Jo's Scent Notes: Akro Dark
A combination of chocolate and patchouli was always going to have me at ‘hello’. But if that combo isn’t pushing your buttons, stay with me, here – because I know that somewhere in perfumer Olivier Cresp’s own fragrance range, there will be a scent that plays to your little vices. Does caffeine push your buttons? There’s energising, coffee-rich Akro Awake. Hooked on the hit of chilli? Check out the brand new Akro Heat, a-tingle with ginger and a hot pepper note…
Now, one of the great privileges of writing about fragrance – a highlight of what I do – is talking to perfumers. Olivier Cresp is one of my favourites, to interview (which I’ve done several times, down the years). Always ready to share his insights into creativity, or talk about what’s new in fragrance, or let you smell the raw materials that is famous – truly famous, in scent circles – for conjuring into betsellers that have spanned everything from Mugler Angel (he is credited with creating the entire gourmand category), through to Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue, via Penhaligon’s Juniper Sling and YSL Black Opium.
There’s an increasing trend for perfumers to start their own perfume brands, on the side – and why not? They’ve made millions for the clients of the fragrance houses they are employed by in ‘the day job’, and it seems only right that they should be able to cash in on their own genius. So, a few years back, Olivier set up Akro along with his British-based daughter Anaïs. Akro’s name deliberately echoes the French accro – ‘addicted’ or hooked – and the point here is sensual temptation: the hit, ritual, rush, or all-too-fleeting comfort associated with a vice.
Is chocolate a true vice? More a treat for me. Oh, and actually, a career: some of you may know that I parlayed my life-long love of chocolate into founding Green & Black’s, launching the world’s first organic chocolate back in 1991, and remain a ‘Chocolate Ambassador’ for the brand. (Let me tell you, there are worse jobs in the world.)
Combining it with patchouli in Akro Dark is very clever – because there are definite chocolate facets in patchouli, which is the main note, here, and my love for which goes all the way back to Kensington Market in the 1970s. (As I say, patchouli refuseniks will find something to please them in this range – but for the many who love that note as much as I do, this is a winner.) If there’s a more apt fragrance for my life, meanwhile, I’ve yet to encounter it. It’s just so, so moreish.
There’s a little bit of hazelnut, here, too – not enough to give a Ferrero Rocher vibe, but of course cocoa and hazelnut pair quite beautifully, without being sweet. But for me, this manages to give me fortitude and strength for the day, but with a little cheeky wink, in the form of the cocoa note. (Note: it is mostly humour that gets me through life, sometimes on the appropriately dark side. Because I always figure: in this world, you’ve got to laugh, or you may go cuckoo.)
Worth noting: I’m also a fan of lemon-cake-y Bake, as well as head-clearing Akro Breathe, by the way – a real forest bathing sort of fragrance; you’ll find both of these on my (albeit crowded) dressing table.
I would recommend that you take yourself somewhere that stocks the Akro range, and explore the range. It’s supposedly in Harvey Nichols; after last week’s acquisition by Mike Ashley, all bets are off for what might happen there, but for now, you’ll find an Akro display on the ground floor. (At time of press, don’t bother trying to visit the website; it’s down.). More reliably, you’ll find Akro in Jovoy, one of London’s finest independent perfume boutiques, via their outpost on Conduit Street.
The brand also offers a Discovery Set, which is a brilliant way to find which Akro might become your addiction.
Just don’t hold me responsible, eh?
Akro Dark/£160 for 100ml – buy here
Akro Heat/£160 for 100ml – buy here
Akro Breathe/£160 for 100ml – buy here
Akro Awake/£160 for 100ml – buy here
Akro Discovery Set/£39 for 10 x 2ml fragrances – buy here
Jovoy Mayfair 21 Conduit Street, London W1S 2XP
