Aqua Kenzo
Twelve materials go into Kenzo Aqua Kenzo Eau de Toilette, which makes it one of the more substantial things in the house catalogue despite the lightness the name suggests. The opening is tart and green. Raspberry leaf is the clever part, because it gives you the idea of the fruit without the sugar, dry and slightly fuzzy, and mandarin orange and lemon sharpen it into something properly bright. It is a genuinely crisp first ten minutes.
The middle turns soft. Magnolia is creamy and lemon tinged, apple adds a watery sweetness, and jasmine and rose fill the whole thing out into a proper floral centre, the jasmine heady and the rose fuller and rounder. It is a good deal more floral than the name leads you to expect, and that is the half of the fragrance people tend to remember. The base is the surprise, because it is substantial. Vetiver brings a dry rooty bitterness, patchouli an earthy depth, sandalwood a creamy smoothness, cashmeran a velvety warmth and vanilla a quiet sweetness under all of it. That combination is why the fragrance outlasts most things built on citrus and fruit.
At eau de toilette strength expect five to seven hours, bright at the start and close to the skin from the second hour. It reads feminine, it is best in spring and summer, and it handles an office or a warm day without effort. Louise Turner composed it, dated 2018. Kenzo itself began in Paris in 1970, founded by the Japanese designer Kenzo Takada, whose first shop in the Galerie Vivienne was decorated as a jungle; the house is part of LVMH, with Kenzo Parfums listed separately under perfumes and cosmetics, so its scents are made within the group.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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