MAISON FRANCIS KURKDJIAN
APOM
2024
PERFUMER
Francis Kurkdjian
sweet flowers
orange blossom
lavender
ylang-ylang
vanilla
musk
Apom 2024 combines APOM Homme (2009) and APOM Femme (2009) into one unisex release.
‘APOM. A poetic, mysterious acronym. A carnal eau de parfum with a sensually luminous, radiant, and generous sillage. A Part of Me: a part of yourself that you leave with others, your own personal story that gets told with every wear. An intimate conversation between fragrance and skin, where scents come to life. A floral, aromatic ambery fragrance, APOM unveils an immediately familiar signature. Luminous top notes give way to a soft, floral heart – a skillful balance of aromatic, bursting lavender and addictively generous orange blossom wrapped in a warm and airy sillage. Ylang-ylang lends its sunny accords to vanilla, which unfurls in the comforting embrace of white musks. An intimate fragrance that hugs the contours of both body and personality.’ – Maison Francis Kurkdjan
It’s been a while since I was enthusiastic about a Kurkdjian release (either for his own brand or for Dior). Sadly, I’ve never tried the original APOM duo, so I can’t make any comparisons. What I can tell you, is that I really enjoyed the 2024 APOM.
I can see this being very divisive, as it’s a throwback, retro type of fragrance, albeit with Kurkdjian’s modern, clean finishing touch. I think the two styles work together very well. APOM opens with tangy and powdery citrus. Very zesty, acidic, almost bitter. Initially I thought it would stay more fruity, like a citrus powdered candy, but it does not take long for the more floral side comes through.
On first impression, it’s more of a traditional women’s perfume vibe to me, than a masculine leaning lavender. I found the aromatics pretty tame. I also found the overall experience quite comforting and not ‘carnal’ as teased by the brand.
Especially after the citrus fades a bit some minutes into the wear, the powder is more floral and babypowdery. Reminiscent of vintage/retro powdery florals. From my own collection, APOM is like a much safer, ‘baby’ version of the more daring and leathery Maitre Parfumeur Cuir Fetiche.
The scent for most of APOM is orange blossom, with that soapy touch to it, that fits right in with a lot of the fresher MFK fragrances. But it’s orange blossom with the texture of iris. And of course, that typical clean white musky drydown. The sweetness is kept in check.
As said, I really enjoyed it. I like those vintage style florals and I prefer this rendition of orange blossom over most orange blossom fragrances and I think it’s probably up there with the best clean musky scents in the Kurkdjian line. If I wear this again anytime soon, I’ll ‘look’ to see if I get more of the lavender and aromatic side in this that escaped me today.