Acqua Universalis Maison Francis Kurkdjian for women and men

Smells great, like Eau de Guerlain or some fantasy ideal of cologne...when you're in the store. But the smell disappears before you're out the door. The price for 5 minutes of eau de cologne smell? $150 for 70ml. 70. That is insane. I'd rather eat bees. I'm really tired of these ripoff niche firms: do they think nobody will notice? I guess that those of that do are not their target audience.

Acqua Universalis by Maison Francis Kurkdjian is a nice, simple lily of the valley scent available “as 1 liter laundry detergent and softener with the same notes”. I happen to love LOTV, so this fragrance is quite pleasant to me and I agree with a previous reviewer; yes, AU does remind me of a ‘classy hotel’. I can completely understand why this fragrance is so appealing; there is something very comforting about smelling like expensive soap, especially after shower. That being said, if one is going to rate this composition alongside masterpieces and classics like Diorissimo or Quelques Fleurs l`Original, then it is only logical and fair to rate AU as a 2.5 out of 5. Don’t get me wrong, the notes are high quality and the fragrance is quite lovely, but this is miles away from being a ground-breaking master piece.

Acqua Universalis is very clean and very fresh to the point I feel 'Should I pay this much for a bottle?' It's a quility scent that can be worn everyday. I love this perfume a lot but still can't get over the price though.

Personally, I think in niche and designer- or in fact any type of perfumery, the simple route is the best.

And this offering Francis Kurkdjian is their 'simple, clean, modern' scent being produced in a large 'your everyday cologne' bottle.

And for me, it works perfectly! Simplicity aside, this opens with a beautiful bouquet of white flowers alongside very elegant lemon citrus. For once, any bergamot present is very muted for me, the white florals simply being too bold. It all states 'classy hotel', complete with the lovely soaps, shower, clean sheets and upscale citrus in the air.

The difference in this laundered batch is the quality, it's your own Lenor spray minus any of the industrial stuff. Or, that said, any of the 'millions of them out there' perfumery stuff. This is also, not too sweet, not too sour, just right sort of 'lotion' scent, that simply lets the quality of the ingredients differentiate from a real lotion.

It is still pricey for what it's doing, but for me the perfumer got it right here, so, it's a let-off =]

It's not 'yawn' at all, this is everything soft, elegant, beautiful and for once 'safe quality'. I much prefer this to Amouages' Reflection. I've never properly sampled it before, but the Lily of the Valley flower sure seems a winner- it's far better than the hideously nauseous florals of the Amouages' . Also superior to the violets of Green Irish Tweed and Xerjoff1861, none of which impressed me much. A real winner.

Yes, they could've added 'more'. They could have added everyones' -ahem- 'favourite' fecal musk, saffron, barnyard, clay/earth, medicinal, frankincense, boozy, oudhy, weird floral, vegetal green and whatever else daring, controvert or envelope-pushing note the mind can conjure up. But some things are just fine left alone. Perfectly modern, perfectly unisex- think of every 'heavy-hitter' niche in this genre, and I think this is better.

And that screams enough 'more' of a high score for me.

4/5.

I look forward to exploring some of the more adventurous scents of this Maison.

The lily of the valley turns this fragrance decidedly feminine. If you are a man that likes Fleur du Male then you may like this. However for a woman this is perfectly fine and smells very clean, fresh, and slightly aquatic.

While this is a good fragrance it is no where near worth the asking price however. This would be a buy in the $60 to $80 dollar range though. Longevity, sillage, and projection all seem about average.

This is a niche version of Voyage D'Hermes. Maybe not so much in the beginning...which is nothing special. This is all coming from someone who LOVES the maison. I love Kurkdjian and his work is my favorite. My signature is Cologne Pour Le Soir and Lumiere Noire and 754 are my other scents with CPS has been used more than a thousand times a week.

However, Acqua universalis to me is Voyage D'Hermes, without the pepper bomb. The one thing I will say is that Francis Kurkdjian's fragrances have an aura of mysticism to them which is what I love. This, to me, is akin to the Guerlainade and Maurice Roucel's signature creamy gourmandish vibe. Francis Kurkdjian maintains this arabic, mystical, nature to Acqua Universalis the way he does in all his fragrances and that makes it quite enticing.

Not worth the price though.

Smells like a flirtatious lemon, with a hem of lilly. Pretty, but very overpriced for the notes.

Easy wearing, every day scent, but, not at an everyday price! $265 for 70mls..hmm..mayyybeeee $100 not more than $150! Not uncommon or special enough for me to warrant making that kind of investment. I will continue to wear my 'sample' until it is gone. Funny, it is on back order at LuckyScent in LA!

I ADORE the initial blast of this fragrance. I don't find it especially citrusy, rather it reminds me of DKNY Women, a more refined, bearable version. (Is it the 'woods'? DKNY has birch in it.)Can't stop sniffing it, whatever the adorable element is.
This lasts for a while and then fades and a more unremarkable smell remains, although I can still smell the initial gorgeousness on the neck of my jumper now.
It reminds me of my hippychick, younger days, and of freespiritedness, but it's also sophisticated.
I'd like to try this outside in the open air, especially in cold weather..
UPDATE: The more I wear this, the more I want it! It's very fine. Looks like it's also very expensive though!

Sweet, soapy citruses to start, it's an uplifting unisex fragrance with all the sharp edges rounded off. It dries down to a soft, slightly woodsy lily of the valley scent.

A big THANK YOU to gorgonna who sent me a tester of this amazing fragrance.From the first sniff i thought i was dreaming.What a refreshing smell is that?So clean but no cheap.Feel sexy and clean at the same time, like everyone wants to be close to me.

Negative:Soooo expencive.200ml:$200 But i think its quite worthing!

I dont care about sillage, longevity...I want to smell it all day!!!

Aqua Universalis is a lovely easy-to-wear perfume somehow fit into the category of something like CK one (as it smells classic), but smells totally different and less commercial-smelling as CK’s.

The beginning of Aqua Universalis is quit green-citrusy, which doesn’t smell perfume-y at all to me. It reminds me a bit of Palm Island by Michael Kors. However, the bergamont-y smell is a bit too cold and alien in this one to my personal liking.

Then just when I thought the perfume’s totally gone after about 4 hours, I find that it’s actually just really close to the skin, it’s warmer, less citrusy, and with a bit vanilla-y touch in a discreet slightly tropical fashion without any typical tropical notes.

Generally speaking, I prefer the dry down much more, however since I can’t smell anything unless I literally sniffing my wrist hard, I wouldn’t recommend this perfume to anyone who’s looking for anything with some sillage.

Love at 1st sbiff! Smelled this fragrance and got a test paper strip at the high end department store. Couldn't put this down, Kept sniffing it as I was even trying out other perfume. When I get rid of my perfumes, I might get this one sicnce it not worth it to get the small one and the big one makes more sense. Only prob, the big one is 6.8oz. Go Figure out how ong that will take you to go through it before it goes bad.

It is that type of scent that I would wear everyday and everyday falling in <3 with it over and over again.

I'm getting tired about "non perfumes", "anti perfumes", "aquas", "dry clean", "just Showered", "fresh sheets", "just breathe" kind of things. It seems every brand needs something like this in their collection. Aqua Universalis is an ok scent, fresh and floral that can be used on body, sheets, clothes and even on your puppies....come on, stop! Great lasting power (2-3 seconds) LOL!

Rating: 5/10

Acqua Universalis has a happy clean spirit...it's almost like you just came out of the shower.It's bubbly but not in a loud way ,it's more like an ocean wave that gives you an adrenaline rush.Starts out citrucy,with a brave note of lily of the valley,after an hour it becomes more like a skin woodsy scent.