Acqua Universalis (F. Kurkdjian, 2009)

My friend Francesca was recently in Paris and brought me back a small vial of Acqua Universalis by Maison F. Kurkdjian. She also gave me a box of mint-scented bubbles.Bubbles, yes, those for children to blow. Fanciful item (but not what I wanted to talk to you). I was waiting eagerly for her return because I had read wonders about the A.U. and I had great expectations.


Above all, I was intrigued by the brilliant concept behind it. With the creation of this perfume, F. Kurkdjian wanted to create a global fragrance, a single scent to fulfil all people's needs: personal scent, smell of clothes soap, cleaning products, environmental fragrances for home and car... everything smelling just the same. In short, those who choose this Acqua Universalis products may live in a perfumed bubble, with their smell always around them all day, leaving a strong olfactory imprint. And this is the first disappointment: are we really sure it's nice to smell always the same forever?
Besides, this operation is not new, many lines are offering the same scent for the person and the environment, but they don't venure into detergents... and in fact -here comes the third disappointment- you can put fragrances in a detergent only if those remind, in some way, a detergent.
Indeed it's not an Eau de Cologne because it's not shortliving and discreet; it's a modern, neon interpretation; the idea of freshness isn't given by citrus (lemon, bergamot, etc) and aromatic herbs (lavender, rosemary), but by magical synthetic molecules, giving a clean, glittering freshness, neat, it smells of clothes hung out to dry in mountain air. Pleasant in a detergent, but less on a person. Wearing it was like staying in a room completely empty and white, wearing a white dress, with a neon white light on the head. It can be an interesting experiment for one hour, but after two hours, if nothing moves around, no shadow nor swing, no colors, well, it's quite an uneasy feeling.


I believe this perfume will be a huge success, and rightly so because it's powerful, diffusing and very persistent (8 hours) and playing satisfactorily with an idea of cleanliness very appealing today... many people use Eau d'Issey, Acqua di Giò, CkOne, Fresh perfumes...the fresh&clean trend is not falling for now.

Monsieur Kurkdjian, I appreciate other things you did but... when I feel the need for a modern cologne, all synthetic, but elegant and refined, smelling of soft, clean and warm skin, I spray Mugler's Cologne and I feel good.