L'Eau par Kenzo

This is just beautiful, the most natural smelling aquatic that I've come across to date! L'eau par isn't widely available in the UK, actually other than Kenzo World and Flower, we don't get many of Kenzo's other offerings (at least, to my knowledge) so when I saw this circulating around on Fragrantica, read the notes list and fell in love with the really cool bottle, I went on a mission online to try and get a bottle. So, firstly I thought this was discontinued but its still on Kenzo parfums' website, and there are new flankers of it about on there too. Notino stock L'eau Par on their website and Allbeauty also stock the 50ml and 100ml bottles, so I'm glad I can repurchase this one when my currently 30ml runs out. If anyone looks at my wardrobe, I have a lot of summery, citrussy and aquatic fragrances, but I really wanted something that was different from L'eau D'issey (cold, wet flowers) and Davidoff Cool water (salty melon, juicy fruit gum) that was more grassy, fresh and maybe a little bit sporty, L'eau Par is all of those things! So, L'eau Par is fresh, its cold, super clean and very modern/city-like, the first spritz is a really strong citrussy hit which sort of veers into bathroom cleaner territory but it settles into an icy, slightly floral and grassy scent, but theres something in this which gives it a vodka/gin like nuance as well, not quite sure what note or combination of notes does that, but it really makes this feel like you're drinking either a fresh, iced gin and tonic or an iced glass of water. Silage is very good, being on lockdown, I'm around my parents a lot and they have noticed the refreshing breeze coming from me and have positively commented on it, the longevity is very good, I can get about 7 hours worth of wear from this with 5 sprays. I think this may actually become my signature scent, its so effortless and fresh, I'll be ordering a bigger bottle soon because I don't think my 30ml bottle will be full for very long!

With all the Kenzo's I've sampled I've come to realize all women's fragrances of this brand have a very distinct DNA that I'd describe as oriental poise. Given how delicate they generally are, this DNA often stands out the most, and each new one I try instantly seems familiar. But regarding L'Eau: it is good. Olivier Cresp knows his craft, especially if we talk his earlier works. Kenzo (and perhaps only Kenzo) knows how to deliver this kind of scent, the meaningful minimalism. It smells like water; not the tap kind but the element itself and our mental image of it - the stillness of it, not the calamity. L'Eau feels like a beautiful blend of nature's breath and coolness of urban futurism, what with the impeccable humanly cleanness it emanates alongside the gentle herbal freshness. In the 90s people still dreamt of progress and nature coexisting in harmony, and that harmony manifests itself in this fragrance. It might be popular because it is simple, but it is in fact very special, being the perfect olfactory interpretation of water as a part of nature, the bridge between scent and vision. A delicate timeless fougere that is linear but not in the way that gives you a migraine with its monotone presence. Reed is appropriately sweet for a distinctively herbal note, mint and pepper aren't overdone, the base is soft and perfectly womanly. No fruits for me - maybe the newer formula has been tweaked - but frankly I prefer it that way, a strong fruity accord would only simplify it, not refine. As for performance, in my experience Kenzo fragrances get stronger with time. Melody it reminds me of: Air - J'ai dormi sous l'eau.

I have vintage (oval shaped bottle) and rectangle shaped L'eau PAR-version of this. Vintage formula is softer. Opening is sweet herbal, like anise or fennel with hint of dry hay. After few hours it turns less sweet and waterlily comes out, dry hay note is still there, but less noticeable. After four hours I smell cedar and dry hay with hint of watery notes. This reminds me of Honore des Pres- Nu Green, very similar dry hay note. Longevity is better in vintage one, imo. Newer L'eau Par Kenzo: Opening is sharp, very aquatic and herbal at the same time. Strong mint leaf note (sweet and minty) I think mint leaf scent was the strange note that bothered me always. It's very noticeable if you overspray this. After an hour this turns out very nice aquatic fresh, I smell waterlily, lilac and hint of peach. And then it's gone. Weak hay scent with musk. So sad. I would like to try the newest L'eau Kenzo-version of this. I prefer vintage formula because it has good longevity and scent is close enough to newer formula.

Wow, what an interesting scent and what a twist. It starts fresh and watery with water lilly, mint and pepper, then something almost stinky comes in, I think it's reed, but after a minute or two boozy cedar and vanilla start to rise, and underneath there's floral fruit. I've been looking for a scent that smells like lilac for a long time and I think I can smell it, and it's a very accurate lilac scent. Rose, amaryllis and violet, you can feel every note. Everything comes together in a magic where the cedar and the sweetness of the vanilla kiss the freshness of the water lily and musk. I wasn't expecting this festival of scents. The star of this scent is definitely cedar. The sweet, boozy, fresh, piercing note keeps everything in balance, the other notes dance around. I like this work. Maybe I'm a little biased towards Mr. O. Cresp. L'Eau par Kenzo is underappreciated. Sillage is good and longevity is about 7 hours. Love this so much.

This fragrance is my favorite of all time (tied with Issey Miyake original EDT). It is a well kept secret. I own them all (literally). When I wear this, the balance of fresh, sweet, fruity and warm dry down to perfection - a perfect balance. I do wear it more in the Spring/Summer, but I would say that when people guess it is Chanel or Bylgari, I just smile because it is unique. I would say you need to wear this all day before you make a judgment, and wear it on a warmer day....and around both men and women. Even without their opinion, when you smell your wrist, it will be beautiful and surprising. Not too much...not too little...not too spicy....not too watery, not too innocent, and yes, very natural and comfortable. What seems like a fragrance of innocence is a colorful blend of emotion with nuances of real life.

This is what a fresh and clean perfume should smell like in my opinion. I have never found another scent that has such a lightly sweet, aquatic sillage. Spraying this on after a shower makes you feel clean all day. The opening smells a bit more interesting than a generic aquatic fresh scent, but the magic is in the middle notes. The sillage suddenly becomes much larger. You will be smelling the middle notes like a cloud around you for about three hours. The dry down still smells very clean, just a bit warmer. On skin it retains the aquatic notes a bit more, on clothes the vanilla is more noticeable. I feel like you can quickly overspray this EDT though, as the middle notes are so strong. It might be my skin chemistry, but one spray on my wrist is enough for me to notice it for a couple of hours.

It's soooo amaizing! Amaizing really! So fresh, oceanic, light and still charming! Is not a clean-nostrilas fragrance. Haven ́t found any perfume at this time that can take L'eau's place! Sadly (so sadly) it doesn't last long :( I mean I am not expecting the perfume to last 12 hours, but you have to spray on your clothes, arms, hair to feel it during the day. I think it is so light fragrance that if you are on an enviroment or room with other strong fragrances/smells, it just... let's say it just blends in... You probably will smell other's perfume than L'eau but at times you feel it's presence (Does that make sense...? O_o) That's the way I can describe it =)) Even tho I am not wearing it for other's people's pleasure lol, as long as I can feel it I'm ok. Love L'eau!!!

That's a freshness in a bottle. If water had smell, it would smell like Kenzo L'Eau (the house shortened it from original name L'Eau Par). Have never been into fresh scents but then I found this one and totally fell in love with it. Wearing it makes me feel like I've just came out of the cold shower. There's something very special and significant about Kenzo's L'eau fragrances (both the female and male version), it's not like any other fresh summer scent, this one gives you not just a refreshment, but the complete scent with idea and character. All the notes work great together. Lasts quite long on me considering it's EDT. Have been treasuring this during summer for years. An absolute gem. To me 9,5/10

This is lovely fresh aquatic scent and is one of my favourites. I am going to comment on it's silage - I used to think it was a very soft perfume and that most people couldn't smell it unless they were quite close, however, one of the ladies at work who also likes perfume and has asked what it is I'm wearing on a number of occasions, has commented that she can smell it walking past my office. Yesterday when she commented again on how I'm wearing her favourite perfume of mine as she walked past, she later told me (about 7 hours after applying it) that she now needed to put her head into my office before she could smell it. I sit about 10 feet from the office door, never knew it's silage was so good.

This fragrance is superb! The opening notes start with a smell that will immediately transport you to a rainforest with the smell of greenery and water (waterfalls to be specific). The drydown (still fresh smelling) is a completely different smell altogether where you can smell a bit of the peach, pepper, mint and lilacs which indeed smells divine! I just love it! This is one of the very few scents from the 90s that has survived to this day (in the midst of horrible sickly sweet gourmand/fruitchoulli scents) and I hope the house of Kenzo NEVER discontinues this gem of a fragrance as it is very original/unique, high in quality and fairly long lasting. Such a shame it is so hard to find these days!

I have a bottle of L'eau par Kenzo from 2012 that I just finished. ADORE that one. Beautiful scent that reminds me of outside, but very aquatic - can't even describe it, but it gets prettier as it dries down on my skin. I just ordered a bottle of "l'eau Kenzo" (without the "par") and OMG, something in this (the opening, anyway) makes me want to straight up vomit. :( It's being returned. I truly hope that if I order a bottle of l'eau par from eBay, that it will smell identical to my first bottle from 2012, and that these are two VERY DIFFERENT separate scents. Someone else here said they smell the same. I do not agree. If anyone has further thoughts/details/info on this, please share!

Vanilla1975 got it right. This must be tested on the skin (and waited out) to be truly be appreciated. Upon inital spray I was ready to run to scrub it off. It opens very strong, piercing and sharp. After a few minutes, while distracted doing something else, I kept getting this waft of loveliness, fresh, vibrant and crisp. It is definately aquatic but not in the usual marine way. I must admit, occassionaly something off-putting(proably the cedar) rears its head but almost immediately the other lovelies push it back down into obscurity and I'm happy again. It is exotic, like an amazonian waterfall with beautiful flowers floating in the calm at the bottom.

Wow, for a clean aquatic fragrance this is pretty powerful! And I mean it in the best possible way because usually the majority of aquatics are very etheral and volatile and you do have to use them with a heavy hand. On the other hand, L'Eau par can get cloying if oversprayed. Very beautiful composition, romantic and even elegant. I love to use my aquatics for sports, and I must admit that after trying so many of them I still find L'Eau par Kenzo very unique. I wears very nice even in cold weather as it has some warmth to it due to vanilla, peaches and pepper. Outstanding sillage and longevity. A keeper for sure.

I didn ́t know L'eau pour Femme before but I got it as a birthday gift this year. Composed of pepper and peach, my top favorite notes, and created in 1996. The best and the most nostalgic gift for my 30's that instantly takes me to the times of Spice Girls, Friends and latin telenovelas of that era.❤️🙏🏻 Unfortunately, the silage and longevity are very, very weak. Tommy Girl by Tommy Hilfiger, also created in 1996, is one of my signature scents since very early on. However, if I had discovered L'eau by Kenzo instead of Tommy Girl, definitely it would have been my signature.

This is a beautiful, unique, fresh floral aquatic. This is a real standalone beauty. I say this because in the 90s when this was released there were dozens of other aquatics that were released but unfortunately a lot of them are too heavy on the lotus!/melon for my taste. This is something else. This is incredibly well balanced and calming. It has a definitive top, middle and dry down. It starts off quite green with a tea vibe, then the lilacs come out and in the end you can smell the water lily and vanilla. Such a genius creation. Keep this in production forever kenzo!

The first time I ever sprayed it on my wrist I went out into a cold and crisp morning of Siberian winter, and it smelled DIVINE. Like a fresh white snow sparkling in the sun. Citrucy, fresh, crisp, light, and i loved it! The perfect cold-wintery smell which is amazing all year around. Unfortunately, Kenzo seemed to change the formula a bit, because now it is much sweeter than it was back then. IDK, may be different manufacturers? Even though, the smell is still amazing- one downside only- sillage and longevity are very weak. (at least on me :( )

I had a bottle of this in the 90's when I was a teenager. Then the bottle was of a different design, which I prefer to the new one. Found a bottle on discount a couple of years ago and decided to treat myself, albeit wary of whether I would still find it as adorable as I did then. I was not disappointed. It's the same crisp, clean scent that I remembered. It's inoffensive yet complicated. I prefer using it in the winter time, somehow it reminds me of snow. I think this is a perfume that either you love or hate. It's definately not for everybody.

I'm reviewing L'Eau Kenzo not L'Eau par Kenzo here coz I don't know what's the difference but L'Eau Kenzo is really nice fresh clean smelling scent, Oliver Cresp is a master in making Clean scents, it's great for hot sunny summers, so refreshing smell, I only wished it lasted longer coz I love the smell, price point is good overall 9/10👍 Edit: After wearing this for a few days I'm lovin it so much 💗 it's my favorite clean scent now 10/10 I even purchased L'Eau par Kenzo to see the difference, I find them quite the same smell

This is the only refreshing perfume I can't forget. I really wish I had it with me everywhere. I guess it's not very easy to find anymore. As far as I can remember, it was the only scent I ever smelled that felt like cucumber freshness. If you're looking for a scent that's safe, clean, and makes you feel like you're jumping into an icy pool in the scorching heat, this is definitely the one to have on hand. I haven't tried their other flankers, but the information I've provided is based on experience.

Với lần xịt đầu tiên, tôi thấy nó bình thường, nhưng từ lần xịt thứ 2, tôi bắt đầu càng ngày càng thích mùi hương này. Nó trong trẻo,mát lạnh,tinh khiết,lưu hương cực lâu trên da tôi và độ tỏa hương xuất sắc. Mỗi khi dùng mùi hương này tôi đều nhận được nhiều lời khen từ cả nam lẫn nữ.chưa thấy ai chê cả 🤣 và mặc dù là nước hoa nữ,nhưng nam xịt rất ok nha, cực hay là khác,giá khá tốt so với giá trị của mùi hương.mỗi tội càng ngày càng khó tìm mua

Very nice, it is fresh, bright and feminine. I love aquatic perfumes, so this is one of my favourites. It has a great effect on me, i feel great! It makes me cheerful and confident. I really feel like i'm in a light blue, tropical ocean when the smell floats around me. I've loved it ever since i smelled it for the first time, but i had to wait a while till i could buy it. I adore Kenzo perfumes and this one is especially good for me!

This perfume is unique. It's so elegant and chic that it can easily be considered an important part of your look for the day. If you wear jeans and a T-shirt, this perfume will give your look a swank and elegant touch. Whenever I wear it, people mention it as an "elegant/rich people perfume." It is an aquatic fragrance, but the middle and base notes are very present, making this perfume suitable for evenings and colder seasons.

This is an all time favorite! I never get tired of it, I love how it makes me feel cheerful but in a peaceful, serene way. This is like wearing a white cotton t-shirt and an old favorite pair of jeans, it makes me feel comfy and grounded. No gimmicks here, only simplicity and pureness. Yes, it is very emblematic of the 90s era, and it's a good thing!... Its has a "grunge" aura with a touch of simple femIninity.

This was my mum’s signature through the early 2000s. She has never been into oriental or heavier type perfumes. I was in my early teens at the time and would sneak a few sprays whenever I could. It feels like a gulp of fresh cold water from a well on a hot day. So refreshing, well-balanced, beautiful and elegant. I’ve yet to smell anything that’s similar. Unfortunately it doesn’t last very long.

The first time I smelled it on someone (she was a celebrity) I was captivated. It's fresh, clean, aquatic, reminiscent of a summer rain, and it permeated the air in the room in a nice way. It was a memorable scent for me. I have yet to try this scent on myself and I have high hopes that it would complement my body chemistry. I think this works perfectly on a hot summer day or even night.

Fresh, aquatic, subtle and pretty. It's very well balanced and stands the test of time. This fragrance feels modern and able to comfortably sit by more current offerings without seeming out of place. Don't picture your usual melon/lotus bomb from the 90's: this baby was a little ahead of its time. Though introduced as feminine, I can see it easy becoming unisex nowadays.

I didn't like L'eau par Kenzo the fist time I tried. But later when the scents developed it smelled so good. I found it also a very seducive scent, must be from musk. It's suitabke for summer giving fresh feeling. Later when I move to Germany I found one product DuschDas Shower feeling Deospray smelled very much like L'eau par Kenzo.

Love this! I think the majority of the other notes are able to cancel out the cedar/musk. It's crisp, fresh, bright. Not particularly sweet, though I wouldn't have been bothered if it were. I *think* the reed and the non-rose florals are coming through pretty hard, but not in a funeral home sort of way. It reminds me of a beach day.

A full of character aquatic perfume. You can smell the fresh air, the sea, the skies and even the clean shower that washes the sea salt of your body ... white flowers gives it that feminine edge but to me this is an outdoor , gym, office perfume .. Very special and dear to me.. very distinguished also is the pepper note ...

So clean, fresh and beautiful. I can't believe I found this only now, as this is absolutely too young for me. But I love it so much, I don't care. Being forty means wearing whatever I want. Funny that even though I get mostly flowers in this one, it seems somehow androgynic, almost masculine to me.

This is one of the most beautiful fragrances, especially for spring/summer. Very fresh with a dry down of subtle elegance. On me it lasts for hours and I receive compliments frequently. It has a romantic nuance to it...it adds a vibrant, happy note to my day. The final notes are sexy indeed.

I can't explain my liking for this one, but I do love it! A fresh scent with actual staying power. It smells somewhat citrusy which I love, and the water lily note is strong and beautiful. It reminds me of walking barefoot on grass in a summer rain. Must try for outdoorsy people!

I associate this perfume with very warm and pleasant times. To be honest, I bought it because of the reference to Hokusai's Great Wave. And although the aroma itself is not downright aquatic, it is still soft, fresh, and cheerful. My favorite choice for every day.

To me it represents 90's minimalism phase - clean, light and fresh. I can detect mint but it is very mild and not chewing gum like. Then pepper and cedar make an appearance, followed by mild floral undertones. It lasts well on my skin but stays nice and close.

Also, regarding sillage and longevity, this beautiful scent is one you may not smell on you, but others still do. If you smell a perfume on yourself strongly, it is usually too much. The dry smells womanly, beautiful and sexy! Surprising, happy and confident!

Water with black pepper and nutmeg. I was maybe 14 when I smelled it for the first time and it was the first fragrance that I truly loved. Back then it would have been my everyday choice but today I am opting for after-work Friday party when it's very hot.

Don't really get any other note but aquatic and that is great in this one. Fresh and elegant. It has been more than 20 years since I got my first bottle of this one and I have come to realize that I can not be without it for too long.

When I smell this and look at the notes, I see two different perfumes. On me, rich yellow florals on an airy, slightly aquatic base that lasts and lasts. Love this so much. Have the older bottle- with the sprayer in the middle.

Fresh water with lots of pepper! beautiful fragrance of violets, mint, tangerine and the star is waterlily! I imagine wearing a simple white top and short jeans, only lip gloss and a bright smile. Very 90 ́s.

Does anyone know if they are discontinuing this? I looked for it in EDP in the store today and they said they only had it in EDT now. Does anyone know if that's normal in other places?

They might have changed the formula because it doesn't last long at all! It's such a shame as it's my favourite perfume of all times, I wish they change it back.

Since 1996 I've been having this perfume. Every time I see the bottle is about to finish, I go and buy the new one! This perfume is my favorite! Sooo fresh!!

Another favourite of mine which I don't mind buying over and over again. Come to think of it, this was possibly my first love in the perfume world.

A friend gave this to me to try and I absolutely loved it. It is very floral and aquatic. Very refreshing and unique smell. Gonna get it next.

To me this is the perfect spring/summer fragrance. So fresh and beachy without the typical coconut/tropical notes. Great for everyday wear.

Clean, feminine, fresh, and makes me feel light and free. LOVE IT. Wish it had more staying power on me, because it's delicious!!!

This has been my school signature scent ! I got many compliments from teachers and classmates..Everyone seemed to like it

Nice and riskless scent for me everywhere. Must be in bag or car everytime. So, futurist fahrenheit.

@aeysha.ferdous:The perfume bottle has changed more than 15 years. The shape was like a drop. V

My favorite perfume for 24 years. So clean smelling, and such a beautiful scent!