THOMAS DE MONACO
EAU COEUR

2022

PERFUMER
Maurus Bachmann

magnolia
osmanthus absolute
pink pepper

oakwood
moroccan rose absolute
Cedarwood

tonka bean absolute
ambroxan
musk

‘For over twenty years, Thomas De Monaco has been living and working as a creative director and photographer between Paris and Zurich, working for international clients in the premium and luxury industries – Hermès, Dior, YSL, Armani, Moët & Chandon, Hennessy, Rolex, Cartier and Piaget, to name but a few. In 2022 he launched his second limited collection consisting of Eau Coeur in September and Grand Beau in November. Both scents are intensely radiant and long-lasting, deliberately designed for effect. With a positive and winning quality, made with beautiful raw materials and contemporary molecules. Eau Coeur is a radiant and blooming perfume, straight from the heart, desiring love.’- Thomas de Monaco

Eau Coeur is the second release from Thomas de Monaco. I thought Raw Gold (especially the original, limited edition version) was excellent and an especially great debut for a small brand that emerged ‘out of nowhere’. I’d smelled Eau Coeur in 2022, but I didn’t get around to properly wearing it than, so I was excited to explore it further.

Eau Coeur is a very inviting, warm, sweet and soft fragrance straight away. As mentioned, I’d smelled it earlier, but that was brief and on someone else; in my mind this was going to be a super floral fragrance.

And floral it is, but it’s almost gourmand for a good chunk of the wear time. In the opening there’s a powdery chocolate-esque sweetness and an overall lactonic quality. It’s fighting back against quite rich and deep florals, that remain surprisingly soft in texture.

As it dries more, I get more tonka than chocolate and especially some more ambroxan-sugary sweetness. I was afraid that it would become cloying, but right when Eau Coeur feels like it goes in that direction, it reverted back to more florals for me. While still sugary sweet, the chocolate and tonka sweetness completely fade after a while. It becomes more of a rich, but also vibrant and bright floral with a sugarcoated edge.

It was at this stage that a slight hint of peach from the osmanthus became quite noticeable for me as well.

As much as I usually tend to like the more lactonic sweetness over ambroxan, in this case I’m happy that the brightness of the rose doesn’t get dragged down too much by it.

The overall feeling is of a modern sweet rose, not a gourmand and for me this fragrance is at its best when it focuses on that floral element more. Thus I liked the drydown, although for me the sweetness could’ve been toned down quite a bit more. As of 2024, Eau Coeur is my third favorite from Thomas de Monaco, behind Raw Gold (202o) & Sol Salgado.