Vetiver
Absinth
Geranium
Oakmoss
12/22/2015
ColinM
516 Reviews
ColinM
Helpful Review
3
Dull vetiver
Never been a fan of Profumum Roma, and this fragrance does nothing but reinforcing my opinion about the brand. As much nice as annoyingly uninspired and pretentious. It doesn’t smell bad, it actually smells fairly nice: it’s a fresh, smooth, balsamic, kind of aquatic-azure take on vetiver (normal decent vetiver, don’t expect fireworks) with a prominent, and quite pleasant sort of anisic-grassy top accord well breezing on a hay-vetiver heart and a hefty dose of cypriol – sort of a thin yet substantial smoky-green note with a papersheet-like transparency. Basically a grassy-woody scent with a spicy-anisic twist. The only aspect I don’t enjoy is an annoying rubbery feel among the base notes, which smells fairly cheap and it’s something I wouldn’t really accept for this price; but apart from this detail, Aquae Nobilis is surely a very decent fragrance, an enjoyable and surely versatile “spicy-breezy” take on vetiver with a nice evolution towards a drier-darker drydown (no fireworks during the evolution either – it just gets understandably drier and tamer).
So where’s the issue? Well, it may be a trick of my nose, but to me this smells exactly – and I mean, hilariously exactly – like layering KenzoAir Intense on Lolita Lempicka Au Masculin. Or the way round. Take the “ozone vetiver” concept of Kenzo or similar fresh vetivers and blend it with the anisic grassiness of Lempicka. And with the price of Aquae Nobilis you can sure pile up a good stock of both. I get Aquae Nobilis saves you the effort of handling two bottles instead of one, but still I wish my definition of “niche” to be something more than “it takes two designers to make it”.
6/10
So where’s the issue? Well, it may be a trick of my nose, but to me this smells exactly – and I mean, hilariously exactly – like layering KenzoAir Intense on Lolita Lempicka Au Masculin. Or the way round. Take the “ozone vetiver” concept of Kenzo or similar fresh vetivers and blend it with the anisic grassiness of Lempicka. And with the price of Aquae Nobilis you can sure pile up a good stock of both. I get Aquae Nobilis saves you the effort of handling two bottles instead of one, but still I wish my definition of “niche” to be something more than “it takes two designers to make it”.
6/10
