Aqua Media Cologne Forte Maison Francis Kurkdjian 2023

A strange combination of fennel and matcha tea sits atop the familiar musky MFK "Aqua" DNA, along with sharp verbena. I think as other folks have said, this is a love-it-or-hate-it scent. The fennel here is not licorice-like or anise-y, but rather vegetal and green. Other reviews compare it to cilantro/coriander which I think is fair. Aqua Media Cologne Forte is like being in an Italian kitchen during prep, with the scent of fresh vegetables punctured by sharp citrus notes being squeezed atop for added zest. If the imagery of the kitchen turns you off, you might not like this one, but it is a really interesting scent in my opinion, and a worthy addition to the Aqua line. It dries down like the rest of the collection, to a fresh white musk that sits on the skin for hours even after the scent stops projecting.

Review revised in April 2025 to reflect performance downgrades and a better overview of the tea fragrance market.

---

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 20-25% of notes swapped from fruitiness to green. The difference between this and any of his white floral product (see: Gentle Fluidity (Silver), 724 Eau de Parfum ) is similarly, 30-35% of notes swapped from clean to green.

Performance on the scent is predictably weak, mildly below the competitors in this genre with around a 5-6 hour longevity. This is targeting a spring-summer use case where it will mostly be on an intimate-to-moderate sillage, with upside potential for hotter weather.

For anybody trying this with the thought that Aqua Media Cologne Forte could mirror any of the well-recognized tea scents in the market today, there is some reason for excitement. After spending years with Wūlóng Chá Extrait de Parfum, I would argue the on-skin blending on that scent is not the smoothest and this flaw was later ironed out with Wūlóng Chá X, a product that I'd place on-par with Aqua Media. For Le Labo and certain underground product like Aesthetic Turbulence, the questions remain outstanding. However, ultimately Aqua Media serves as a competitor in a lane where the discrepancies between products are minimal and therefore, there is nothing to make this stand out. Perhaps you were expecting a risk-seeking product from somebody that has been in the risk-free business for 5+ years now...?

Elizabeth Arden Green Tea is the immigrant mother who moved countries to give a better life for her daughter, MFK Aqua Media. A joke, of course, but my immigrant mother wears EA Green Tea and I've *just* purchased a 70ml bottle of Aqua Media. Given that people are rating them as similar, I swiped my mum's bottle of GT and am testing them both on my wrists.

If you're not too into these citrusy tea fragrances, they'll smell similar to you. Of course, the longevity of GT is about thirty minutes (my mum would spritz hers and walk through the mist, then in the car when she'd drive me to school I couldn't smell it anymore) while AM has lasted up to six hours on my skin.

But they're different in other ways, too. On me AM initially smells like photorealistic herbs and citruses, while GT is pure rubbing alcohol. Then AM becomes the scent of an *expensive* hotel lobby, or hotel toiletries. Fresh and green and sharp. I love it on me as a woman in my twenties, but I'd also think very highly of a guy who wears this. I imagine people who may not like AM on themselves may approve of its concept as a room scent. A few minutes into drydown I get a rather sweet floral (hedione?) and something green and maybe herbal (tea, but also fennel?). GT becomes a pretty, powdery, comforting citrus-white floral, like you've showered using the aforementioned hotel toiletries and a floral bar soap. GT is absolutely more feminine. The citrus notes in GT also quickly fade on me, leaving behind if you'd heavily watered AM down with powders and florals.

Waving my wrists in front of my nose quickly, they are for sure similar, but AM is definitely sharper and much, much stronger. Wearing AM makes me feel expensive and like I have my sh*t together. Wearing GT makes me feel clean for the 30 minutes that I can smell it.

As an aside, I think GT has changed. My memory of mum wearing GT in the 2000s smelled a lot more like AM than the replacement I bought her a couple years ago.

I wrote that review 2 years ago. Since then I gave it to a friend. I felt sad whenever I wore it. It is definitely a little sterile and I don't have my sh*t together remotely so it was jarring to wear it I guess lol

Aqua Media Cologne Forte Maison Francis Kurkdjian: If you like it, rock on! If you don't like it, don't even waste your breath with negative vibes; move on to your type of stuff and stop ruining some people's hard work with negative comments disguised as free speech. It's tiring, guys. I find this fragrance to be classy, uplifting, and invigorating for summer, spring, and early fall. From the citrusy opening, the fresh cloud of the top notes is captivating if you love green fragrances. I don't know how Kurkdjian did it, but the aquatic and spicy aspects of this complement each other very well.

I can definitely pick up the fennel in this. I clearly remember how I hated fennel as a child since my dad used to make me eat it and say it was good for our stomach, but I must say there's a very artistic side to how it is blended with the rest of the accords in this composition, which I am loving very much. I have worn this in the office and on a casual outing with my wife and gotten so many compliments. She loves it and wears it too, and she did pick up on the similarities between AMCF and AE Green Tea. Since to me fragrance has no gender, I am not bothered by that; I simply love the space and how transported I am when I wear this to a peaceful, clear-thinking space. This one stays in my rotation, and I would definitely purchase another one.

I have always have had a hard time with house of Francis Kurkdjian. Maison Francis Kurkdjian perfumes are very well made, but I feel they are not very creative. Though I have tested a lot of them, I am still stuck with just three. Aqua Media Cologne Forte is one of them. This is the Francis Kurkdjian who created Dior Eau Noire. In Aqua Media Cologne Forte, vervain, matcha, bergamot and fennel create a lovely green aromatic cocoon that I love very much. It is beautiful and fresh, but it is also elegant, modest and inoffensive. It is an easy reach for me when I want an aromatic fresh green scent.

For those who are curious, my other two scents from this house are Oud Satin Mood and Grand Soir. I really love the former and I tolerate the latter. My daughter seems to love Grand Soir.