Aqua Celestia (2017)
by Maison Francis Kurkdjian

Aqua Celestia continues the line of Kurkdjian scents that include Aqua Vitae, Aqua Universalis, and their Forte counterparts. Once again it combines light, natural notes to create a refreshing warm weather option in a style that is both pretty and immaculately clean. I always envision lots of white linens when I smell something from the Aqua line and Celestia is no different. At the same time, it presents a new dimension to the trio and has its own, unique scent profile. Whether or not you're going to like this new scent profile is based on personal taste of course, and unfortunately, in my case, my taste does not align with it.

Celestia opens with a bright, natural lime punch and the immediate presence of white musk. The mint is restrained to the degree that it provides a fresh, herbal quality to the scent without announcing itself too boldly. In the heart of the composition, is a tart, semi-sweet and fruity black currant accord. This accord is well-executed, and it gathers strength to some degree as the scent progresses, despite coming across fairly subtle at first. I enjoy the currant note when I'm able to sort of isolate it and just smell it by itself. But there's also a mimosa accord that Kurkdjian has added to Aqua Celestia, a bit heavy handedly if you ask me. It's strong, and it's blended with a healthy dose of white musk so as a result the entire fragrance sits in this sort of haze of white musk and mimosa. The lime dissipates quickly into the haze, and the mint is more or less smothered by it. The black currant seems to balance it to some extent, or at least provides a nice distraction, but it's still colored in this hue of mimosa musk and becomes rather blended with it. Is it a bad smell? No. But it smells like a women's perfume to me, and not something really designed for a man or even something that should be labeled unisex. I find the mimosa too pretty--it's a very soft, powdery floral smell and it reminds me of a something a female co-worker wears often. Color-wise, it leaves impressions of pastel greens, whites, and pinks. While Guerlain Homme presented mint and lime in a style that I found immediately appealing, these notes seem to take a back seat here to the blended whole of mimosa, musk and currant. I'm not a huge fan of floral scents to begin with, and here they're used in a manner that is just too strong, and in my opinion, detracts from the scent's more uplifting and fresh qualities. In the end, I don't even know if I would be comfortable wearing this in the heat, as I think the floral musk would bother me. While I don't think Celestia is a bad scent necessarily, it doesn't meet the high hopes that I had for it. I'm not recommending this to guys looking for a fresh summer option (if it's mint and lime you're after, there's Guerlain Homme L'Eau Boisee, Selection Verte, and Armani Code Sport Athlete). However, I would recommend that women sample it as it seems as if it could work well in that capacity. Final rating 6.5/10