Replica “Beach Walk” Perfume by Maison Margiela
Have you found that perfect summer scent yet? The one that not only smells great, but smells like the best combination of notes that the season embodies. For me, that perfume is Replica Beach Walk by Maison Margiela.
A little background about the Maison Margiela brand.
Headquartered in Paris, France, Maison Margiela, formerly Maison Martin Margiela, is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1988 by Belgian designer Martin Margiela. Maison Margiela is one of the most renowned names in high-end luxury fashion with some of the most recognizable silhouettes in the fashion world. The house produces both artisanal collections and ready-to-wear collections, with the former inspiring the designs of the latter. The brand is an avant-garde one. Maison Margiela has traditionally held live shows in unusual settings, for example, empty metro stations and street corners. Models’ faces are often obscured by fabric or long hair to direct attention to the clothes and design. With formal allegiance to no particular fashion movement, Maison Margiela’s designs are famous for deconstructionist traits such as exposed seams, being oversized and upcycling garments.
Now that you understand Maison Margiela’s approach to fashion, you can better understand their approach to fragrance. Each perfume is a “reproduction of familiar scents and moments of varying locations and periods.” Hence the name, Replica. Each scent replicates a particular location and period of time. Beach Walk is meant to replicate “sun kissed salty skin” in Calvi, 1972.
About Beach Walk
According to Maison Margiela’s website:
Beach Walk scent evokes the memory of a summer day, with radiant notes of bergamot, coconut milk, musk, pink pepper and ylang-ylang. A warm perfume of heliotrope, coconut milk and musk combine to create a fresh, beachy scent.
Enjoy the vivifying moment of a walk along the ocean. Feel the sand rubbing your feet and the waves touch your legs while a warm breeze is ruffling your hair. The sun caresses your salted skin.
Solar and warm, this distinctive floral Eau de Toilette is part of the Replica collection.
I discovered the Replica fragrances a few years ago and find that I keep going back to them again and again. Prior to utilizing Replica fragrances, I have worn Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle almost exclusively since it debuted in 2001. Needless to say, I was severely due for some variety in my perfume repertoire.
Let’s start with the bottle. All of the Replica fragrances have the look of classic apothecary jars. Each luxe bottle carries a cotton label with black typewriter font and a unique pump wrapped with rope (an homage to the original couture line). The sleek yet upscale bottle looks gorgeous in any vanity/bathroom area regardless of decor style. Simply, it’s a very attractive bottle that should be displayed rather than hidden away.
Without further ado, here’s what I think about Replica Beach Walk by Maison Margiela. With a name like Beach Walk, it should come as no surprise that I tend to reach for this bottle during the spring and summer months. Replica fragrances are crafted to reproduce a particular moment in time, this one being a beach walk in Calvi in 1972. If you’ve never visited Calvi, France, here’s an image so that you better understand where the scent is transporting you to.
Calvi, France
Beach Walk smells like summer in a bottle. It’s salty air and warm like sun-kissed skin with floral notes of heliotrope and then sweet notes of coconut milk, making it slightly reminiscent of suntan lotion.
Replica’s Beach Walk is intoxicating if you yearn for summer days and exotic Parisian beach vacations. Take note of the year on the bottle that the scent is trying to replicate: 1972. French beaches in the early ’70s make me think of Brigitte Bardot, nude sunbathing, cigarettes and all-day relaxation. The 1970s is known as the “Me” decade and what’s more indulgent than lounging on a French beach?
Specifically, Maison Margiela says about Beach Walk:
Sun-kissed skin sensually interpreted through coconut milk and musk.
The summer beach atmosphere captured by a radiant ylang-ylang and a zest of bergamot.Top notes: Bergamot, Pink Pepper, Lemon
Middle notes: Transluzone, Ylang Ylang, Cococut Milk
Base notes: Musk, Cedar, Benzoin
I find Replica Beach Walk to not only be a summer scent, but mature one. It’s layered. It’s bold. It’s confident. It’s sexy. I know that a perfume is special when I catch myself absentmindedly bringing my wrist up to my nose throughout the day for another sniff because it’s just that good.
I adore Replica Beach Walk so much that I not only purchased the 3.4 ounce bottle ($135), I also opted for the 0.3 ounce travel spray ($30) to carry in my purse for those long days when I might want a little fresh spritz.
Fragrance Application Tips
Tip 1: As damp skin locks in the scent, apply the fragrance straight after showering or bathing and before getting dressed.
Tip 2: Apply the fragrance on your pulse points for a more seductive effect and stronger diffusion. Spray the fragrance from at least 15-20 centimeters from the area of application.
Tip 3: For a more diffused effect, spray the fragrance in the air and walk through it.
Wait until the fragrance has dried down on your skin before smelling it. Rubbing the skin after spraying the perfume will destroy the bond and alter the scent.
Product Review Disclaimer: I do not have any affiliation with the Maison Margiela brand. The opinions expressed in this review are my own and I have not been compensated for this review other than the money it generates from advertising revenue.
