MAISON VIOLET
UN AIR D’APOGEE EXTRAIT

2025

PERFUMER
Nathalie Lorson

anise
sage

honey
mimosa
iris
rose
raspberry
cedarwood

tobacco
leather
cistus
ambroxan

‘Daylight fades… swallowed by the night. Headlights cut through the dusk. The engine breaks the silence. Worn leather, warm asphalt… and on my skin, the wind. The road stretches endlessly. Fleeting shadows trace its edge. In the air, a golden softness of blond tobacco lingers. On your lips, the sweetness of raspberry. All is dark, all is blurred… yet our direction remains unmistakably clear. The night is ours. Carried by freedom itself… I embrace Un Air d’Apogée.’ – Maison Violet

Un Air D’Apogee (2018) was one of my first experiences and likes when it comes to Violet (although not my favorite, which is Sketch or Cycle 001). It’s been a while since I’ve smelled it, but this Extrait is definitely quite different.

To be honest, the main theme from the EDP, an aromatic, sort of fresh, sharp tobacco, is no longer prominent to my nose. The iris opening is still there and perhaps even more iris-heavy in this Extrait, but what follows is simultaneously a lot sweeter, and a lot more leathery than the EDP.

There’s still an aromatic tinge, but whereas the EDP stayed remarkably unsweetened for a tobacco scent, Un Air D’Apogee Extrait feels remarkably sweet for a leather fragrance (at least, that’s how I mainly perceived them). I’m reminded of something like Van Cleef’s Bois Doré, woody, resinous, rubbery leather. I’m surprised there’s not tonka, almond or coumarin in the notes, because that’s the way the sweetness pulls in my experience.

I prefer the opening, with its dry, stark, earthy iris the most (no surprise there with my bias towards iris). I’m not sure yet how much I like the drydown; I like the scent when I smell it and I like how rich and complete it feels as a whole, but it’s not something that I usually go for myself. That being said, it’s better to have it be different, than it being a redundant copy of the EDP.