Aqua

Aqua Vitae Forte Maison Francis Kurkdjian 2015

See Prices

We may earn a commission when you buy from links on our site, including the eBay Partner Network and Amazon.

See Prices

Aqua Vitae Forte (Maison Francis Kurkdjian)

7.7 / 10 409 Ratings

Aqua Vitae Forte is a popular perfume by Maison Francis Kurkdjian for women and men and was released in 2015. The scent is floral-fresh. It is being marketed by LVMH.
Pronunciation

We may earn a commission when you buy from links on our site, including the eBay Partner Network and Amazon.

Main accords

Floral

Fresh

Citrus

Creamy

Sweet

Fragrance Notes

Sicilian mandarin orange

Orange blossom

Ylang-ylang

Benzoin Siam

Calabrian lemon

Ceylon cinnamon

Sandalwood

Calabrian bergamot

Gaiac wood

Guatemala cardamom

Pink pepper

Perfumer

Francis Kurkdjian

Ratings

Scent

7.7409 Ratings

Longevity

7.8362 Ratings

Sillage

7.1366 Ratings

Bottle

8.4342 Ratings

Value for money

6.5125 Ratings

Submitted by Michael, last update on 15.04.2024.

Interesting Facts

The fragrance is part of the "Aqua" collection.

Reviews

11 in-depth fragrance descriptions

08/14/2019

8
Bottle 9
Sillage 9
Longevity 9.5
Scent

Basti87
239 Reviews

Translated Show original

Basti87

Top Review 20

Beautiful summer tangerine-flower-mix

Another comment on a fragrance from MFK's great Aqua range. I have all tested the Aqua fragrances from MFK except Aqua Celestia Forte and I liked all of them. All of them have a beautiful, well-groomed touch and scatter a good mood on warm days with style and elegance. The original Aqua Vitae was the least I liked. I find him very insignificant, pleading and yet not bad. But this Forte is all the more beautiful. This one has that certain something missing from the Vitae. If you want a more subtle and classic fragrance, you should try the Original Vitae.
The originals of the MFK Aquas are rather simple and monotonous, which is not negative. For the Forte versions you pay a surcharge. They appear richer, more striking and more multi-faceted. I like both types of this series, depending on the mood.

In my opinion this Forte is a pure sun scent. In beautiful summer or spring weather it unfolds its beautiful vibes best. It is also very balanced and of high quality. That this is a high-priced fragrance can be guessed. It simply has more complexity than its original.
This fragrance is a multi-faceted citrus-fruity fragrance with many floral, spicy and slightly creamy notes. These properties are well balanced. Above all I must say about this fragrance: It smells of summer and good mood. This is due to summery mandarins and other citrus fruits, which make for a great refreshing and cheerful opening. In addition a mild stylish spice. Light cinnamon note is perceptible and fits super pure. The floral notes follow quickly, of course. Orange blossom and very bright summery ylang-ylang blossoms. Very pleasant but also strong with good sillage perceptible. Two extremely conspicuous notes, which are added to the Mandarine/Zitrik. Last but not least, there is soft, light wood in the base, which fades away sensuously and gently.
All in all a striking scent for warm to hot days, scattering the good mood and which also does justice to the price. Very unique. Especially suitable for the summer leisure time but also for many other occasions, because he really has style.
As with all Aquas of this brand, it drifts more into the feminine due to the floral notes, which is also the reason why I have not yet struck on one of these fragrances. I'm modern and not at all conservative, but I'm unsure whether I wouldn't rather smell these scents on a lady. Nevertheless: Unisex is absolutely justified, however one should urgently test extensively before a purchase. After all, it would be a pity if such an expensive fragrance would dust into the collection.
Performance is top. In the statements I read criticism as far as this is concerned, but I see it completely differently. He lasts many hours and that with good Sillage. Even when I test it on my arm, there's a lot that gets in my nose. Thumbs up for it, especially because it's a fresh scent.

All in all a great release, which I especially recommend to the ladies. But he could also stand for modern, well-groomed gentlemen. One thing is clear: this fragrance radiates summery good mood vibes.

09/06/2018

8
Bottle 7
Sillage 8
Longevity 8
Scent

DonJuanDeCat
657 Reviews

Translated Show original

DonJuanDeCat

Top Review 12

First summer freshness with tea and lemons, then autumn sweetness with flowers

*sigh*
You know, I don't dare to say anymore that with a scent where I expect a tea note, I can hardly wait to test the scent. Yeah, I like tea. Yeah, I've got you bored with it by now. Yes, maybe some are even annoyed and are already rolling their eyes...
... but on the other hand ... I don't care about that, especially if the fragrance smells as great as this one, he he he :DD

Maison Francis Kurkdijan is often a nice fragrance label anyway, so I have higher expectations for certain fragrances. Of course, a fragrance doesn't always have to be great just because you like a brand, but luckily you don't get disappointed very often either, at least that's what I've been doing so far.

Anyway, this scent sounds fresh, and maybe it's the last days where you can try fresh scents before the weather finally gets cooler. Then,... then everyone will complain that summer is missing, and for sure those who still complained about the too hot weather because of the previous heat wave will complain the most :D

But I don't! Because I'm more looking forward to Halloween and later to Christmas :D And autumn in general, when the leaves of the trees become redder and look beautiful, the streets are illuminated in the evening and this creates a great atmosphere, the cat comes back home extremely dirty and wipes off his dirt everywhere, ... and ... I digress again, don't I? So back to the scent!

The fragrance:

The fragrance begins super refreshing but also bitter with lemons, black tea, cardamom (which doesn't even smell bad here!) and especially mandarins. Well, the mandarins are actually only quite intense and juicy tasty at the beginning, but are then quickly overtaken by the tea and the other fragrances bit by bit.
In the heart note, the fragrance gets a slightly spicy note (especially pink pepper, which also appears sweet), but still smells mainly bitter through the tea and also slightly citric, since now also the orange blossoms begin. Which keeps the fragrance a little fresh.
Also later I smell bitter tea notes, light spicy-sweet smells and some Neroli. Flowery notes I feel even less strong, the ylang-ylang for example I can't smell yet (but this changes in the base!).
Anyway, even a few hours after spraying, I smell mostly bitter, herbaceous, spicy scents with a nice pinch of flavoured black tea.
Soo, a little while later the Ylang-Ylang seems to really beat. This makes the fragrance really heavy flowery and almost overwhelmingly stuffy and sultry. But this isn't as bad as with some other scents, because once again a little bit later the ylang-ylang can be smelled strongly, but the scent gets softer and softer, so that it still smells nice for the most part, only that it doesn't have any tea or citric notes anymore. This later base is quite sweetish-floral and slightly woody. Only much later you can see some harsh notes again (but more in the background, but if you sniff exactly at the sprayed spot, you might smell a light tea/bergamot note again), but even then the end of the fragrance remains mostly flowery, but also soft.

The Sillage and the shelf life:

The vibe's okay. After a lively start, the Sillage initially goes down a bit, but then becomes slightly more intense again as the spicier and tart scents build up. In the base, the fragrance finally reaches a quite nice Sillage and also decays rather slowly, so that one already has a lot of the fragrance.
Accordingly, the durability is also very good with over twelve hours, and I think there is even something more in it.

The bottle:

The rectangular bottle is of very high quality, has bevelled edges and goes up to the neck at an angle at the top. The lid looks gilded and has a rectangular upper part and a cylindrical lower part. The label on the front is square and has a golden edge, so it goes well with the rest of the bottle. On the back you can see the logo of the brand. A high quality and solid looking bottle!

Soo!
Well, what can I say? Even though I liked the scent, especially at the beginning because of the tea notes, unfortunately it didn't become anything for me. Because, as you may know, I don't like Ylang-Ylang or generally sultry flowery scents so much, which radiate strongly here especially in the base. Although the fragrance later becomes gentler and less overwhelming and then has some bitter notes again, and it also smells quite good, but these floral-sweet notes also take the fragrance in my opinion its unisex status, because the basis for me extremely feminine fragrance, which is also the real reason why this fragrance is nothing for me.

The fragrance is somehow an all-rounder. The beginning is as mentioned fresh summery, but because of the base, which is rather autumnal again, I wouldn't use the scent on very hot days. Therefore I recommend spring and late summer/autumn most of all. By the way, you can use the scent as an evening scent or a night scent, even if it shouldn't smell like that at first!

Yes, a pity in itself, but you ladies could like the scent well and would be worth a test! Unless you don't like the beginning because you don't like tea... but then you would have to be abandoned by all good spirits not to like the great scent of tea, argh, how can you? DD

04/14/2021

6
Pricing 8
Bottle 7
Sillage 10
Longevity 9
Scent

Ischgelroi
224 Reviews

Translated Show original

Ischgelroi

Very helpful Review 12

If Aqua Vitae, then only the Forte

I and Maison Francis Kurkdijan is such a thing, most I do not like because of rose or saffron and the fresh just have no shelf life with me. Aqua Vitae Forte was together with Amyris Extrait a blind purchase, yes there some will rightly ask themselves gehts yet?!!! I have to admit that this was a risky purchase, but I knew I liked Amyris Homme and Aqua Vitae, if only they would last longer on me. Aqua Vitae was even surpassed by 4711 on me.

But now for Aqua Vitae Forte: I'm really excited about Aqua Vitae Forte, it really smells like its little brother Aqua Vitae and the best thing is that even the vanilla is dosed more gently and the great fresh notes come into their own better. I will write here also not so much about the fragrance, because I have already recorded my impressions of the fragrance itself in my review of Aqua Vitae and also Aqua Vitae Forte smells very similar but more delicate and better.

I definitely do not regret buying Aqua Vitae Forte. Aqua Vitae Forte is really a very nice summer fragrance with perfect durability and silage, it just fits everything here. The biggest drawback here is of course the price, but unfortunately Aqua Vitae Forte this is really worth it for me.

I can Aqua Vitae Forte circa 8-9 hours on my skin smell, which is really very very good for a fragrance of this category.

My recommendation is: if you want Aqua Vitae, then definitely buy the Forte. The normal Aqua Vitae is really underground in terms of durability.

07/15/2021

6
Pricing 7
Sillage 8
Longevity 7.5
Scent

Piaami1
6 Reviews

Translated Show original

Piaami1

Flashbacks

Today I received a bottling of this fragrance.

The prelude, citrusy fresh and a little tart, I like well.
Again and again comes to me afterwards from the wrist a still slightly fresh, but now more spicy and floral scent, which already evokes a memory in me after about half an hour. The individual fragrance notes I can not describe soo well, but the spicy-floral after the freshness kick almost gives me a headache, because it seems so familiar to me.
After many hours, in the evening, the base of the perfume still shines pretty....and now the woody hints are also clear, suddenly I know what I smell: a somewhat masculine variation of Jil Sander
Sun. I get my Sun bottle and test both again on paper strips.
Very strong resemblance. And when comparing the fragrance notes, I also notice a lot of similarities.
The MFK is more tart, more masculine, but I lack the elegance I'm used to from MFK.
Aqua Vitae Forte is a nice fragrance, but when I feel like that scent, I reach for Sun.
The price is too high for me with Aqua Vitae Forte, while I find many other MFK fragrances insanely noble and expensive smelling.
That's how it is with subjective perception.

08/24/2020

8
Bottle 7
Sillage 8
Longevity 9.5
Scent

Warilol
17 Reviews

Translated Show original

Warilol

Kurkdjian handwriting

I must admit, I only became aware of the creations of the Le Male creator relatively late. This may be due to the fact that I absolutely dislike his probably most prominent work of his own fragrance collections, the BR540. Too sweet and sticky, I like to take flight. That Mr. Kurkdjian can also be discreet and is taking a fresh direction with his aqua scents, I could only find out after a deal in the local souk on my own nose. Blindly the Aqua Vitae Forte wandered into my collection, a good decision, as I had to realize later!

If you are a newcomer to MFK fragrances, you are often faced with a large, indomitable mountain of terms and additives. "Forte" who was the one who made me think about this aqua vitae. Okay, apparently it is supposed to be "stronger", more long-lasting! Sounds good, but if I may believe the opinions here in the forum, it probably smells different than the normal version? Which one is better?

To cut to the chase: For me, there's no reason to go back to the normal version, the aqua vitae. It generally seems a bit softer, even diluted, and does not have that great durability that can be attributed to the Forte. As far as the DNA is concerned, the latter simply appears fuller, spicier and generally more balanced.

But enough banter and comparisons, after all, this is about the Aqua Vitae Forte!
The fragrance itself is relatively easy to describe: A creamy dream of tangerine, feminine floral, paired with a subtle, masculine spice. This impression changes only slightly as the fragrance progresses, the scent itself is rather linear. For a fresh fragrance the durability is absolutely great, it will easily survive a working day! Even though bergamot and lemon are listed in the fragrance pyramid, this one is not a typical citrus-fresh scent as it is known from the designer segment. As already mentioned, here the scents are more of a floral creaminess
Because of this, one might want to attribute a more feminine tendency to this one. However, this pleasant, subliminal spiciness also makes it very wearable for the masters of creation. Whether in the office or in the evening on a date, somehow the fragrance radiates a certain elegance and seriousness, almost luxury in my opinion
Kurkdjian's signature is clearly visible in this fragrance as well. This typical softness, almost an aura, creamy and very nicely rounded. Performant, valuable and in my eyes always worth its money

More reviews