Akro Bake (Olivier Cresp) 2023 + Addictive Gourmand Perfume Giveaway

July 4, 2023July 10, 2023

When AI is so close to reality… Akro Bake smells like an authentic lemon cupcake and recreates so distinctly all its textures that you feel the bottle is in the cake – bottle ©Akro, lemon cupcake ©Midjourney and ©Emmanuelle Varron, collage ©Emmanuelle Varron.

“Gourmands” are not my favorites in perfumery; I admit that I don’t often put my nose on them, as I feel this genre is far from my olfactory ideal. However, I experimented with several sweet perfumes in my young years: Mugler Angel, as soon as it was released in 1992… but very quickly abandoned because all the Parisiennes wore it in the metro and, much worse, some colleagues. I was longer loyal to Lolita Lempicka Lolita Lempicka, also worn from its launch. But I quickly realized that this type of perfume did not suit me. Even today, I experiment with sweet fragrances with trepidation…ready to flee!

Olivier Cresp, Akro co-founder and perfumer; also, Master Perfumer at Firmenich, and creator of Mugler Angel – ©Akro.

“Our conviction was that, in order to be successful, we needed a story, a strong concept. We didn’t want it to be just about me, or my career in perfume. We felt that having a real story behind our fragrances, one that we believed in, was much more important”. -Olivier Cresp (Excerpt from former Senior Editor Despina Veneti’s review of Dark)

When I discovered the first visuals announcing the arrival of Akro Bake, my reaction was nonplussed: another gourmand, more sugar! I admit that I was a little disappointed, as I did not expect it from the daring brand created by Anaïs and Master Perfumer Olivier Cresp. With, among my favorites, Akro Awake (an ode to coffee treated in its many facets: full-bodied, milky, spicy) and Akro Night (an ultra-sexual rose, boosted with cumin and saffron). Of course, I read the storytelling behind this new creation, where daughter and father reveal that the inspiration came to them from the delicious lemon cupcakes bought at Crumbs & Dollies, a pastry shop located in Carnaby Street (more exactly in Kingly Court, a one-story courtyard filled with small restaurants and shops).

Kingly Court, where Crumbs & Dollies is located is part of Carnaby Street’s treasures – ©Emmanuelle Varron (2017)

So much for the place; as for lemon cupcakes, trendy food in France quickly pass and our traditional lemon meringue tarts remain the reference here, often reinterpreted by our pastry chefs (the best in the world, of course!). It is a pastry that I adore and generally, I don’t like to smell what I like to eat. So, we are back to my aversion to gourmand fragrances and to an observation: should I really try this new Akro? The addiction (which is the signature of Akro, whose name is the rewriting of “accro”, which means “addicted” in French) was tempting on paper, but what would it be on skin? Only one way to find out: head to Jovoy Paris!

Lemons and Sugar by Raphaelle Peale (1822) – Can be seen at Reading Public Museum.

I first sprayed Akro Bake on a blotter. The promise of gourmand lemon is there, overflowing, generous, almost suffocating. Lemon is indeed omnipresent, both fresh and sharp, incisive and tangy. It overflows as if Olivier Cresp had voluntarily lost control of his dropper and yet, this overflow bewitches my nose, so much that I can’t detach myself from this talkative scent strip. The initial acidity quickly becomes rounder, creamier. I am immersed in the heart of the famous cupcake, in a vanilla cream flavored with lemon juice and peel. Then another texture becomes noticeable: that of the meringue placed on a bed of whipped cream. I feel like a breath of sweet, airy air. Then brittle, as if crystallized. The notes of lemon and meringue blend naturally, the acidity of one rounded off by the sweetness of the other; I find on the nose what my taste buds feel when I bite into a lemon pie: it is impressively real. The lemony facet stays on the blotter for long hours, tenacious and always rich in gourmet notes. But during the drydown, a new texture makes its way: crunchy, sweet and a bit amber. Olivier Cresp has recreated almost identically the texture of the shortbread dough, the one that melts under the tongue, “wet” by the butter and crumbles into a thousand pieces barely crunched. In Akro Bake, the dough smells chewy, crumbly, soaked little by little with the lemon cream.

Anaïs and Olivier Cresp quote on Akro Bake – ©Akro and collage ©Emmanuelle Varron

And on skin? The olfactory textures are always present, especially the lemon cream which moves in a tangy and heady vanilla contrast. On my wrist, the evocation of meringue is undeniable, accentuating the gourmet spirit of Akro Bake. And the short crust pastry effect gradually takes shape: amber, warm and reminiscent of the bakery scullery smell at dawn. Mesmerizing.

Akro Bake is an evocative perfume, perfectly playing the score of authenticity. Bake is a faithful reproduction of everything you can feel when tasting a lemon cupcake (or pie). The realism of the textures is stunning and, for that alone, you must try it, even by those for whom don’t like gourmand perfumes. Although it’s not my preferred genre, but it managed the feat of holding my attention to the point of becoming obsessive and writing a review: its execution is a gem from a technical point of view, and you can clearly feel the mastery of a perfumer at the top of his game. For me, Bake is one of the fragrances that best sums up what a “gourmand” is today. A worthy heir of Mugler Angel.

Notes: lemon peel, rum, Chantilly cream, praline, brown sugar, vanilla.

Disclaimer: merci to Jovoy for the Akro Bake sample provided for this review. The opinions expressed are my own.

Emmanuelle Varron, Senior Editor and Paris Brand Ambassador

Thanks to the largess of Akro, we have a 100 ml bottle of Bake for one registered reader in USA, UK and EU. Have you tried an Akro perfume, Emmanuelle’s review and where you live. Draw closes 07/7/2023.

Akro Bake is available on Jovoy Paris’s website and the brand’s website.

Please enjoy Nicoleta’s review of Night

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