Arquiste PEAU Review (Rodrigo Flores-Roux) 2021+ Scent of Warm Skin Draw

 

Arquiste Peau review

Arquiste PEAU photo courtesy of Arquiste via @mattyrichards

A scent of past love could be either a curse or a beautiful memory. Arquiste PEAU represents the olfactory memory of deep love, long lost but never forgotten.  The scent of a lover and a passionate embrace, a painful yet precious scented memory. The nape of a neck, the familiar scent of someone’s skin. PEAU was born from a story based on Roman Emperor Hadrian’s memories of Antinoös, his lost lover. The tender, salty scent is an evocation of youth and life. The whole composition breathes the promise of intimacy and the indescribable memory of skin.

Arquiste PEAU review

Photo of Arquiste Peau @mattyrichards

Arquiste PEAU focuses on the tragic love story between Hadrian and Antinoös. Painters preserve memories through their paint strokes, forever etching the faces of the people they see. They infuse their souls into the portrait and tell stories through colors. Sculptors recreate people’s physical appearances through stones and metals, carving out beautiful bodies and statues of grand size. Perfumers, however, idealize and preserve the contours of physical love through olfactory triggers etched deep inside our psyche.  The world may change as centuries fly by but through the passing of time the scent of the warm skin, a savory taste of a kiss on the lips and human intimacy will remain the same. Perfume is a fleeting medium yet one of the most powerful storytellers.

Carlos Huber of Arquiste

Photo of Carlos Huber Courtesy of Arquiste @valero_rioja

I have been an avid fan of Carlos Huber’s visions recreated through fragrances; a masterful storyteller, he paints vivid stories in full colors with incredible depth and sensuality with each of his works. Collaboration with Rodrigo Flores-Roux on PEAU is another success, as Mr. Flores-Roux is a master of interpreting the scent of skin in many of his previous works, their Arquiste X Vacation collaboration was one of my most worn fragrances of this past summer. PEAU however narrates a different mood and is a beautiful work of olfactory art.

Photo of Arquiste Peau @mattyrichards

There is a sense of melancholy woven through the composition. The opening of warm, slightly animalic ambergris is balanced with the clean musk accord, creating the feeling of warm, youthful skin yet there is a curious contrast of coldness with a duet of pepper and clary sage. A marble statue of a young man immediately came to mind, beautiful and human-like, yet cold as ice to the touch. As if you dreamed of your lost lover and woke up to the emptiness around you. A well-composed perfume can change our mood instantly, and PEAU does just that. It submerges the wearer into a dreamy state of poetic sadness. A blurry memory you might feel around you but can’t quite grasp no matter how hard you try. A honeyed leather base of labdanum and woods completes the composition with a balmy resinous, slightly sweet ending.

photo by @mattyrichards

In the Antique world, the spiritual world takes the shape of a man: preserving the contours of its physical presence, memorializing it through the passing of centuries. Arquiste PEAU is the olfactive restoration of the human body. Evoking impermanent and fleeting youth, its beauty is in PEAU as an olfactive love story, conveyed with incredible emotion from beginning to the end.

The sample was kindly gifted to me, but my opinions are always my own.

Notes: Ambergris, clean musk accord, clary sage, white pepper from India, labdanum derivatives and okoume wood from Gabon.

–Olya Bar, Senior Contributor

Editor’s Note Arquiste Mistfit was the winner of The Fragrance Foundation Indie Fragrance of the Year 2021

Thanks to the generosity of Arquiste, we are offering 10ml of Arquiste PEAU to one registered reader in the U.S.  You must register here for your comment to count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what interested you about Olya’s review of Arquiste PEAU and your favorite Arquiste perfume. Draw closes 01/12/2022.

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23 comments

  • akb says:

    I love the balance of warmth and coolness, intimacy and distance, that Olya describes in PEAU. My favorite Arquiste perfume (that I have smelled so far) is Misfit.

  • Dubaiscents says:

    Love the review Olya! I’m unsure about this one and will definitely have to sample it. I’m normally not a huge fan of “skin scents” but if anyone could do a beautiful one it would be Mr. Flores. My favorite Arquiste scent is still the classic Anima Dulcis. Thanks for the draw. US.

  • BostonScentGuy says:

    The sense of melancholy intrigues me, as does anything that tries to recreate the smell of skin. I love the idea that its an “olfactive restoration of the human body.” I’m also a huge fan of Arquiste and appreciate how Olya described the “storytelling” of the scents, as they are very evocative to me! I like, in particular, El, Boutonnierre, and Infanta en Flor. Thanks so much for the generous draw! I’m in the US (Colorado).

  • Rudy Contreras says:

    Great review by Olya. I loved when she said that a great perfume can change you mood instantly, and that’s just what Peau does. I love a fragrance that not only smells wonderful, but that can instantly put you in a great mood and can take you in a journey. Unfortunately, I do not have a favorite Arquiste fragrance because I have never smelled any of them. I’ve read and watched videos on them, I just have yet to smell one. Thank you for the opportunity and keep it up Olya

  • Meme says:

    Review intrigued me enough to wonder, what does melancholy smell like? My favorite Arquiste is Flor y Canto.

  • buenabae says:

    I absolutely love the imagery that Olya wrote about the fragrance’s contrast of youthful warm skin accords to the coldness of a Marble Statue with pepper and clary sage. Sounds very fitting to its namesake and the photography displayed in the article. An “Olfactive restoration of the human body” sounds like quite the high praise! Now I’m interested in seeing how the fragrance is on MY skin. The only other Arquiste I’ve tried is El and I enjoyed its noticeably animalic, 70s discotheque aesthetic. I’d love to try Peau.

  • Steve A says:

    This blurb caught my attention, “…creating the feeling of warm, youthful skin yet there is a curious contrast of coldness…”. I have no favorite from the house. US

  • mindythesidhe says:

    The sense of intimacy, sculpture and memory pulls me into Olya’s review of Arquiste Peau. I have not yet sampled any Arquiste perfumes, but would love to try them. I live in the USA. Thank you for the draw opportunity.

  • rachelng says:

    Olya!!! ❤️❤️ Wow! Love your review! It is spot on! By luck and good timing, I’ve recently purchased an Arquiste sample set. I wore PEAU last night and it’s Fantastic! ❤️ An “olfactive restoration of the human body” is right! The ambergris and musks are delightful with clary sage keeping everything fresh, not too funky. The wood has a slight homey feel (a spaced smelling “lived in”). This is wonderful! My favorite Arquiste scent (of the moment) is Sydney Rock Pool (the mineral of the aquatic in this!). I still have more of the sample set to discover, so this could change. Thank you for this amazing review and opportunity! USA ❤️

  • drjedi says:

    I liked how Olya compared the works of painters and sculptors to perfumers and how they all preserve human features in their own, distinctive ways. Interesting history behind Arquiste PEAU. I don’t have a favorite Arquiste fragrance, as I have yet to try this brand. As a work of olfactory art, as Olya describes it, I’d love to try Arquiste PEAU. Thanks for the review and draw. I’m from the USA.

  • skye says:

    A very poetic review, Olya. Hadrian’s lost love is interesting inspiration for a fragrance. It seems evocative of sensations associated with first love and discovering another through touch. The ambergris/musk combo gives a strong impression of skin scents. I imagine it wears close. I’d like to try it. MD, USA.

  • Anastasia Clemons says:

    Following a December-long tryst, filled with sensually sweet, salty skin memories and Rumi, I’m drawn instantly to Olya’s poetic impression of Peau…my favorite Arquiste, thus far, is Nanban.

  • rachelng says:

    Rachel Part 2
    Just a note: I’ve now been wearing PEAU for a couple days and it’s so beautiful! Warm, clean, HUMAN. Definitely full bottle worthy! ❤️

  • Kevin Pedrazs says:

    Olya always makes very interesting articles. The way she compared Peau to a marble statue of a young man is just genius!
    I am really curious to try this fragrance, because of the animalic and clean musk accords. My favorite Arquiste fragrance is X Vacation
    I live in the U.S.

  • xoe says:

    Olya’s description of Hadrian’s love and this scent based on that love is very romantic. I need some of that romance in my life. I haven’t tried any Arquisite perfumes.

  • Brian says:

    I’ve heard of this fragrance house before, but I haven’t tried any of their releases yet. I’d like to try this fragrance for different reasons, e.g. when Olya says: “A well-composed perfume can change our mood instantly, and PEAU does just that.” I want to see if this fragrance could be one of my favorite musky fragrances. I live in the U.S.A. Thanks for the giveaway opportunity.

  • ScentedKnits says:

    I love the Architect’s Club and have been very interested in trying this one; there is something so evocative in a skin scent that conjures up marble statues rather than living breathing people.

  • wallygator88 says:

    Thank you for the lovely review Olya!

    I liked you you particularly chose the nape. It’s a very specific memory trigger and I definitely associate it with the comfort of having someone I am extremely comfortable with closeby.

    The notes in this fragrance are quite melancholic and intimate.

    I’ve never heard of this house before but I will be on the lookout for samples.

    Cheers from WI, USA

  • Michael Prince says:

    What interested me about Olya’s review of Arquiste PEAU is another masterful work of art between Carlos Huber and Rodrigo Flores-Roux. Arquiste PEAU focuses on the tragic love story between Hadrian and Antinoös. A beautiful capture of the scent of skin, ambergris, aromatic spiciness, and resinous touches which perfectly describes Olya’s vision of Pea with the warmth of skin and coolness of marble. I haven’t tried anything from Arquiste perfume so this may be my favorite. I am from Ohio, USA.

  • Anna H says:

    PEAU sounds lovely. My husband and I have been together a little over 5 years now, but while we were dating, he lived two hours away and would come to visit me and my family on the weekends. Just the other day he put on a fragrance he used to wear early in our relationship but hasn’t worn for a long time, then gave me a hug. Instantly I was like, “What are you wearing? You smell magnificent!” I was transported back to 2016 and falling in love all over again. 🙂 This would be my first Arquiste perfume, should I win! Thanks for the draw. USA

  • jimkolmar says:

    Thank you for this review! I was most drawn to the idea of submerging “the wearer into a dreamy state of poetic sadness”. I confess to feeling this sense in the middle of the worst, early days of the pandemic, and the sense that I was comfortable in isolation. Few things are sadder. My favorite Arquiste scents are El, which I purchase in lockdown as a means of escape, and, later, the Vacation collaboration, for a similar reason, but with a brighter, less debauched outlook. Together I have the sense they bookend the “poetic sadness” of isolation with a spirit of adventure and departure. I can’t wait to experience the relative calm of Peau.

  • sephrenia300 says:

    Wonderful review Olya! What interested me about Olya’s review of Arquiste PEAU was learning that it was inspired by the story of Roman Emperor Hadrian and his lover Antinoös, a tragic and beautiful love story. I love perfumes inspired by history, myth, and love stories, and this one seems to be all three! The way Olya describes the notes of warm, salty ambergris and clean musk coming together to evoke the tender salty scent of skin and sweat, and how the perfume in turn creates a melancholy sensation that brings to life their tragic story, as if a dream that’s lost.

    I don’t yet have a favorite Arquiste perfume as I have yet to try any but looking at the notes I suspect it would be Misfit, with its heart of rose, cistus, and sytrax providing some animalic notes. I live in the US.