Growing up in a landlocked state, I didn’t realize that dolphins lived outside of aquarium glass walls. This is sad. When I moved to the PNW over 5 years ago, I was amazed. I literally got in my car from Nashville and kept driving until I smelled salt water. Deep within the depths of this salt water amazing creatures dwell: whales, octopus and yes, orcas. This still blows my mind.
Ayala Moriel Orcas opens with refreshing lime and fresh ginger paired with freshly cut herbs. It’s bitter-green-fresh. I do get the sea in this. It’s sort of like an oyster bar – vanillic, salty and like the “coast” on ice. With time I get an astringent sharpness from crisp leaves and cedar. And suede. The dry-down is a salty ambergris with cool fir needles. It’s invigorating like the Northern Pacific.

Notes listed include rosemary, lime, cedarwood, fresh ginger, ambergris, boronia, clary sage, Egyptian geranium, seaweed, blue spruce, cypress and angelica. Launch date 2011.
Give Orcas a try if you are looking for a natural sea fragrance. Or if you like perfumes like Roxana Illuminated Perfumes Green Witch, Aftelier Muse, DSH Perfumes Arnica, Joanne Bassett Reveiller, CB I Hate Perfume Mr. Hulot’s Holiday and/or Esscentual Alchemy Theo. Orcas is unisex and does make a great replacement for a men’s “eau de cologne”. It does smell natural. And it’s a great choice for hot summer days.
Orcas has below average projection and longevity fin comparison to mixed media perfumes. I get about 4 hours of wear (which is not unusual for all-natural perfumes).
Orcas comes in a few sizes. The 1/2 oz retails for $120 at Ayala Moriel. Samples are also available for purchase.
Victoria’s Final EauPINION – Herbaceous Northern aquatic. Good job, Ayala. I smell it and I do think of the Pacific Northwest.
Want more reviews? Try…
Basenotes – Member reviews
Fragrantica – Member reviews
*One time I went orca watching for my husband’s birthday. I got really seasick and almost hurled all over some Swedish tourists that wouldn’t stop talking to me about Twilight. Orcas are rad. Twilight isn’t.
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