Aqua Solis

Alert to you folks out there who enjoy Aqua Solis! I visited the site of Le Couvent recently, and it seems that they have discontinued it. It was no longer among their Colognes Botaniques. Perfumery websites still offer it at normal prices, though, so it's still available. Grab it while you can! This morning I opened a small bottle of Aqua Solis for the summer, and I'm enjoying the scent so much right now I just wanted to share. I'm a huge fan of this house, after my taste in perfumes suddenly changed a few years ago. I became a lot more sensitive to smells in general, and many of my previous perfume favourites were suddenly overwhelming. Many of the scents from this brand, however, keep groing on me. For me, Aqua Solis is perfect for summer and early fall. As someone mentioned, it is perfectly wearable year-round, it's just that personally I crave a different palette of notes during winter. These are the notes listed in Marionnaud: Note de tête: Essence de Mandarine Essence de Cardamome Note de coeur: Essence de Romarin Note de fond: Essence de Racines de Vétiver The mandarin and cardamom in the opening creates a note that reminds me of tea. I get the herbs, that must be the rosemary. I see that the rosemary is not listed here in Fragrantica, but I sense her there in the background, and I believe she's part of the magic. The vetiver is reminiscent of woody whisky in the opening, then becomes just beautiful, woody, earthy. There is a "clean" or fresh note besides the listed ingredients that seems a little synthetic to me. It calms down and does not bother me, though I suspect I would have enjoyed the scent even more without it. Aqua Solis is uplifting, comforting, safe yet charming. To me, a delight. This is cologne, and the longevity and projection is ok for a cologne. It lasts about three hours on me. But I prefer that sometimes, especially in hot weather.

1. I swear I wrote a review when I bought this one last year! (2024) 2. Yes, it's discontinued, so you should stock up if you like it (there are plenty on Vinted!) I know because I had written that I was really disappointed with it. I own 12 Le Couvent fragrances and I love each one for a different reason, but this one let me down so much that I thought I had bought a bad batch. I had edited that review saying that I was going to keep using it to see how it evolved. I came back today to write that I really like it now, but my previous review IS GONE!!! I'm wondering why it was deleted. Are we allowed to disagree and express our opinions? Are there any guidelines on "how to write about a fragrance you don't like"? Because I thought my review was respectful. When reading complaints about deleted reviews, I thought it must have been "a mistake" or that the review might have contained insults for example. Mine didn't, it was not offensive, I had just written an honest opinion. Now I wish I had copied it somewhere, because mostly, I was curious to re-read it for myself and add an edit, saying how much I like it now. I got used to the cardamom and the spices, and the dry down is one of the best I've ever smelled! Also, my boyfriend has been using it and on a man's skin the chemistry is completely different. So it's not as unisex as one might expect, not in our case, it smells much better on him than on me. So there it is. A new review, I hope this one is not deleted.

While I do understand the comparisons to Hermes' mediterranee, they are different enough to be non-competing fragrances in my collection. Both made by Ellena, Aqua Solis is a spicy fruity-aromatic, where Mediterranee is a vegetal with green herbs. Also, there is a development in Mediterrannee that isn’t really present in Aqua Solis, in spite of the marketing description above. Aqua Solis is a much simpler, almost linear scent and it doesn’t strike me as a “summmer”-fragrance as such. It’s a warmer and darker scent than Mediterranee. Some complain about the longevity, but here it isn’t a problem. It lasts for about 3 or 4 hours, which is perfectly okay for a cologne. Dry downs are pretty similar and I genuinely love both. If you prefer a scent that is longer lasting and more complex, you should try Mediterranee. If you would like something warmer and don’t mind having to respray now and then, Aqua Solis is very enjoyable and reasonably priced as well.

JCEllena + orange centre accord = an insurance of the positive and life affirming side of this note, never in a trivial way. This time in a botanical cologne - which rather than herby is a bona fide juicy brew - JCE renders the sun in a subtle yet bright and delicious icetea-like perfume. Rightly watery (a cologne) but still sparkling with energy and glassy colorfulness, this citrusy cologne feels exactly like this: a blend of a cold-brew infusion of orange, rosemary and a hint of cardamom, together with the most organic and natural of the ice teas (lemon + maybe peach). A tiny burst of fresh and herby/spicy orange with all the easy juice of a freshly served, super summery iced tea. perfect for the spring as well. It will leave you wanting to spray more and more to brighten your spirit and quench your thirst. 7.9/10

I'm on my third bottle of this and I'm sad to see that it seems to become discontinued. This is such a warm, comfortable and refreshingly spiced citrus. It makes me feel awake and grounded. There is not much sweetness, it's more aromatic. I might have imagined spices and citrus together to smell like a pomander or a heavy christmas potpurri, but not at all. It's the slightly bitter and invigorating zest of the citrus, backed by a soft and smooth spice. I was very much in love with "Un jardin apres la mousson" from the same perfumer, but that scent did not last 5 minutes on my skin, so I never purchased it. Sadly also discontinued now, so my pleasure of smelling that in the shops is lost. Wish that this type of invigorating, unisex, unsweetened fragrance was more popular and that they did not need to disapper :..(