Acqua di Selva starts out a aromatic, herby mix. I get an initial blast of soft petitgrain, basil, and rosemary. I don't get much citruses. There's a slight clary ssge to this, with just a tinge of sweetness coming from the lavender. But the middle notes are, overall, similar to the rest of the fragrance itself: dry, herbaceous, slightly green. During the dry down I get some pine, vetiver and musk. But it's fairly light and mostly gone after a few hours.

ACQUA DI SELVA after-shave lotion After-shave Victor

The opening is pretty much a basket of dry herbs too populous to list, but including players like basil, thyme, and rosemary. There is a very strictly clean helping of lemon oil, camphor, and some taut English lavender, reminding me much of a component in Avon's Structured for Man (1969) vanity set (see the Steel component). Acqua di Selva is much more balanced and less cold medicinal camphor than the Avon, but I can see the inspiration. The heart is carnation and clary sage with some geranium to add more metallic brightness in an age before aldehydes were used in that way for masculines, but the base is where the main character lives. Pine, oakmoss, vetiver, cedar, and a bit of coumarin give this the main barbershop feel of Acqua di Selva, and will be most of what you smell after about an hour. This could be a good if somewhat antique-smelling office scent, great on hot days too, perfect for the "postmodernist" friend who is too hipster for the word "hipster". I wouldn't use this in social settings or romantic evenings unless your company has a particular taste for stuff from this era. I love Acqua di Selva. It is now 64 years old, and does not smell dated to my nose. It opens with a tart lemon, fresh lavender, herbaceous pine. Smells clean and fresh in a non-laundry-musk or aquatic way. Longevity from start to finish on my skin is about 4-5 hours, excellent for something that is an EDC. Sillage is light to moderate, so this fragrance is delightful and inoffensive to most people. You would have to douse yourself to overdo this one. A couple or three sprays in an office setting would give you a crisp, clean, and confident scent, that would last through most of the day. After the fragrance settles a bit, touches of carnation, geranium make themselves known along with a wonderful musky cedar base. A bit of smoky vetiver makes it even more attractive. The final stages are a warm and gentle musk and the cedar. It is just an incredibly well-done fragrance.