Fragrance can make you feel a lot of things: joy, confidence, nostalgia. In addition to the emotional impacts of perfume, the right blend can also be an adventure, transporting its wearer to a faraway place before even setting foot outside the door. The latter is the thought process behind Olivier Creed’s Acqua Originale Collection. Each scent, which comes in a handmade glass flacon (designed with the 400-year-old French bottle maker Pochet de Courval), serves as an olfactory journal entry for Olivier’s most beloved travels around the world, from Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains to the volcano-dotted islands of Indonesia. Feeling a sense of wanderlust? Pick your potion, below.
The Destination: Her Majesty Queen Victoria’s castle in the Highlands of Scotland
The Acqua Originale: Aberdeen Lavander
The Experience: Olivier’s interpretation of the royal family’s Aberdeenshire home strikes a regal balance between bold and elegant, and calls to mind misty mornings in the garden, towers, and turrets. Mist it onto wrists for a unique marriage of rosemary and anise-spiked absinthe, a heart of lavender, powdery iris, tuberose, and rose, and a dignified base of smoky leather, patchouli, and vetiver that lasts all day.
The Destination: The Volcano-Strewn Indonesian Island of Java
The Acqua Originale: Vetiver Geranium
The Experience: This youthful juice offers a trip to the rainforest, and contains a mixture of ingredients meant to replicate the vetiver that covers its emerald-toned mountains. Geranium stands out, and it’s combined with vibrant citrus and crisp green apple along with a grounding musk, patchouli, and woods base.
The Destination: The Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia
The Acqua Originale: Cedre Blanc
The Experience: This woody scent takes you on a stroll through the pristine and diverse natural beauty of a dense American forest. It’s herbaceous, spicy, and just a little floral thanks to galbanum, laurel, cardamom, and geranium. The Virginian cedar, sandalwood, and vetiver blend that lingers on skin, though, ensures it lives up to its name.
