Un Air d’Apogée

Fragrance Review: Maison Violet - Un Air D'Apogée (2018) Perfumer: Nathalie Lorson Top: Anise and Sage Heart: Honey, Mimosa and Cedar Base: Balkan Tobacco, Leather, Cistus Labdanum and Ambroxan ••••• Returning once more to this amazing french house, today with one of my favourites from their exquisite lineup: Un Air D'Apogée! 🤩 When you first spray this scent, you get a slightly spicy and almost aromatic vibe. Shortly thereafter, rich honey and smooth mimosa notes elegantly take center stage... You can perceive a certain woodiness, but it's mostly an accent. The main players are definitely the honey and mimosa! As time passes, a soft tobacco note infuses itself into the blend, sidelined by a touch of leather and cistus, that gives a warmer and slightly resinous aura... Ambroxan is credited, but I imagine it's there as a performance enhancer only. The wearing experience is just sublime... ✨ The honey and mimosa dance in the light, swirving, interlacing and gently tugging at your imagination! They are peaceful and ferocious in unison! The tobacco reinforces their sunny and warm demeanor, with a resinous touch that adds mystical sparkle! It's a supple experience, as intoxicating as it is captivating... This scent constantly urges you to feel its candour, its honest and crystalline refraction of the real world! Makes me close my eyes and drift away in its embrace... Golden refuge and sweet rapture... Works wonders in colder weather, but it's still magical with warmer temperatures too. Quite versatile, if you are comfortable with the notes. Good performance, with good sillage. I absolutely recommend this fragrance! It's exquisite and brilliant in its use of honey, mimosa and tobacco! Another gem from master Nathalie Lorson! An aureate stunner! 😍 ••• IG with additional fragrance reviews at @fragrance_panther 🤗

This is it. I have found her! My favorite, my signature. There is no better fragrance than this. How does one describe perfection? She is a honeyed leather musk. Powdery and soft and balanced. Not too sweet. Just right. Oh Un Air d'Apogee, how I love thee. I am so incredibly infatuated by this gorgeous scent from Maison Violet! Immediately upon first spritz of this I am engulfed in a cloud of warm sweet leather followed closely by a smooth accord of honey blended with hay. A bit of powder follows - some gentle whiffs of iris and mimosa join the honey and hay as the leather takes a backseat to the suede and softer notes in the middle. It all sits snugly in a base of tobacco, cedarwood and ambroxan. I don't really detect the anise and sage in the opening; for my nose the leather is clearly front and center in the beginning of this fragrance. I have never smelled anything quite like this before. Initially I was taken aback by how utterly different this was than any olfactory experience I've ever had, and I wasn't entirely certain what I thought of it. All I knew was that I couldn't stop sniffing my arm. Unlike most of the fragrances I love, which tend to grow in me gradually over the course of a week or so of wear, I was absolutely smitten by this within mere hours and I knew I'd have to buy a full bottle. LOVE this. Love it! I think Un Air d'Apogee is extremely underrated and am happy to call it my signature scent. I should also mention that it leans very feminine on my skin, but if a man wore this I think he would also get many compliments. Bravo, Nathalie Lorson, bravo.

I've had dozens of fragrance crushes but this is the one right now, and it would be the one I kept if I had to pick only one to have, because it feels like more than one perfume. The way it wafts around, it sparkles. It smells almost salty at first spray, and later, spiky and herbal and sweet like Lolita Lempicka Minuit. It reminds me of childhood in a wonderful way. Like the best sunlit moments, like meadows. I would guess that it projects decently well, because it's one of the few I have that I notice on myself. But also I'm a one-spray person and the sprayer on my older bottle is very generous, so that could be part of it. Beyond the very opening, I don't find anything harsh or sharp. So many fragrances just hurt my nose, but whatever is in here, I'm not overly sensitive to it. That said, I was surprised to read comparisons to Chergui, which I also have. It didn't remind me of it at all. I find Chergui more syrupy, deep, spicy, mellow. This one is bright and floral/herbal, more feminine, reminds me of spring and fall and Chergui definitely more winter. But I can also see the similarities, like how the herbal facets of each one could read a little masculine, and both being somewhat sticky-sweet, smelling like honey. Un Air d'Apogee was the only Madison Violet scent that I would even test a third time (always have to try a second time, just in case.) The others hit me so wrong. But I'd try any newer releases, since this one is so magical to me.

The loudest perfume is seldom the most interesting. Un Air d’Apogée belongs to the quieter company. As I write, it surrounds my study not as a fragrance, but as an atmosphere. Fresh tobacco rests upon honeyed hay still warm from the afternoon sun, while mimosa drifts through the room with the soft, golden sweetness of pollen carried upon an invisible breeze. It is less the scent of flowers than the memory of light itself. Then comes the most gracious surprise. Supple suede and softly worn leather mingle with an iris of exquisite refinement, creating neither ornament nor excess, but comfort—like slipping into a well-loved armchair beside a quiet fire. Every note appears exactly where it ought to be, each lending its voice without ever raising it. This is not a perfume that seeks admiration from across the room. It rewards companionship instead. It asks only that one live with it for an afternoon, perhaps while reading, writing, or watching the light move slowly across a window. There are fragrances one wears for the world. There are others one wears for oneself. Un Air d’Apogée belongs firmly to the latter, and I suspect that is precisely why those nearest to us often love it most. I find myself already considering a larger bottle, which, in matters of genuine affection, is perhaps the most sincere compliment one can offer. 🎩

Un Air d'Apogee is one of my all time favorite scents. She's really somewhat of an anomaly because she smells so clean & ethereal despite having a prominent tobacco accord. In the frag community we typically don't associate tobacco scents with being ethereal, so I surely appreciate how Ms. Lorson was capable of pushing boundaries outside of what we'd typically consider being the norm in fragcomm. I once wore this to the grocery store and had a woman follow me to the self check out where she went to the kiosk next to me just to tell me how good I smelled. She even said she was following me around the store a little because I smelled so good hahaha (I didn't notice her while I was shopping lol). She mentioned how she really liked how clean it smells, but also super unique, she never smelled something like this before. I've had people rant and rave about how I smell before, but never to this extent hah. I keep mentioning how clean this smells. Even though its 'clean' I really don't think of this being a laundry scent. The iris and hay give it some depth and punch. This is nothing like Lazy Sunday Morning or Blanche. It's so unique I can't even compare it to anything. But its something special and I highly recommend it to anyone, especially if you're an iris lover like me!