To celebrate eight years of AKRO, here’s my original article and interview from 2018. In fact, I loved MALT so much, that I included it in The Perfume Companion.
I was thrilled to receive an invitation to the Paris launch of Olivier Cresp’s new brand: AKRO. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to go, but I corresponded with Olivier and he sent me some samples and responses to my interview questions. He’s been a bit of a scent-idol of mine for a long time, so as you can imagine, this was a career high for me.
You will know Olivier’s body of work if you have ever worn or smelled Mugler Angel, YSL Black Opium, Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue, Cacharel Noa, Givenchy Ange ou Demon, Paco Rabanne Black XS for him, Penhaligon’s Equinox Bloom and Versace Eros, to name but a few from his vast body of work
AKRO is a three-way collaboration between Olivier, his daughter Anais Cresp, and her partner Jack Miskelly, a Londoner. With three creative brains and sets of opinions, the result is both fascinating and enticingly original. Centred around vices, each fragrance represents a weakness or a penchant, from whisky to cannabis, and from nicotine to dark chocolate, and oh yes! the unforgettably sexy Night, which smells like the bed the morning after the night before and is oh! so sensual.
Personally, I love AKRO because the combination of vices and London speaks to a part of me that I keep tucked away. I lived in London for five years when I was in my twenties and in that time I had many nocturnal adventures in some very odd venues, watching performance art, drinking red wine, smoking a LOT, watching bands, escaping drunks at midnight, and in my spare time I even produced and wrote several fringe plays. I packed a lifetime of adventure into those years and they are the memories that sustain me when I’m emptying the dishwasher for the billionth time. AKRO taps into our dark sides and gives us permission to indulge and be ourselves. I think I’ve done all these vices in my time. It feels good to have something to smirk about. So name your poison and follow me. Which AKRO are you?
AWAKE
Awake is the scent of breakfast that tempts you out of the warmest bed on the coldest morning. With coffee beans, citrus and aromatic cardamom wafting towards your bedroom, this would coax you out of any cosy nest just to breathe that delicious smell. Incidentally, one of my favourite smells in the world is Starbucks. I almost prefer the smell of the shop to the products themselves. Well, AWAKE smells better than that. Coffee fragrance fans will gobble this up. Utterly delicious!
SMOKE
Trust me, I know smoke. I know the taste, the smell of it on me, on other people and as a child of the seventies, I lived in a smoky house and travelled in a smoky car to visit smoky relatives. I know smoke and this one is a fabulous rendition of the best bits. I know, it’s hard to think that smoke has best bits, but this is the thin silvery fume that floats into a black night sky without any of the dirtiness that fogs around you. If you’re trying to quit smoking, do not go near this one because it is just divinely throaty and bohemian.
DARK
Dark is my kind of vice. Think of the darkest, most bitter chocolate you can imagine. Now eat a chunk of that with the kind of espresso that makes you blink involuntarily. Fabulous, no? Underlying this unsmiling cocoa (nothing sweet about this) is a toasty nuttiness and a dash of cream that makes me want to RUN to a patisserie and order emergency Sachertorte. This is definitely the 80% cocoa chocolate. None of your Cadbury weakling stuff here. This is hard core.
NIGHT
Night, as you will realise about a minute after spraying it, is all about sex. Actually, make that romance. Actually, to quote Jarvis Cocker in Feeling Called Love “it’s dirtier than that.” This is the scent of a new romance where all that matters is being together in a bed when the world could blow up outside your window but you wouldn’t care because you are exactly where you want to be. This is that smell. It’s not clean, there’s a touch of agreeable body odour in there, like the musky chest hair under a leather jacket. There’s a hint of salty thigh sweat and a satisfying nuance of a neck nuzzle on unwashed skin. If you have known romance like this, then you’ll KNOW.
MALT
Malt is for the whisky lover, but by no means exclusively. It encompasses the peat and crystal clear waters of Scotland, with a deep oakiness of the barrels it matured in. It smells golden, rich and Christmassy without making you smell as if you’ve been drinking it. Malt deconstructs the scent of whisky, cherry-picking the best bits and putting it back together. When I tried Malt on one hand and Smoke on the other, it took all my willpower not to go out and clumsily relive my twenties and still be back for the school run.
HAZE
Haze reminds me of the flat I shared in Cardiff in the early noughties. My flatmate had more than a penchant for smoking Mary Jane and I became accustomed to the whole flat smelling of it. I admit I was no Julie Andrews, but I found it far preferable in the open air, on special occasions. Haze opens with clary sage, which is a genius stroke, since all the resin I’ve ever smelled (but did not inhale, of course) smelled very herby and green, just like this. Teamed with the leather of the jacket of the weirdo your flatmate bought it from, and with a touch of unmistakable Absinthe, you’re all set for a night you’ll never remember!
Where to buy
You can buy AKRO fragrance from the website. Shipping is available to UK, Europe and USA. A discovery set is also available. There’s a pop up shop coming to London and Paris this year so I’ll see you at one of those too!
Disclosure
This discovery set was gifted to me by the brand. My opinion and my decision to write about them are both my own. All photos are from the brand.
See also: Olivier Cresp answers my questions.
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