Acqua Fiorentina

UPDATE 2021: Fiorentina has moved to make way for my new local favourite: Myths Woman! This is still so gorgeous but I'll have to let you know... Have you also tried 51 Essence by Roja Dove, Amouage's Myths Woman (my hyperreal green-floral fav!), Love Mimosa (most similar to Acqua Fiorentina), Venus and Cupid by DSH, or especially another favourite in magical meadowflower art: DSH's Divine Gardens? [FEB. 2020] See... I know I said, one time, that I got sick of "beautiful"/"elegant" florals-- but after three-hit sucker punches of all things beautiful to my nose I am once again asking for them. First with: MDCI Parfum's Un Coeur En Mai (lightly spicy bergamot hot spring meadow full of mimosa, wildflowers, and pollen so realistic it makes people pleasantly light-headed). Second with: Ormonde Jayne's Prive (the smell of flower saps and grinded leaves collected under the bouquet wrap, which took 18 years to release). Finally, I have found a beautiful art floral not baroque in depth and power, but rococo in pastel grace and velvet fluffiness. May I introduce you to Creed's Acqua Fiorentina! But this is the catch: Fiorentina, unlike other dainty florals (let's say the works of Jean-Claude Ellena), is so focused in quality that it not only has the pretty-pretty organza-like transparent delicateness (of the florals of the Hermessence line) but it continues to GROW as a scent as the notes blow away in your skin, giving Creed's Fiorentina superb performance for its genre! At first sniff, the smell of Creed's Fiorentina is a cute peach-rockmelon-violet-wildflower-like combination that gives off a character similar in softness and warmth to a mimosa flower or some fairy tale's pixie dust but after 3 hours, i tried it again-- it retains its fruitiness, but then i thought "Okay this is kinda amazing" because the oil and journey of notes of this fragrance becomes (lightly) buttery, similar to the smell of oven-fresh madeleines (from a meter away), or when you put butter in a cafe hotcake (but light enough it's just right!) I can say this is from its particularly selected sandalwood accord, because depending on how its used (like Tom Ford's Santal Blush or Serge Luten's Jeux de Peau) it becomes either very smoky and dry, or very warm and buttery. 7.5 hours in, and that cute melon-pear smell is still there! A green rose gently blows in, turning this perfume from fruit-floral, to butter-floral, to fruity-green. It then fades into its last stage: a juicy fruit-not-sour bergamot at the 8.5th hour before flowing away completely into air, but by then having created some rococo-like meadow in one's mind which may inspire a thought to purchase this to bring the meadow back into reality and at home with you again.

[PART 2] TO CLOSE: Despite being created in 2009, which explains the lack of professional reviews, I can safely say I'm happy to discover Acqua Fiorentina for myself and it has now become one of my Top 3 Pure Florals Of All Time (for 2021). If MDCI's Un Coeur En Mai is the Hyperreal Spring green-floral that smells of hot sun-kissed meadowgrass, wildflower bouquets and petitgrain pollens, and Amouage's Beloved is the baroque flower church bouquet with resinous Tolu Balsam waxed roses, dried fruit spiced Ylang Ylangs, and animalic Civet-fur coated Violets, Creed's Acqua Fiorentina is the Holy Grail dreamy butterfly-delicate Rococo pastel floral with its buttercreamy pillow soft melon, peach, violets and mimosa-orangeflowers. Combine this with Un Coeur En Mai and its Tchaikovsky's Waltz Of The Flowers for your nose! FINAL NOTES: The difference between this and Fleurissimo is that Fleurissimo is more powerhouse in sillage and green-rose-magnolia-gardenia like. Creed's Fiorentina is a cute peach-rockmelon-mimosa(esque)-butter smell. I used to think all perfumes should be strong and powerful = best, but no! I do like powerhouses, but there's a lot to find beautiful of olfactory art that is balanced and displays subtleties clearly and intentionally. Also D&G's Light Blue does not compare in quality to this or I might also say "Issey Miyake's Pleats Please" but you would also know that D&G and Issey's perfumes are more colder and a bit tingly to the nose (in a way that makes you sneeze because of their alcohol). On top of that, Light Blue compared to Acqua Fiorentina is more lemon-citrusy. Fiorentina is not. It is fruit-watery, texturally smooth and pillow-soft, and becomes buttery. If you can, Creed's Acqua Fiorentina, I totally recommend! I am buying, or have already owned one myself. High price tag but will save you from needless purchases of other designer florals that try to do what it does in representational beauty but cannot. ALSO: If you like Cire Trudon, this fragrance is at the same quality level of its floral candles. Because after 4 years I found what I was looking for: Creed's Acqua Fiorenta and Frapin's Laskarina combined smells like Cire Trudon's Trianon! Also check out Auphelie by Trianon which just released this year. UPDATE SEPT. 2021: Fiorentina has moved to another more suited home with a couple ecstatic to have her under their wing, as I have taken in Amouage's Myths Woman as my new muse - slash - poster parfum instead <3

I had never even heard of this frag until a couple if weeks ago... A woman passed by me in a store and it wasn't until I was 5 ft past her that I hit a wave of fresh air. I realized it had to be her perfume so, being driven by my olfactory senses, I turned back around to find out. I stayed a good 5' away from her trying to determine exactly what some of the notes were that kept softly floating around. All I kept thinking was that it just smelled like fresh air! Brisk but not harsh. Clean without being medicinal. Floral without being flowery. Slightly sweet but not cloying. Not one note seemed to dominate but there was a soft ozonic quality to it and whatever it was I had to know! When I finally got around to asking her & she told me it was Acqua Fiorentina she said she was surprised I could detect it because she had spritzed it over 5 hrs ago. Sooo, great longevity & sillage. I was surprised when I checked on Fragrantica, and saw it compared to Lt Blue. I've worn Light Blue for years and this is no Light Blue as other reviewers have stated. The notes in Acqua Fiorentina seem more abstract, complex and perfectly balanced. I was also surprised and disappointed when I saw the price. When Nordstroms opens here I will be sampling this and if my impressions are confirmed I will absolutely have to get it regardless of the cost! No substitutions for this one I'm thinking!! Willing to swap my Coco Mademoiselle Parfum for this! If interested please PM me?

I love the fragrance but I just wanted to point something out in relation to an earlier comment about 'fakes'... My wife owns this perfume... We purchased it back in 2009 (it's an 09 batch) @ full retail... When we originally purchased it there was a soft purple color to the juice... Obviously this was a natural color because as time has passed the juice is now basicly clear... (Only a slight pink hue remains...) The bottle has been stored with the cap always on at a constant 68F-70F for temprature and has NEVER been in direct sunlight and does not smell off or what have you... The juice smells exactly like it did the day we purchased it years ago but it is no longer a purple-ish color... I am just trying to point out that if you have this juice and it is in the original packaging (Not the new 'Encore' with the purple flowers) and your juice is clear it does NOT mean your bottle is a fake unlike what an earlier post says... It just means your juice (like ours) is no longer purple... ^_^ In addition... People this does NOT smell like Light Blue... My wife has both fragrances and I put them on my arms just to compare them... Yeah... Anyone that feels this smells like Light Blue must also think crack smells like Light Blue because you must be smoking it... ^_^ Sorry... Just my opinion of course but seriously... Put them side by side and say they smell the same so I can see you do it and then I'll call you a crack head... ^_~)

D&G Light blue was my first scent ever, and when I smelled Acqua Florentina and the first whiff of plum faded I instantly thought: "Light blue!". So I went to get my bottle of Light Blue and compare them side by side and I was disappointed.. by light blue. It seems that Acqua Florentina smells like all the best things I remember of Light Blue, but side by side, light blue has a harsher side to it (the jasmine?), where Florentina remained fresh, lively, 'pretty'. They definitely share a vibe, the apple, the lemon, but after the top fades they both go in different directions. There is a hint of sweetness in the Florentina that I could swear is a bit peachy, but based on the notes must be the pear. The rose in Florentina is softer, fruitier where LB's is more woody. What surprised me most is that after just an hour LB already seems to be firmly into the drydown with no fruitiness and mostly cedar left where Florentina still caresses the skin with soft fruity rose, occasional whiffs of lemon and the sandalwood carries, rather than harsher cedar. Do you need both? Probably not, they're similar enough, but my LB has almost run out, and the softer, more lasting side of Florentina is going to make me splurge despite the price tag.