Mystery Molecules: samples reviewed blind, only looking at the name and notes once the perfume has dried all the way down.

Yesterday’s mystery sample was light, and difficult to discern individual notes. My initial reaction: it smelled like something I’d smelled before, and my mind hearkened back to freshman and sophomore post-PE locker room scenes. Fresh, “clean,”… is that lemon? A floral note that I actually liked!

I decided I would call this one a freshie, and as I continued to pay attention and sniff, it reminded me of a fairy – ephemeral, and hard to pin down. It seemed to disappear very quickly, after only a few minutes, it became very difficult to detect. Was that a hint of musk? A shiver of vetiver?

I knew that I had a few Maison Francis Kurkdjian samples in the stash, and I decided that this must indeed be an Aqua. Whether Vitae or Celestia, I didn’t know, but I was excited to find out. I have recently become slightly obsessed with the MFK line, but having so many similar looking perfumes in that line with similar names has been really confusing to my nose/brain, especially given my propensity to TRY THEM ALL AT ONCE, IN THE STORE. (I’m realizing more and more, that for the serious perfume lover, trying out perfumes in any shop is really a bad place to make a decision. Sidenote: get a sample, take it home, try it on when you have no other perfume plans that day.)

I was tickled at THE REVEAL: Aqua Vitae by Maison Francis Kurkdjian. I was right!

Let’s take a look at the notes given, shall we?

Lemon from Calabria – whoo hoo, got that right!
Mandarin from Sicily
Hedione – ah, Hedione, there you are again! My impression of musk, perhaps?
Guaiac wood
Vanilla
Tonka bean from Brazil

And, it’s an Eau de Toilette. Good to know.

I’d say this behaved like a watered down eau de cologne on me. It just wasn’t sticking around.

The Verdict: Would I buy it? Nah. All fancy packaging aside, this didn’t make me sit up and take notice. The most pleasant moment was a throw-back to my fifteen year old self’s exposure to freshness and the kind of hope and wide-eyed innocence for life that we can only have only when we’re youthful teenagers.

I could see this working if you want a smidgen of scent on a dinner date, but I like my perfumes to sit up and shout, or at least do more than murmur. This was hard to detect after 40 minutes. I did my part, really I did, applying it a few times for that enjoyable lemony freshness, but this one is not for me.

Whoo hoo, that’s $156.16 saved at the current exchange rate! Because I am a cheapskate who buys directly from France so as to avoid the import and state taxes. I’d rather save money than get a gift with purchase when it comes to La Maison Kurkdjian.