Aqua Vitae Maison Francis Kurkdjian 2013

Bottle Design:
Fred Rawyler

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7.0 / 10 189 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 Hedione

Hedione

Sicilian mandarin orange

Brazilian tonka bean

Gaiac wood

Vanilla absolute

Venezuelan tonka bean

Perfumer

Francis Kurkdjian

Ratings

Scent

7.0189 Ratings

Longevity

5.7156 Ratings

Sillage

5.0162 Ratings

Bottle

7.9165 Ratings

Value for money

5.449 Ratings

Submitted by Freeestyler, last update on 08/01/2025.

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

5 in-depth fragrance descriptions

01/16/2014

2.5
Sillage 2.5
Longevity 5
Scent

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
958 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

7
Bottle 5
Sillage 6
Longevity 6.5
Scent

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.

03/05/2021

4
Pricing 8
Bottle 3
Sillage 3
Longevity 6
Scent

Ischgelroi
224 Reviews

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Ischgelroi

3

Huhu Aqua Vitae where are you?

With these words I want to start this comment, but now first to the reason for this. I received with a purchase in the souk Aqua Vitae as a sample and yesterday it was time to test this fragrance, but on the subject of performance can be said here unfortunately really Huhu Aqua Vitae where are you, because unfortunately the shelf life is really very bad, unfortunately I could reach here only 2-3 hours with a little luck maybe 4 hours and this poor performance is for me really an exclusion criterion, because this perfume is not really cheap that can be simply sprayed on it even not in the 200 ml version. The next problem is with Aqua Vitae that the beginning is really great vanilla with a great freshness and fruitiness, but unfortunately this great note fades after 15-20 minutes and you are left with mostly vanilla and tonka bean and musk even though it is not in the fragrance pyramid. I kind of smell musk out here. I can not give a good rating here unfortunately, because for this simply the performance is too bad and also the fragrance suffers.

10/01/2024

4
Sillage 6
Longevity 7.5
Scent

Dennis1104
678 Reviews

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Dennis1104

A great companion in summer

Aqua Vitae is a rather lesser-known fragrance from MFK. It also has a relatively average rating of 7.0 here.
I can understand these opinions somewhere, because it doesn't blow you away and doesn't do anything particularly new, but the fragrance is still finely designed.
I like it and now I like it much more than I used to.
The more you smell it, the more you like it. At least that's how I feel.

The fragrance works above all with its totally fine-tuned citrus. It also has slightly green and floral nuances.
For me, the green touch in combination with the citrusy notes is like a kind of soft, beautiful tea. I suspect that this association is due to the hedione used.

This impression just described continues almost to the end. Only after a few hours does the fragrance change, incorporating slightly sweet notes. I can particularly detect vanilla here. However, the vanilla is subtle and totally fine.
I can really only detect "hints" of tonka bean. It is also a little woody, but really subtle.

Aqua Vitae is definitely wearable unisex and the performance is okay. The fragrance lasts about 6 hours on me. However, the sillage is noticeably weaker.