Water, water everywhere...Acqua di Parma Blu Mediterraneo Mirto di Panarea

By Tom I adore the original Acqua di Parma. The subsequent ones in the line have been for me nice, but not great. But then, that's the problem when you're the second or third in a line sired by a classic. It's not very often that the child eclipses the parent. It's the case of Henry Fonda beget Peter Fonda who beget Bridget Fonda. I like Bridget, she's a fine actress. She's no Henry Fonda, however. Mediterraneo Mirto di Panarea is no Acqua di Parma. Mediterraneo Mirto di Panarea is a light aquatic that smells shockingly like clean water. Not in the usual way, it's not dryer sheets or anything like Cool Water. It's supplanted by jasmine, rose, lilac bergamot and ends with a very nice light woodiness, It's a handsome, well, balanced, perfectly pleasant little thing and I can't quite understand why I don't like it at all. I think that perhaps that it strikes me as a super-refined version of one of those nose-busting aquatics that young men with manscaped eyebrows wear far too much of. There was a period in foodie-land in the late 90's when restauranteurs would have cunning little things on the menu like their version of a Manwich made with Kobe beef and heirloom tomatoes or a version of a Twinkie made with hand milled flour and hand made vanilla. All well and good, but you still were getting a Twinkie. Mediterraneo Mirto di Panarea is the best Twinkie you'll ever have. Mediterraneo Mirto di Panarea is available at Sephora and other department stores, 2oz for $68, 4 for $104. Mine was a gift sample with purchase from Bergdorfs.