Akro is the brainchild of Master Perfumer Olivier Cresp, his daughter Anais and her West London partner Jack Miskelly. The brand was founded in London and has six scents in their collection, centred around addiction and vices ranging from drinking to smoking to caffeine. Olivier Cresp is the author of some of my favourite scents, Paco Rabanne Black XS for Him, Mugler Angel and Penhaligon’s Juniper Sling, so I was excited to procure a sample set of their six scents, and in today’s blog post will take you through my first impressions of each.
Awake – Caffeine lovers will enjoy Awake which is a freshly brewed sweet coffee with slightly nutty nuances. I get some cooling spice from cardamom, but I must admit I don’t pick up much of the woodiness of the vetiver on skin. Well done, simple and sure to please even the pickiest gourmand fragrance lover. I really enjoyed Awake over its 6-8 hour longevity. Certainly not a beast-mode projector but strong enough to pick up whiffs throughout the day. Very well done.
Smoke – Smoke smells like someone has spritzed Tobacco Vanille and has begun smoking a cigarette. A combination I must admit I’m not overly fond of. A little too much like an ashtray for my taste. I would have liked a little more sweetness to cut through. I prefer Tobacco Vanille to this one. Smoke lasted 8 hours on my skin with moderate projection.
Dark – If you’re looking for a good chocolate scent, you should give Dark a sample. Dark Chocolate and cacao with hazelnut, and a touch of cinnamon and vanilla. Quite often these types of scents are too syrupy sweet, but Dark is well balanced with all the notes working in harmony. The bitter facets of the cacao and dark chocolate combining with the hazelnut keeping the sweet, spicy notes of vanilla and cinnamon in check. Dark is a long-lasting delicacy at over 8 hours on skin that will keep you coming back for more. Great work.
Night – If you like Le Labo Rose 31 you may enjoy Night, it takes that unfortunate body odour note of cumin and mixes it with rose and a leathery like saffron note and a faint hint of oud. I don’t like Le Labo Rose 31 and I didn’t like this one, rather off putting but thankfully short lasting on skin at 4 hours. I couldn’t wait for this night to be over.
Malt – This one’s an interesting one. Certainly not a love. Doesn’t quite work on skin. There’s an off putting seaweed note thrown in that combines strangely with the whiskey, rum and leather. It smells of beer and the morning after a big night, but not in a good way. Long lasting at over 10 hours on skin.
Haze – An herbal scent composed to mimic marijuana, Haze actually reminds me rather strangely of a Darrell Lea chocolate shop that I used to visit as a child. Perhaps the store had minty green sweets that this fragrance recalls. Haze is an herbal scent of cooling absinthe, green mint, with clean, bracing lavender like nuances from clary sage, a medicinal note of eucalyptus before drying down to a somewhat smoky leather and earthy patchouli base. A very interesting green, aromatic scent that would work well in the warm weather but could work all year round. 4-6 hours longevity. Big thumbs up.
Summary – I enjoyed 3 out of the 6 scents. They are fairly simple perfumes in construction but with Olivier Cresp at the helm they are of course all well blended. Dark (chocolate), Awake (coffee) and Haze (marijuana) are my favourites in that order. I do wish they projected a little more especially at the price point of 140 Euro for 100ml. They are certainly all worth trying, and they do an excellent discovery set containing all six scents in 2ml EdP spray vials.
Have you tried Akro? What are your thoughts on the brand?
Note – bottle images courtesy of Fragrantica