Kylie Minogue and Catherine Deneuve are fans of these French perfumes

If you had the good fortune of getting up close to Kylie Minogue when she was here and she smelled particularly fragrant, you’d have perfumer Francis Kurkdjian to thank. Minogue wears one of his men’s scents, APOM Pour Homme, and its sensual combination of orange blossom, cedarwood and amber enhances the singer’s already potent sex appeal.

Minogue is the kind of discerning customer who’d rather stand out with a boutique fragrance than smell like everyone else. And those who know their fragrances revere Kurkdjian as one of the greatest perfumers of our time. Even if you don’t, you still might be wearing one of his creations without knowing it; Kurkdjian (pronounced “koor-zhan”) was the nose behind such designer hits as Jean Paul Gaultier’s Le Male, Armani Mania, Elizabeth Arden Green Tea, Narciso Rodriguez For Him and For Her, and Acqua di Parma’s Iris Nobile.

“Francis was behind around 30 blockbusters, from global blockbusters to blockbusters in niche industries,” says Marc Chaya, president and co-founder of Maison Francis Kurkdjian Paris (MFK), who was in Manila recently to launch a new MFK fragrance at Adora. “He worked with Romano Ricci on Juliette Has a Gun (Miss Charming and Lady Vengeance), and did Rose Barbare for Guerlain.”

Bestseller redux: Aqua Universalis Forte is a highly concentrated version of the top-selling fresh scent, exclusively available at Adora.

He also recreated Marie Antoinette’s scent based on a book about the French queen’s perfumer, and scented the palace of Versailles’ fountains for two special events: “He transformed one into a huge fluorescent orange fountain, and people would go in the garden and smell orange blossom, as if Versailles was in bloom.”

In short, Kurkdjian is an artist through and through. So it’s a privilege to have his eponymous line finally available at Adora. Though the top seller is predictably a fresh scent, Aqua Universalis, there’s a lot to explore and discover in the Maison Francis Kurkdjian collection:

Aqua Universalis

It’s all about: Freshness

Notes: Sicilian lemon and bergamot, white-flower bouquet (lily of the valley, sweet mock orange), light and musky wood

What it smells like: Freshly laundered white sheets, clean air, soapy skin

Aqua Universalis Forte

It’s all about: Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s newest fragrance is Aqua Universalis in a 40-percent concentration, “so that’s like jewelry in fragrance,” notes Chaya. Hence, it has a gold (instead of the usual gray zinc) stopper and comes in a jewelry box.

Notes: A more brilliant, sparkling green Sicilian citron, white flowers plus absolutes of Egyptian jasmine and Moroccan rose, light woods and a more sustained musky accord

What it smells like: Aqua Universalis in stereo, with an even more heavenly, addictive drydown. If you find the original too light or fleeting, Forte is for you.

Pour Le Matin (For The Morning)

It’s all about: Being transported to a Mediterranean garden. The scent is available in cologne and more intense absolue (eau de parfum) form.

Notes: Calabrian bergamot, Sicilian lemon, Moroccan white thyme, Provencal lavender, Tunisian orange flower. The absolue has additional woody dry amber and violet flower.

What it smells like: The aforementioned garden with cut grass covered in dew, then dried and brightened by sunlight.

Pour Le Soir (For The Evening)

It’s all about: The scent memory of Kurkdjian’s mother in her fur coat, wearing lipstick and powder; also available in cologne and absolue forms

Notes: Siamese benzoin, Bulgarian and Iranian rose honey, incense absolute. The absolue is more concentrated with the addition of ylang-ylang, cumin, Atlas cedar and sandalwood.

What it smells like: Chaya compares the absolue to a “nuclear bomb” or “triple espresso shot” of scent. Combining the sacred (incense) with the profane (an animalic undertone), wear it to a club or to get noticed. I really like the powdery accord because it smells like makeup.

Apom (Pour Femme & Pour Homme)

It’s all about: The beauty of Lebanese men and women, with their dark skin and eyes. APOM stands for “A Piece Of Me,” that bit of yourself that you leave with others.

Notes: Orange flower and cedarwood, plus ylang-ylang for her and amber for him.

What it smells like: Thanks to the flowers, quite sweet, girly and feminine for her; and soft, sporty, yet masculine for him.

Lumiere Noire (Pour Femme & Pour Homme)

It’s all about: Dark and light. This began as a bespoke perfume for legendary French actress Catherine Deneuve. When MFK was founded, she and Kurkdjian agreed to include it in the line.

Notes: Spiced rose, cumin, hot pepper and patchouli, plus narcissus for her and mugwort herb for him.

What it smells like: Pure, femme fatale glamour. If APOM were a cocktail dress or suit, this would be the haute couture gown and tux.

Chaya recommends that customers here be more daring about the way they look at fragrances: “Because of the hot weather and humidity in the Philippines people tend to go for fresher scents, but the colognes for the morning and evening, the absolue for the morning and APOM are beautiful scents that would work here. Maybe you would find it a bit more challenging to go towards the evening colognes and absolues because they are stronger and a bit more sweet; however, this is something that Filipino women or men could wear when they travel or go out for a cocktail.”

For those VIP customers like Deneuve, Kurkdjian’s process for creating bespoke perfumes starts with a phone call or meeting. The perfumer tries to get an impression of what scents the client loves and doesn’t wear, what memories they’d like to recreate. “Some are very passionate about fragrances so the process can take three months all the way up to a year,” Chaya notes. “He has a travel lab in a very beautiful case that was made-to-measure for him and so he meets the customer with raw materials and essential oils and starts mixing for them, the same way he would for Jean Paul Gaultier or Guerlain.”

Bespoke, of course, is only available in Paris and Kurkdjian is already booked a year in advance.

Kurkdjian studied at ISIPCA, a very selective French perfumery school, before composing Le Male at 23. The irony is Chaya had no idea who Kurkdjian was when they met at a Jean Paul Gaultier fashion show. “Francis said to me, ‘I am a perfumer,’ and I said, oh, really, does such a thing exist? I thought that was Gaultier doing it himself.” Chaya eventually quit Ernst & Young to co-found and head Maison Francis Kurkdjian in 2009. “Founding MFK was about bringing a fresh vision to the fragrance industry,” Chaya says. “It was about founding a modern luxury fragrance house and celebrating the talent of one of the most talented perfumers of our time.”

At the end of the year MFK will release small, five-milliliter perfume roll-ons perfect for travel. The bottle stoppers and packaging are inspired by the zinc and gold rooftops of Paris, Kurkdjian’s beloved home city, and scented products include unique items like leather bracelets dipped in essential oil and handmade incense papers that when burned rid your home of pungent cooking smells like garlic and onion.

Impressed by the visionary perfumer, Adora’s Eman Pineda approached MFK a year and a half ago, after they had just launched in Paris and the United States, at Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus. “When I saw pictures of Adora and met him, I knew immediately that this was the perfect place for us,” Chaya says. “Eman has an eye for things that are unique and beautiful, and it’s been a wonderful and very successful partnership so far.”

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Maison Francis Kurkdjian fragrances are available exclusively at Adora Depart-ment Store in Greenbelt 5.