Aquae Nobilis

One of my favorite things about fragrance collecting is how my taste constantly evolves. I enjoy the process of understanding fragrance done well. Sometimes I may not like something initially or it may smell strange, but then the second or third time I am pleasantly surprised. So surprised in fact, it starts to become a kind of affection. It is like you are developing a relationship with yourself through fragrance. This happened to me this evening when I combined Royal Tobacco with Aquae Nobilis. I'm not going to describe Royal Tobacco because at this point, we all know what it is about. I'm not going to bore you with another iteration. What connected for me was the gentle sweetness that introduces itself to you every so often. One of the notes that is never discussed about Aquae Nobilis is also the gentle sweetness accord. At the time, I had Royal Tobacco on for about five hours. I was ready for something new, I knew also it was going to be very hard to cover Royal Tobacco up completely. So I took a chance and combined the fragrances together. I was not expecting something so beautiful. They are like companions rather than competitors. What connects them is their earthy and subtle hint of sweetness that lightens the entire composition. What I really care about is how it made me feel. It almost created a soft breeze within the fragrance as a whole. In my opinion, it brought Royal Tobacco back to center. Royal Tobacco is a great fragrance on its own, but for some reason it's not one of my favorites. I cannot tell you why because I agree with most people that it is an excellent offering. However, I am here to talk about Aquae Nobilis and I can say with certainty that there is something special about this art. It is a feeling more than anything else. Something intuitive. Get your hands on it if you can find it.

Sigh... What to say about this fragrance. Typically, it is not difficult for me to write. Once I smell the notes and read the name and description, I have a general idea of how I feel about the story etc. That's not the case here and I have no idea why! Yes, the fragrance is nice. It's exactly what I thought it was going to be. It's a strong, green, from the depth of the earth, noble, crisp experience. Also, it was extremely difficult to find. I ended up purchasing it from an Edwardian style barbershop deep in the city of Chicago. It was by chance. There was one singular box way up in the back and no one was interested in it. I figured it was not going to be very fresh, but I was having such a hard time finding a bottle that I just went for it. When I opened it, it had a silver cap which then confirmed it was an older version. Perhaps the fragrance itself may be slightly different, maybe some extra zing, but I don't mind. I am happy to have it and I realize I am very fortunate to have it in the first place. Like most fragrances from PR, it is very straightforward. There is no development in its notes. Just like all of their other fragrances, the perfection lies within the simplicity of the notes themselves. It's the same concept as in fine Italian cuisine. Simple food done excellently. Some people think the Italian way is the best way and others think it is boring. You have to decide for yourself

Aquae Nobilis is another high-quality freshie from Profumum Roma. A masculine-leaning green, earthy fougère, it ultimately smells like a bar of fancy soap. It is simple but well-composed, made with good-quality, natural-smelling ingredients. While it isn't anything groundbreaking, it is classic in style, discreet and deeply pleasant. While it is expensive for a scent of its profile, its performance is not bad, and it is a much better scent than almost any mass-market masculine available today. AN is aromatic from initial spray, with dry, woody vetiver forming the backbone of this scent. Wormwood follows, adding a slightly bitter herbal edge. The geranium adds peppery greenness, tempering the bitterness of the wormwood somewhat and giving it a little lift. According to some reviews below, the bitterness overpowers this perfume, but I find it to be very well-balanced and inoffensive in the best way. As it dries down, it becomes slightly mossy thanks to the oakmoss note, adding to the fancy soap quality. It fades to a clean, woody, earthy skin scent. Sillage and longevity are moderate. A top-notch spring/summer masculine-leaning scent, AN plays it fairly safe, but is beautiful throughout. Expensive, but utterly classy. 4/5.

Aquae Nobilis- the quality of the ingredients and the blending here are both absolutely superb. It's soapy, but simultaneously organic, scratchy, and earthy. The contrast between the fresh cleanliness and the slightly dirty earthiness is absolutely memorable. The vetiver is nutty and natural (think Chanel's Sycomore, but slightly cleaner), the wormwood adds a lovely forest green component, and the geranium adds a sweet, mildly citric freshness that gives the opening a borderline camphorous, minty-but-not-quite vibe. It sweetens up in the drydown, but it retains a sort of rooty scratchiness that feels perfectly unisex, and impressively distinctive, I wish I didn't love this so much, because I'm gonna have to pick up a bottle. As much as I enjoy a dirty, salty vetiver It's nice to put my nose on something a little cleaner and more outwardly pleasant. The quality is apparent in the performance, lasting easily over 24 hours and projecting quite a bit. 9.5/10

A very spare naturally beautiful fougere. The perfume opens with a burst of minty geranium. As it starts developing notes of wormwood and rooty vetiver emerge. The perfume settles on a mossy powdery bed of oakmoss and more wormwood. The masculine leaning perfume has moderate to strong projection and excellent longevity. Reminiscent of what a very distinguished nobleman of the past would probably smell like on a romantic night out. Not for everyone but those into green earthy fougeres will find a lot to enjoy here!

Very appealing, and a scent that commands attention without screaming "Notice me! Notice me!" In a room with quite a few people wearing a variety of fragrances, this one will stand out like a featured tenor in a choir. Needs restraint in its application though-- can be intrusive if used with a heavy hand.

I think this is very lovely. I would enjoy spending time with either a man or a woman wearing this fragrance, and I would remember them by it.

Do you have nivea handcream on you? That is the reaction i,ve got and being unconsious about it i have to agree. Not exactly like it but still, pretty close with added cutting green, terpentine like edge to it. Not a bad scent and original in its way but not convincing either. Performance ok

Aquae Nobilis is a truly unique fragrance. It's earthy and spicy with a touch of woodiness that makes it feel both grounding and sophisticated. I love wearing it in the fall and winter - it's perfect for cooler weather.

Unfortunately the incredibly bitter wormwood isn’t eased by the other notes enough to let me love this. Because of the wormwood, it’s predominantly green, sharp, bitter and herbaceous. The geranium tries to help but the added combo of the vetiver and oakmoss pushes this into the ultra-green herbal aromatics of epic fougere propertions. It has a powdery and earthy dry-down like gently smouldering charcoal. It’s beautiful naturalistic, leans masculine but is too bitter-green for me.

Mentholy, sharp, green opening that turns into high end soap. It's pleasant, but would rather smell this at a spa than as a perfume. Reminds me a bit of sauna smell.

First and foremost, like most Profumum Roma juices, this is distinctive stuff. Personally, I am not a fan of Aquae Nobilis, but I can imagine others really enjoying it. To me this is a very crisp and green scent. I tried it because I love the wormwood in Nasomatto's Absinth and wanted to experience some other wormwood/absinth scents. The top and midnotes here have a strong green angle to them which I assume is a mix of the geranium, wormwood, and of course, the vetiver. The base is all vetiver and wormwood to my nose and my nose doesn't like it. Super distinctive. If you love vetiver and wormwood you may REALLY dig this stuff!

Kind of a woody fragrance with a hint of geranium, I guess it is the wormwood. For this house, not as great sillage or longevity as some of the others. Pleasant and won't offend, I could see wearing this at work with no problems.

Update...I wore this last night and my wife says: I smell glue, do you smell that as well? Where is that coming from? I suggested it may be my cologne, she smelled my arms where I applied and found the source. I like it but....

The glue smell may be the wormwood or vetiver? I am not sure but this isn't one of my favorites from this house.

Aquae Wormwood... This is a little wormwood bomb. I was expecting AW to smell like absinthe, but this is the plant itself. This is absinth in moonshine form! I've worn this fragrance for 5 hours know, and the smell is still sustained. If you don't like wormwood, then this is not for you. For those of you who have not smelt the wormwood plant, besides the obvious (its particular herbal smell), wormwood has a little menthol/camphor-like vibe. AN's wormwood smell is authentic and natural. AN is linear to me. After 5 hours is still smells the same as it did when I first applied it. I don't detect much of the vetiver and the geranium as individual notes. Perhaps they are well blended in this composition because there is something that is mixing well w/ the wormwood, giving it and added oomph. However, this is mostly a minimalistic composition; it's all about the wormwood. AN smells unique, distinct and alluring. Despite being a green fragrance there is something warm, comforting, and soothing about it. AN's longevity and stillage performance is impressive. The quality of the ingredients and true EDP concentrations are evident. Despite its great quality, I give it 7.5/10 as an overall fragrance...as a wormwood fragrance I give it a 9.5/10. The reason for a 7.5/10 is that it is just wormwood in a bottle without much else evolving. It may score much higher on you if you are looking to smell authentically and uniquely wormwood. Great juice nonetheless. ADVICE: if you are sampling this one, do make sure to sample with an atomizer. Do not just apply the fragrance directly onto your skin (as you would w/ those little vials purchased from LuckyScent). Somehow the atomizer stirs something up in this fragrance which makes it come alive and smell much better that way.

I applied Aquae Nobilis to my neck and chest this morning at 8:30am. It is now 5:13pm and I'm still smelling it wafting up from my chest. It's been a form of aroma therapy all day long. It is a beautiful scent that does not smell like any other cologne or perfume that I own or have tried. Profumum Roma certainly does live up my expectations. The wormwood, geranium, vetiver and oakmoss are all blended together to make a well rounded parfum. Yes, all of PR's scents are $250.00 (or a bit more) but this is a completly "worth your money" parfum house. I did not go full blast on the atomizer, about a half spritz in three places. PR's scents don't quit. Aquae Nobilis is definitely a beautiful powerhouse fragrance. I do have to say here that after wearing Aquae Nobilis a few times I am amazed the depth and range of parfums that Profumum makes. Aquae Nobilis is earthy, musty, deep and green. Yet Profumum's Vanitas, is light, sugary, sunny and gorgeous. I guess that's why I don't have any desire to buy from any other niche house these days. Their Patchouly is my favorite patchouli fragrance too. All of them are just beautiful.

High-end luxury soap, basically. Clean, pleasant, ever so slightly sweet. Soapy with a herbal-floral touch. No rough edges anywhere, impeccable quality. Smells very natural, and not really "perfumey" (which is something I generally love about Profumum Roma fragrances). Definitely unisex, possibly leaning masculine and "mature". I really don't understand some of the other reviews talking about "incredibly bitter" or "glue"... Sure the initial opening can be a bit sharp but that's just because the alcohol is still evaporating. After that it's smooth and soft. To me it doesn't even really smell like any other vetiver fragrance I have smelled. It's just clean, classy, inoffensive, mature, fresh-out-of-the-shower-at-a-luxury-hotel-or-spa. The worst thing you could say about this is that it's friendly to the point of being uninteresting; this is really the polar opposite of "edgy". But if you want something super safe and friendly yet still high quality and classy, then I can't imagine anyone not thinking you'd smell nice if you're wearing this.

Very Nice Juice. "Distinct" is absolutely correct. Mr. Doody has already listed the notes and I can confirm that they are all there. However the juice is a little too light for me like most juices these days. Give me a heavier version of this that projects a lot more and I would buy this without blinking. As it stands this is overpriced for the quality even though the idea and smell are genius. I love the earthy qualities that Profumum Roma fragrances possess...very unique. Too bad.

Love this house! Not a fan of this particular offering though. It seems dated, well, it is only 10 years old (released 2009), but seems older. Like one of those extremely bitter designer brews a 1990s stock broker would spray on. If you are a fan of really sour retro, then this is your cup of acrid.

Scent - italian vetiver. Season/Time of Day - I prefer to use this one in the colder months, day or night. Projection - I didn't get noticed, I didn't get a compliment. Longevity - I get 6hrs consistently.

Vetiver & a wormwoody baby powder. Extra leafy on the dry down.