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Notes06/05/2023
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13 Reviews
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2
When there's no need to take risk since you've already made it
An anecdote of the Maison Francis Kurkdjian experience. Imagine you overnight hit it out the park (Baccarat Rouge). Sure - you're not going to retire "just because", but all of a sudden, risk-seeking behavior is increasingly trending towards absolute risk adversity. BR540 was Francis Kurkdjian's lottery ticket and he won. Grand Soir was his high-growth equity portfolio and he won. Now, when the only thing you need to do is buy risk-free assets to maintain what you have, you get product like this - like Aqua Media Cologne Forte. I hope everybody has become accustomed to the idea that whatever Francis Kurkdjian releases will be "nice" or "okay" and nothing more. No more lottery tickets, no more high-growth equity.
When you first spray on Aqua Media, the lively matcha base note shines. Much like the citruses in some of our favorite fragrances, the experience is short-lived. Up-close, the scent smells of fresh citruses with a mild green verbena note.
From the perspective of synthetic tonalities, the scent's DNA is good - Francis Kurkdjian's fresher fragrances don't smell like the synthetic sludge you get from Kilian (see: Blue Moon Ginger Dash, Vodka on the Rocks). But the problem ties back to the main criticism highlighted in the first paragraph - the DNA is transferred scent-to-scent which is why you can instantly tell it's MFK.
We've smelled this before, just without the verbena & matcha. The difference between this and Aqua Celestia Cologne Forte is the 15-20% of notes swapped from fruitiness to green. The difference between this and any of his white floral product (see: Gentle fluidity (Silver), 724) is similarly, 20-25% of notes swapped from clean to green.
Performance on the scent is fine, typical 7-8 hour longevity spring-summer scent with mostly intimate-moderate sillage that trends towards moderate in the high heat.
For anybody trying this with the thought that Aqua Media could mirror any of the well-recognized tea scents in the market today, e.g. Wūlóng Chá, Thé Matcha 26 and even underground product like Aesthetic Turbulence, you were expecting a risk-seeking product from somebody that has been in the risk-free business for 5 years now. In the words of DJ Khaled: "Congratulations, you played yourself."
When you first spray on Aqua Media, the lively matcha base note shines. Much like the citruses in some of our favorite fragrances, the experience is short-lived. Up-close, the scent smells of fresh citruses with a mild green verbena note.
From the perspective of synthetic tonalities, the scent's DNA is good - Francis Kurkdjian's fresher fragrances don't smell like the synthetic sludge you get from Kilian (see: Blue Moon Ginger Dash, Vodka on the Rocks). But the problem ties back to the main criticism highlighted in the first paragraph - the DNA is transferred scent-to-scent which is why you can instantly tell it's MFK.
We've smelled this before, just without the verbena & matcha. The difference between this and Aqua Celestia Cologne Forte is the 15-20% of notes swapped from fruitiness to green. The difference between this and any of his white floral product (see: Gentle fluidity (Silver), 724) is similarly, 20-25% of notes swapped from clean to green.
Performance on the scent is fine, typical 7-8 hour longevity spring-summer scent with mostly intimate-moderate sillage that trends towards moderate in the high heat.
For anybody trying this with the thought that Aqua Media could mirror any of the well-recognized tea scents in the market today, e.g. Wūlóng Chá, Thé Matcha 26 and even underground product like Aesthetic Turbulence, you were expecting a risk-seeking product from somebody that has been in the risk-free business for 5 years now. In the words of DJ Khaled: "Congratulations, you played yourself."
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