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xipomaHt1994 – :
The nose has a memory all of it’s own. A scent or odour can can transport us back in time and evoke vivid memories. I have not smelled the new Aqua Manda but if I close my eyes and mentally sniff that bottle in the 1970’s I can smell the original. A long lasting very unisex fragrance that I miss and I have faith in the people posting here that are scathing about the new version. Once sniffed, never forgotten. So I’ll be saying no until it is redeveloped to the original formula, which incidentally is still a contemporary scent.
13HONEY – :
This was one my sister wore and I would have a covert spray .. I had to share my thoughts after seeing so many bad reviews, I decided to try it again purely for nostalgia so chose to buy the bath oil .. definitely getting a whiff of orangey mandarin also quite musky, which oddly enough is how I remember it . I must admit I’m shocked at how pricey it is but I might venture and buy the perfume to try. If indeed I do will update further.
alex…….. – :
Bold orange opening, with herbs and spices, this reminds me of sipping sangria in Spain on holiday. Of course I cannot tell how this compares with the original, but it is not sweet at all, it’s savory, tarragon outweighing the balance. The drydown is very much a masculine scent, practically a gourmand. Within fifteen minutes all trace of orange has sadly dissipated.
Joker. – :
I remember wearing this has a teenager – don’t remember it being cheap, but it was affordable with a few weeks of saving my pocket money, was tempted to give it ago, it was quite a distinctive scent, but reading the reviews unless I see it cheap I don’t think I’ll bother… shame really…. What was the other one called think it had a yellow label more citric from Memory
lexxx1973 – :
This is a reminiscence rather than a review! I wore AM cosistently through the 70s as a teenager and chose to keep my strong memory intact and not return as I did (successfully) with Mitsouko. But it does give my heart a lift to see the bottle again! One interesting point – the original was so popular with my friends and I partly because it was so affordable with pocket money, which is clearly not the case with this re-incarnation.
panandvi – :
Repeating as most other folk have said here; massive disappointment and a rip off of my daughter’s hard earned £ for the Xmas giftset. I made a comment on BBD facebook and i was siezed upon and thrown into the dungeons and whipped with a defensive tongue lashing from the bigbadwolf. I have been banned from making any comments at all on their Facebook page which made me giggle; truth hurts it seems. I just hope that there are more of us enlightened perfumistas who will rely on Fragrantica reviews (as i do and have bought blind from reviews here and never been put wrong !) and take heed from our reviews and not believe the marketing Tripe oops i mean hype !
I was sent a new bottle of the fragrance but sad to say it was not an off bottle it is still the same cheap imposter of AM that is sweet, powdery and like a packet of Refreshers and it does not last long either.
I am so glad that i am not alone in my opinion on this reformulation. I have the sense of smell of a fox and know it is not age etc as i can identify other folks fragrances at 10 paces !
sanya7667 – :
Bought the purse spray which was quite expensive enough. What a huge disappointment it was. Acrid and bitter it smelled so bad on me I had to wipe it off straight away. No sign of oranges, no depth just bitterness. Don’t believe the hype, you will waste your money.
XCD – :
Ok good folk, if you don’t like the reformulation then try Marni EdP by Consuelo Castiglioni. The dry down will take you pretty much straight to the 1970s version of Aqua Manda.
EmubsBumExest – :
I have only one question for “bigbadwolf,” and that is, why aren’t your customers giving their own testaments? Since this product came out, I haven’t read even one positive review. Let the product speak for itself.
vova1998 – :
It’s such a shame that all the ladies who have tried and tested the ‘new’ version of Aqua Manda and find it lacking the true scent of the original are being told by the manufacturer’s and promoter’s that are noses are failing us and our sense of smell has diminished over the years. This is a nonsense as we all are saying the same thing about this insipid odd smelling perfume that bears little resemblance to the original. Many of us still wear many of our favourite perfumes and have done so for years, but when we have tried a new version we know if there problems with it. Wasn’t that the idea to recreate the original and please the thousands of ladies who wanted Aqua Manda to come back? The relaunched product fails miserably as a copy and as a perfume in its own right.
5564690 – :
What a shame – I wore Aqua Manda almost constantly in the 70s, along with Mary Quant’s Havoc. And by the way Mr Wolf, I’m listening to Deep Purple Made in Japan (live) 1972 as I write this…. so sorry mate you’re way off.
ebx135speagoessenda – :
Massive disappointment -I don’t buy into the idea of one reviewer that my scent memory is somehow flawed, in fact, I resent his suggestion that all of us on here are somehow “wrong” , maybe he impart of the re-vamp team ? My nose is my most reliable of organs , Aqua Manda this is not !
It carries the name Aqua Manda but its only the name – how come in the era of gas chromatograph could anyone get this so wrong? Unless its a case of:
1. The 1996 “rules” meant some of the original ingredients are now banned.
2. Beauty Brand Development thought that they could do this on the cheap cause it was a cheap scent to begin with .
3. BBD think that the people who wore it are morons and cant remember what it really smelled like.
A disaster – why bother if all you do is disappoint people ? – oh yes, I know why, cause people had to actually spend money establishing the fact that this isn’t Aqua Manda – job done, people parted with cash but , they wont be conned twice BBD so think on eh ……….
dimmaz – :
Work colleagues, sick of hearing me bleat on about Aqua Manda, got me the gift set as a secret santa. I felt compelled to tell them the truth, to save (a) their money, and (b) the feelings of the next poor recipient. It is a repugnant oily miasma without a trace of Aqua Manda. Sugar oil slick. Nasty. Buy it if you like. Or not. I won’t. I hope the trades descriptions man goes after them with a clipboard and a sharpened pencil.
fda76 – :
Sorry, this is NOT Aqua Manda – no way.
I think in this recreation they are trying to hard to appeal to the ‘let’s all smell like sweeties’ crew, and in doing so have lost so much. where is the power of the original?
Can the halfwits behind this so-called relaunch please go back to the drawing board and TRY AGAIN?
It is a sacrilege to call this stuff Aqua Manda, and IMO almost a breach of the Trades Description Act to name it as such !!
невкипелого6 – :
For those of you missing the classic Aqua Manda & are disappointed with the reformulation.
May I suggest Citrus Shores (zingy mandarin) or Eydis (softer neroli),both by Arran Aromatics?
My Mother used to wear Aqua Manda back in the 70’s (as did I),now she wears Eydis.
I hope this will be of help.Arran Aromatics products are easy to find in dept.stores like Debenhams or House of Fraser.I usually find some bargains in T.K.Maxx or eBay.
miktorr – :
For those of you who are disappointed with the reformulation of classic Aqua Manda,may I suggest Citrus Shores by Arran Aromatics.
It’s a lovely fresh cocktail of bright citrus notes with a warm woody base.
janluka – :
It’s always a disappointment when a new company tries to re-create a classic fragrance.For those of you still searching for that elusive whiff of nostalgia,may I suggest either “Citrus Shore” or “Eydis” both made by Arran Aromatics.My Mother used to wear “Aqua Manda” back in the day,and now she happily wears the aforementioned scents.
temanych – :
I loved the Aqua Manda of the 1970’s as it was heady and delicious. I loved the strong mandarin and warm spice tones and it was fearless and bold. You smelled of strong citrus and sexy spice and you could smell it a mile off! There was no mistaking the fragrance and it held such great memories for me. The bottle was so arty and neat made of brown glass with an intricately designed floral top. The price was great for teenagers and the smell summed up the era of floaty florals and flared jeans. I have never forgotten the perfume and I tried hard with many other ladies to get it back on the shop shelves. We championed the return of a classic scent.
When I heard that it was coming back I was so delighted and eventually I got old of a sample bottle. I was thrilled…then I opened it and although there was a hint of the original, it wasn’t right. The intensity was greatly lacking in the mandarin and the spice barely there. I put some on my skin and it became a light lemony sherbet smell and it soon faded. I was SO disappointed. I tried several times to see if I could get the smell to last on fabric and paper, but it was nothing like the original, it is insipid and weak on the skin. I asked family members to try it and it was the same on their skin, too. What a let down. The ingredients have changed and the impact non-existent. There are going to be many disappointed ladies out there.
asegreen – :
Anyone who thinks this liquid smells like the original wonderful/gorgeous/orangey/inimitable/sharp and sexy Aqua Manda can’t possibly have been there in the early 70s and used the real thing! I was so excited before Christmas to learn the “original” had been “painstakingly recreated” with the original founder, expert perfumiers etc etc. Spent £55 on two purse sprays online from the makers – obviously in good faith – for my middle sister and me, children of that era. WHAT A LET-DOWN. Cannot believe this product has the nerve to bear the hallowed name of Aqua Manda. My orange washing-up liquid from the Co-Op smells more like real Aqua Manda than this re-creation.
2014 “Aqua Manda” has none of the mouth-watering and edgy citrus kick that was its hallmark; it’s fuzzy, sickly, sweet, powdery and wussy – the sort of thing you might find as a draw prize at a whist drive. A bit like having to drink a pint of warm Fosters instead of an ice-cool Grolsch.
Luckily, my sister quite liked the smell of the “recreation” (!!), so she’s keeping the two sprays. But she agrees NO WAY IS IT AQUA MANDA!
And here’s what I posted a couple of years ago, in a fit of nostalgia and hopefulness: “Absolutely LONG for Aqua Manda again – so does my middle sister, who’s of that era, too. Wonderful rose-tinted (and orange-scented) memories of long early-70s summers on the beach or rowing up the canal at Bude, picnics, smoking Consulate, drinking cider, James Taylor and Carole King the soundtrack… anyone who can recreate Aqua Manda just as we knew it (remember the lovely oiliness of it? And the oatmeal soap?) would be on to a gold mine…” Hilary 07/10/2011
vladliptoni – :
The original Aqua Manda was a big part of my teenage years. It became an important piece of the tapestry that shaped who I was, and I can still conjure up that fragrance in my mind. So imagine my thrill when finally, after years and years of checking online, re-checking, posting everywhere I could, joining the throngs of “Please someone, bring this back!” were finally answered.
So when the new version was launched, it was so disappointing to speak to women first hand who got hold of a sample, or ended up buying it, who all said the same thing. But I still needed to know for myself so I managed to get a friend of mine to send her sample. Sure enough, this wasn’t the Aqua Manda I knew. It had some vague similarity, that’s all. Oh well. Back to my essential oil collection. I have come closer by mixing orange, neroli, cloves, cinnamon and rosemary.
I simply don’t buy the theory that we’ve changed and we just THINK it smells different.
seosoftware – :
Aqua Manda is one of those perfumes which provoked, and still provokes, a massive emotional response in those who loved it. My late mother was the biggest fan of Aqua Manda, and of other fragrances which had a pronounced citrus/spice/deep herbal note. I cannot remember a time when a sweet fragrance was given house room. I had an opportunity to test this, via the Bring Back Aqua Manda FB group.
Sorry. It’s nothing like Aqua Manda. Not even close. It is weak, powdery, with an almost buttery, creamy, vanilla undertone, which has absolutely no business being there. Something has gone awry here. The citrus is barely there, the herbs contain zero impact. Remember the scent of thyme, rosemary, sage, coriander, sharp lavender, tarragon? The earthiness of oakmoss? The whizzbang opening of Aqua Manda like splitting an orange/mandarin right under your nose and getting a bit of the juice in your eye? The slightly sunkissed moisture tinge of kisser’s coriander? None of that is present. Maybe this should have been marketed “An Impression of Aqua Manda”. To say this is to an original recipe is flirting with disaster. I can see sons and daughters buying this for their mothers, knowing how much they loved it of yesteryear, and mothers worldwide having to smile sweetly and pretend it’s AquaManda. It isn’t. At thirty odd quid a throw, it’s an expensive mistake to make. I am certain, that with a little more application, and quality ingredients, it could have been brought nearer, even with the regulations, as there are other perfumes which are holding those precious notes together despite the regs. Sadly, I feel this version has been produced to capitalize on nostalgia and pressie buying just in time for Christmas. The perfume was created without consulting those who campaigned for it and supported the company who eventually marketed it. Big mistake. If you want to know the time, ask a policeman. If you want to know how to make bread, ask the baker. If you want to know what it felt like to be on the beach on D Day, ask a veteran who was there. If you want to know if your chemists are getting it right while you try to recreate AM – don’t ask a man who never wore it, or one who probably hadn’t actually been born when his mum wore it. Ask the campaigners. Ask those who love it. Ask those who lived through it, sprayed it, soaped it, talcum powdered it and love it enough to make a noise about it. There has been a steady flow of BBAM members who have, shall we say, had their gruntles well and truly dissed by the recreated version of AM. Always polite first, and homicidal later, myself and several other members of the BBAM campaign pointed out to BBD’s representative that the formula was definitely NOT the Aqua manda we knew and loved. Unfortunately, we were greeted with stonewalling, denial, accusations of being middle aged and therefore deficient in perfume recognition, “bombarded with transparently bogus science” and in some cases, accusations of sabotage! In cases like this, I for one, always printscreen before the offender has a chance to delete. 😉 In all my correspondences with perfume houses and perfumers, I have yet to meet another company or individual who would react like that.
For my own part, I can tell you, dear perfumista, that Parfum d`Empire Iskander is damn close to AM, and a whoosh of a good sharp Neroli over the top of it (such as that found in Atelier Cologne Grand Neroli for example), brings it even closer to home. Aqua Manda demands Neroli, demands zesty, poke in the eye citrus, coriander, a twist of allspice and meditteranean herbiness.
It’s NOT a bad little fragrance, if you like ti smell like a packet of Refreshers (fizzy sweets), but not definitely NOT Aqua Manda in anything but name. Trades description violation much?
For ladies of a certain age, the search continues. And continues with fervour.
amygo – :
Aqua Manda was the first scent I bought for myself. During my teenage it was my signature fragrance and it felt so much more exotic than the Apple Blossom and L’Air de Temps of my friends.
I used to love Aqua Manda and contemplated buying the relaunche. Reading what others said about it I have decided not to. I will let it stay a sweet memory of my 70’s.
CAH4E3 – :
It’s a difficult ride when expectations collide with reality and maybe time distorts a memory. We are not the same people we were forty years or so ago and yet we want to be transported back to feel the momentary glee of recollection and nostalgia. Aqua Manda will not do that exactly but there is something in the mix which does allude to the 60’s and early 70’s. It’s as though we see our past through a gauze or distantly at the end of a tunnel. To me this seems appropriate, the scent looks back but can never return to the time. Neither we nor it can relive the personal memories, simply recall then with fondness. The creamy orange of this new Aqua Manda is a comfort and the spice is quite subtle. I would say there is a gentleness to Aqua Manda. On me it lasts about four hours and it has good projection. If you reserve judgement and expectation then Aqua Manda is rewarding for what it is and not a disapointment for what it is not.
kmsutynth – :
Like cleo cupcake, I too found this to be a massive disappointment. On opening spray, there is a hint of orange and herbs and then it quickly changes to a sweet powdery creamy scent that lasts about an hour, if that.
It is not worth the money. My daughter bought it for me in a giftset for Xmas and it was a waste of £39 because i should have asked for an Estee Lauder giftset to similar value, even if there is only the fragrance and a body cream with Estee Lauder giftsets, not 3 items like the Aqua Manda giftset.
I complained about it and offered to send it back in case it was faulty and they kindly sent me another free of charge but sadly, it’s the same, even sprayed on clothes it is not how AM was.
I was told that it has been so successful that they have had to manufacture a load more to keep up with demand. Some of us obviously, hoped and expected too much !
polin123 – :
I use to adore the original when I was a young girl in London during the swinging sixties. This along with Sea Jade were my constant perfumes. I have not tried this reformulated version and wonder will it ever be as good as the original.? Maybe I will just keep my memories and give this a miss as well.
Sanich20011998 – :
I too recall this from my teen years – having read Cleo’s review of the new (reformulated?) version, I think I’ll save both my memories and money and resist the temptation to buy this!! 🙂
zssgtt – :
Ok: found it in Debenhams. I must say this is a MASSIVE disappointment. This is nothing like the fragrance I wore in my teens. For a start this does not smell of oranges and spice – it smells of lemons and cleaning fluid. What a shame – I was hoping for a whole time travel experience back to my youth – but it will not happen with this!!
fass1 – :
This was a teenage favourite of mine! Glad it has been relaunched – hope it’s not too changed. The bottle is not as nice but that’s progress for you. Now all I need to know is where to buy it -I have not seen it anywhere!
Anybody know where in London I might find it? Please?