Maurice Roucel is one of those perfumers for whom Frederic Malle’s inspiration to add the name of the composer to the bottle has perhaps had the greatest impact.
Prior to the release of Musc Ravageur in 2000 he had composed Hermes 24 Faubourg, Lalique pour Homme, and Rochas Man but it would have taken a perfumista of wide-ranging knowledge to know he was the nose behind all three of those fragrances.
Musc Ravageur was one of the most unique fragrances of the initial releases by Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle and created an audience which would eagerly look forward to M. Roucel’s next fragrance.
That audience was rewarded with scents like Bond No. 9 New Haarlem, Lolita Lempicka L, ( for a review see Mais que Perfume's for cafleurebon https://cafleurebon.com//brazil-in-a-bottlel-lolita-lempicka-by-simone-shitrit/) and Amouage Reflection Woman. The next five years after Musc Ravageur, M. Roucel was very prolific but as of late he has slowed his pace of creation. So it is with much anticipation we look forward to his latest release Linari Acqua Santa.
Linari Acqua Santa is the fifth fragrance from Linari. Mark Buxton, Angelo Di Fume and Notte Bianca; and Egon Oelkers, Eleganza Luminosa and Vista Sul Mare; were the noses behind those initial creations. (I really enjoyed Mr. Buxton’s Notte Bianca; its mix of citrus, absinthe and herbs was wonderful on the skin).
Acqua Santa translates to holy water and I’m not sure what churches M. Roucel spends his time in, but the one I attended never had Holy Water that smelled as good as Acqua Santa does.
M. Roucel creates a lush floral bouquet but uses some green notes throughout the early phases to attenuate the floral character and give a more lifelike feel to the floral notes.
More like you are encountering them while growing wild instead of clipped and in a vase. The truly interesting aspect of Acqua Santa is the shift to a rich gourmand in the base, this gives Acqua Santa the feel of being a floral gourmand.
Acqua Santa begins with the berry note of cassis and the citrus feel of bergamot it is kept light and coriander appears to add some pungency to the top. There is some hint of grass floating around as the florals begin to appear. First a green lily, followed by ylang-ylang, and eventually deepened by jasmine and rose.
M. Roucel starts with the lighter floral notes and like a musical scale just keeps moving up the scale until at the end you have this luscious floral mélange surrounding you. Most fragrances would add a little wood and get out of town safely but M. Roucel goes in a totally different direction. As the florals recede the signature caramel accord M. Roucel has used in both Rochas Man and Bond No. 9 New Haarlem appears. It was so unexpected I thought I had one of those bottles open close at hand for comparison purposes but I brought my nose close to my skin and there it was. The more amazing thing is it isn’t out of place.
The sweet sugary caramel is a beautiful transitory note to take Acqua Santa into the musk and tonka base. At the end the caramel and tonka predominate and if you have a short memory you might think you had been wearing a gourmand fragrance instead of a floral fragrance. I believe this transition will please some and distract for others. I found it so interesting that you can put me in the former category.
Acqua Santa has excellent longevity and average sillage.
If M. Roucel has slowed his pace of creation these days and Acqua Santa proves he has not lost a step when it comes to adventurous perfume composition.
Disclosure: This review was based on a sample of Acqua Santa provided by First-in-Fragrance.
-Mark Behnke, Managing Editor
MC: All paintings are by Gustav Klimt