The first fragrance collection from Bottega Veneta under Creative Director Matthieu Blazy is here, and you’ve never seen perfumes like this. These unique bottles are meant to recall the rippling and undulating waters of Venice’s Grand Canal and lagoon (if you look closely, you can even see little air bubbles in the glass). Juxtaposing studied imperfection against touches of Venetian architectural grandeur, each perfume comes with a green Verde Saint Denis marble base (the same type seen in its stores)— because art needs a pedestal. The five scents are sexy, with notes like vetiver and jasmine.
Colpo di Sole (Italian for “sunburn”) conjures the heat of the Mediterranean sun with orange blossom, while Déjà Minuit (French for “already midnight”) is inspired by a good time passing far too quickly and contains geranium and cardamom. Come With Me focuses on Italian bergamot, and Alchemie mixes pink pepper with French orris butter. ELLE editors got our hands on the Acqua Sale fragrance, the scent meant to capture the aroma of saltwater on skin, and here are our takes on what it smells like.
Kathleen Hou, beauty director: “I love the idea of being in a sweater by the beach, Marilyn Monroe-style, and this scent smells like a salty breeze mixed with clove cigarettes. It’s warm with a hazy sort of sweetness, and has a hint of the brininess that comes from salt water. On my skin, it surprisingly reads as more sweet than anything else (maybe my personality is already naturally salty). The bottle is, as they say on TikTok, stunning. I love the juxtaposition between the green marble pedestal and the glass, and the purposefully visible air bubbles add a touch of whimsy. The scent and the design are both conversation starters, just like those critter-shaped beanbag chairs from their spring/summer 2025 show (I want the goth bunny).”
Katie Berohn, beauty editor: “To me, this fragrance smells like really high-quality saltwater taffy. I initially get black pepper, but it settles into something sweeter. I can smell the salinity, once its dries down, that gives it that ‘saltwater on skin’ scent. I’ve also come to really love the bottle—at first, I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about it, but I love that it’s inspired by hand-blown Venetian glass. I think the bubbles and the unique bottle help make this fragrance feel like a real objet d’art to add to your vanity. The emerald-colored marble base definitely help elevate it too. You could also literally use the base for an arm workout—it’s high-quality and has quite a bit of weight to it.”
Carol Lee, associate beauty commerce editor: “Close your eyes and imagine relaxing in a beach house after a refreshing swim in the ocean. There’s a touch of saltiness still on your skin and in the air, while a fresh bouquet of flowers blooms beside you, and a bowl of oranges sits within reach. That’s exactly what Acqua Sale smells like to me. This is the kind of scent that makes me miss summer. You also can’t overlook the fact that the sculpture-like vessel and weighty marble base make this fragrance worthy of being the centerpiece of any vanity.”
Tasha Smith, beauty assistant: “Personally, I refuse to believe that summer is already over, but the transition to fall feels much less daunting with this fragrance. The initial saltiness made me think of a day at the beach, standing on the shore as the mist of the ocean brushes your skin with every gentle breeze. But, as it dries on the skin, a soft sweetness breaks through, which feels cozy enough to wrap yourself in. A sugary finish at the end reminds me of the candy jar full of bubblegum that my grandmother would pull out every time I came to visit her as a child. Much like her home, which was filled with unique decor, the bottle’s sculpturesque design also makes for a great conversation starter.”
A version of this story appears in the October 2024 issue of ELLE.
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Kathleen Hou is ELLE’s Beauty Director. Previously, she held the same title at New York Magazine’s The Cut. She’s appeared in publications such as The New York Times Magazine, Vogue India, Forbes, and Allure. She was also a co-founder of Donate Beauty, a grassroots beauty donation project started during the COVID-19 crisis, which donated over 500,000 products to over 30,000 healthcare workers across 500-plus hospitals.