorse wholeheartedly. I keep a powder box full of Borotalco on my dresser and one of their iconic green cans by my bed, and it feels so indulgent to slip between the sheets when they’ve been freshly powdered.
ARIEL FRAGRANCE REVIEW
Ariel’s opening is an incredible melange of wet violets and rose petals, which is quickly washed over with orris. But the star of the show in the opening is the angelica. It’s not a note that I usually gravitate toward (or even tolerate in many applications), but the angelica here is just magnificent. It is earthy, musky, peppered celery, full of wild, green sweetness. I have never fully appreciated its depth before.
It smells profoundly natural and exquisitely beautiful. Not in a haute-couture kind of way — this is an I-woke-up-like-this kind of effortless beauty.
The first time I tried Ariel, it was from a sample, and I was instantly captivated. But the floral opening is just one aspect of Ariel, and the best begins about twenty minutes in, when you start to smell her skin. The scent of warm, feminine skin, dusted lightly with powder, is the soul of Ariel.
At times I smell violets, candied angelica stems, orris, rose, and a delicious something that I can only describe as Sangria caramel…. But mostly what I smell is a beautiful woman who just climbed out of powdered sheets and walked out into the morning sun, the heat causing little beads of sweat and the powder still clinging to her most delicate areas. I find it exceptionally pleasing, and it often takes my mind to a place somewhere between contemplation and fantasy.
Giovanni Sammarco says that the source of the inspiration for Ariel must remain a mystery, but hidden in the formula is the name of a woman. He calls the scent the olfactory representation of my physical and spiritual ideal of a woman.
I feel like this perfume is a work of love. A fragrant love story. We don’t know how the story began or ended, or even if it was real or just a dream. But clearly Sammarco’s vision of this woman is divine, and he has captured it in scent for us to enjoy.
Life is nothing but a dream, and if we are artists, then we can create our life with Love, and our dream becomes a masterpiece of art.
Don Miguel Ruiz, The Mastery of Love
ARIEL DETAILS
Ariel is available in 30 mL bottles of parfum extrait. I purchased my bottle at full retail price directly from Sammarco’s website. A discovery set is also available for sale with free shipping (I purchased the sample in my photo as part of a discovery set).
Ariel lasted about 6 hours on my skin, and its projection was soft.
Perfumer’s listed notes are tuberose, angelica, heart, jasmine, osmanthus, violet, rose, sandalwood, mandarine, ginger, tobacco, davana and orris concrete.
