Early in the new year, I was fortunate to stay with my family on the Sunshine Coast (Kawana Waters/Minyama area) for a few days. It’s a very laid-back part of the world where many go to retire and where folks while away their days surfing at the beach. The lifestyle centres on the outdoors with fishing and boating being some of the other pastimes of choice. I partook in the fishing (caught nothing) and the swimming.
The outdoor lifestyle certainly impacted my perfume selections. I wore one perfume almost exclusively during my holiday but sampled one other in a department store. I’ll perhaps talk about the perfume I sampled from the department store in a separate post, but today, I wanted to discuss Arquiste’s new scents, Venice Rococo, Almond Suede, and A Grove by the Sea. You can probably guess by the names which one I chose to wear as my holiday scent. The other two perfumes are interesting, though.
Venice Rococo (Rodrigo Flores-Roux) will be the one for devotees of retro fragrances. From the outset, it’s big and bold, and its powdery puff of florals and aldehydes delivers on the promise of the marketing material, which speaks of 18th-century cosmetic formulas. Lovers of Chanel’s Comète may enjoy Venice Rococo. But it lacks the pillowy sweetness of the Chanel. It also fails to deliver, per its marketing material, anything animalic. Cumin and civet are listed in the note pyramid. However, Venice Rococo remains well-behaved throughout but never demure.
Almond Suede (Calice Becker) is arguably the most interesting of the bunch. But its honey and marzipan layers are too cloying at times. In addition, there’s something weirdly medicinal and rubbery (latex glove-like) as Almond Suede dries down that I didn’t enjoy. Perhaps it’s the saffron that drives the rubbery aspect. Indeed, it almost drove me to wash it off a couple of times when I wore Almond Suede. Unfortunately, the bitterness of the almond wasn’t enough to offset the sweetness of the honeycomb. Though, it did mellow a few hours after application into a nice suede dry-down.
The one that won my heart was A Grove By The Sea (Rodrigo Flores-Roux). It’s a peculiar choice because it contains salty notes and a fig accord. Such note combinations usually repel me from a fragrance. However, Flores-Roux manages to keep any nauseating aspects to a minimum. The fig smells leafy, green, and free from sugary interventions. Even more remarkably, the salt note doesn’t make me seasick. Indeed, the herbal notes of rosemary, thyme, and fennel, with its aniseed touch, combined with the coniferous green dry down of balsam fir, pine, and cypress, seemed to work a dream during the very warm early days of January.
Objectively, Almond Suede is the most original of the three scents. I haven’t smelled a scent that I can compare it with. Venice Rococo goes against the trends of the day. Therefore, the brand must receive some praise for such a release. Ultimately, A Grove by the Sea is the one I would wear, though, even if we’ve seen similar things before (Aqua Allegoria, Un Jardin). All three are worth a sample.
Note: Images are my own. I purchased the samples used for this post.
