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Aqua

Aqua Vitae Maison Francis Kurkdjian 2013

7.0 / 10 194 Ratings

A perfume by Maison Francis Kurkdjian for women and men, released in 2013. The scent is citrusy-fresh. It is being marketed by LVMH.
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Main accords

Citrus

Fresh

Woody

Floral

Fruity

Fragrance Notes

Calabrian lemon

Sicilian mandarin orange Hedione

Hedione

Brazilian tonka bean

Vanilla absolute

Venezuelan tonka bean

Gaiac wood

Perfumer

Francis Kurkdjian

Ratings

Scent

7.0194 Ratings

Longevity

5.7160 Ratings

Sillage

5.1162 Ratings

Bottle

7.9164 Ratings

Value for money

5.453 Ratings

Submitted by Freeestyler, last update on 09/11/2025.

Interesting Facts

The fragrance is part of the Aqua collection.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Aqua Vitae Forte

9am

Guerlain Homme L'Eau Boisée

Lapidus Woman

Ego Man

Radianza

Reviews

13 in-depth fragrance descriptions

01/16/2014

5Scent 2.5Longevity 2.5Sillage

Kxnaiades
50 Reviews

Kxnaiades

2

as fleeting as the bubbles in champagne

First of, I really like Kurdjian's work, it's like art to me. Nose art. However (and I probably have this issue with most citrus scents) as bright, sparkly and natural-Prozac this is, it truly does not last on skin/clothes for more than an hour, no matter how liberally I spray. For the short span of time that I can smell it, it really is as enjoyable as a hike in fresh mountain air. Bright, sparkly, zesty and all other positive words come to mind when applying this. After it settles it becomes slightly more jasmine/woodsy...and then it's gone. If there was a way this could be made a more tenacious scent, I would definitely not think twice about purchasing a bottle.

08/01/2025

ClaireV
969 Reviews

ClaireV

1

Nice but slides right over and off my medulla oblongata

The ultimate in sweet nothings. Aqua Vitae by Maison Francis Kurkdijan is a fresh, summery fragrance that sparkles with zesty citrus, a green, crisp jasmine, and a whisper of tonka. There are massive amounts of hedione in this - about 50%, according to Kurkdijan himself - and this is what creates that green, crispy effect overlaying the citruses at the start.

Despite the dry, woody flavor contributed by the Iso E Super here, the effect is not overly chemical or harsh, which is to Kurkdijan's credit. He is nothing if not a skilled perfumer and knows how to dose these synthetics just right. Other perfumers should learn from him. The effect is total radiance and luminosity, kind of like the effect achieved in Timbuktu. It's nice, but emphatically not for me. It is far too light to make more than a brief impression, and slides off the skin (and out of mind) in a couple of hours.

07/17/2020

6.5Scent 6Longevity 5Sillage

Pepdal
238 Reviews

Pepdal

1

Vitae and Forte

In this video i review and compare both Aqua Vitae and its flanker, Aqua Vitae Forte. So far I haven't had a lot of luck with Maison Francis Kurkdjian fresher scents, I wonder if my luck is about to change.

09/12/2013

3Scent 5Longevity 2.5Sillage

Seelanne
20 Reviews

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Seelanne

Top Review 51

Emergency Room or Dr. Clooney in Search of the Pulse

Documentation in one act
Location: Emergency Room, somewhere
Time: 4:45 PM to 5:30 PM
Persons: Dr. Clooney, Nurse 1, Nurse 2, Caregiver 1, Caregiver 2,

Announcement:
Dr. Clooney please URGENTLY to the emergency room …… Dr. Clooney, please URGENTLY to the emergency room ………… Dr. Clooney please …………
.
“Hello kids, here I am. Sorry, I was still at the gyn. So, what do we have here?”
“Name Vitae, Aqua; 6 months old, father Francis Kurkdjian, mother unknown, gender unclear.”
“Legally or privately?”
“Very private, it costs quite a bit.”
“Okay, what’s wrong with it?”
“Still unclear, was brought in by relatives.”
“And?”
“No idea, they just said it wasn’t doing so well. They’ve had the feeling a few times that it’s done for.”
“Well, let’s see. It would be a shame if we couldn’t get it back on its feet, with that name?!”
.
“Hello, Aqua, Vitae …..uh …. what is actually its first and last name?”
“Pfff …… no idea.”
“Hello Mr. - Mrs. Vitae .. can you understand me? .. Do you have any pain? …… Hello?”
“Either deaf or dead.”
“No jokes please. What do the vital signs say?”
“Vital signs? I don’t want to be a pessimist, but to me, it looks a bit pale around the nose.”
“Pulse and blood pressure?”
“Very weak, I can barely measure it. And I can only get a sinus curve if I do ‘paint by numbers’.”
“Oxygen saturation?”
“Well, let’s just say: smoking shouldn’t be on the agenda right now.”
“Is the lab result in yet?”
“No, not that quickly?!”
.
“Okay, let’s go, we need to get to work! Nurse: Activate the spray mechanism! On 3, 2, 1 …”
…………………………………………………………Pppffffhhhhhhhhhhh ……………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“And?”
“Hmm…………… Lemon, right?”
“Yeah, lemon, I would say.”
“Where? I smell nothing.”
“There!”
“Where?”
“Well there! You have to get really close.”
“Aha: yeah, quite nice.”
“Or did the cleaning lady leave something behind again?”
“No, no, that’s definitely it.”
“What does the EKG say?”
“Well, a heartbeat looks different somehow.”
“So for me, it’s tangerine!”
“No, lemon ………… and vanilla!”
“It smells good.”
“I must insist, it’s nice!”
“Yeah nice … but it’s not that great.”
“But somehow creamy, right? Like the ice balls at my Italian place.”
“Is there anything else coming?”
…………………………………………
“No, just this lemon cream.”
“Tangerine!”
“Yeah, yeah, it doesn’t matter now.”
.
“Well, kids, I would say it’s alive … so kind of … off to the monitoring station with it, it’ll be out in 3 days, I’ll be back on the VIII.”
“So for me, it stays tangerine.”
“No, lemon!”
“Hello?! I said: Off to the monitoring station, if I may!”
“Yeah, yeah …… ”
.
“Friends, I don’t want to disturb your party, but our lemon cream ball is just about to crash!”
“What, already, after 45 minutes?”
“Well, my monitor is dark. Probably more Aqua than Vitae.”
“Okay, emergency program. Resuscitate. Please step back. 3…2…1… and ………………………
Pulse?”
“Negative ………… or wait ………….. no, never mind.”
“We’re losing it!”
“I think it’s wheezing.”
“Man, that’s the air conditioning!”
“Okay, no panic: chest compressions …… and 1, and 2 and 3 …… 3 mg of atropine to draw!
And again the defibrillator please …… Please step back … And 3…2…… 1… and …”
.............................................................................
“Damn.”
“That’s it.”
“Sometimes you lose, sometimes the other wins.”
“Such a shame about the nice tangerine.”
“Lemon!”
“Okay friends, everyone listen up: there’s no reason to be down. We all did our best. Sometimes it just is that way. Who’s handling the paperwork? I’ll be back on the VIII.”
.
“Guys, I’ll order us something from the ice cream parlor later. Want anything?”
“Oh yes, for me please a spaghetti ice .. but with lots of sauce.”
“I’ll take a banana flip! Or do they have shakes too?”
“I think so.”
“Then I’ll take … uh …. tangerine!”
“For me please also a shake, but please: lemon!”
“And doctor, anything for you?”
.
“Yeah, I don’t care, order something. Just please no squeaky fruits, no fruit. I can’t take all these lifeless lemon creams anymore. I need something honest with flavor and with a bit …………… with a bit of pulse …………. Something alive!”

07/31/2016

6.5Scent 5Longevity 5Sillage

loewenherz
916 Reviews

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loewenherz

Top Review 37

Hervé in the Bright Silk Scarf

After the concert, we stood on crunching gravel around high tables draped in white covers, sipping somewhat warm Chardonnay. Next to us stood a man my age - slim, but not athletic, wearing expensive suede loafers, a Saint Laurent-esque intellectual glasses, and wavy, shoulder-length hair that he kept pushing behind his ears, while his equally expensive watch was hard to ignore. To top it off, he wore - the most dreadful of all horrors - one of those lightweight cashmere-silk scarves for men that you can buy in the store with the orange bags starting at five hundred euros.

Men in such silk scarves are never named Rüdiger or Kai-Uwe - that would be too banal (and no one can pronounce it in Portland's or Belgrade's burgeoning street art scene) - so we named our scarf-wearer Hervé. At some point, Hervé's phone rang, he set his somewhat warm Chardonnay down on the white-covered table and hissed reluctantly: 'Yes, what is it?' Thirty seconds of half-hearted murmuring, an annoyed glance at the Jaeger Le Coultre, then: 'Twenty thousand? No, tell him eighteen, and that's it!' A charming glance around, wavy hair pushed behind his ear. 'Please excuse me.'

Nothing about men like Hervé - often involved in cultural management or publishing, and 'on the go' a scarf like that can sometimes be quite practical - is average, nor should it be average. While many of them do wear Terre d'Hermès - of course bought at the store with the orange bags and not at Karstadt - they would much rather wear strictly limited creations that were available for only four weeks - by invitation only! - in a guerrilla store in Tokyo. If that’s not available, and Terre d'Hermès becomes too mundane, a fragrance from Kurkdjian will do in a pinch - especially since the name is so beautifully difficult to spell.

Francis Kurkdjian's Aqua Vitae is a fragrance that wishes it were more complicated than it actually is - a bit like our Hervé in the patterned silk scarf. It starts harmlessly citrusy light (Hervé immediately notices the tension between Calabrian and Sicilian aromas) and follows the top note with something loosely warm that oddly hovers between cool and warm (Hervé believes he recognizes a metaphor for Adorno) - as if the Hedione, Tonka, and Guaiac wood were being dimmed a bit. It is not hot, not cold, not fresh, not spicy, and not artificially clean, yet frustratingly timid - and not a life water.

Conclusion: not a bad fragrance. Perhaps a mistake in expectation management, as more is always expected from a Kurkdjian than just 'not bad.' Even Hervé is not quite sure if he will stick with Aqua Vitae. He pushes his wavy hair behind his ear, adjusts the bright silk scarf, and resolves to think about it later while listening to Belgian trip-hop.

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