CREED Acqua Fiorentina Perfumed Oil

I adore CREED Acqua Fiorentina Eau de Parfum ($240), a fruity floral fragrance that was introduced in 2009-2010 (shown below). Master perfumer Olivier Creed, with his son Erwin, created a "statement about the lasting value of fine scent, shared and enjoyed from generation to generation."

The inspiration for Acqua Fiorentina was 15^th century Florence, where artists and innovators, such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, sparked a new flame of beauty and culture with Renaissance art that's priceless today. Fittingly, orchards and farms around Florence are the sources for the ingredients in Acqua Fiorentina.

The top notes are lightly sweet greengate plum (often used in cuisine as a dessert plum) and bergamot orange. The middle notes include Renaissance roses, pink carnations, and Calabrian lemons, a finely rendered portrait of fruits and blooms that belongs on a canvass. The base notes are Virginia cedar and Indian sandalwood, two of my favorites. They give Acqua Fiorentina a soft dry-down that's easy on the nose.

That brings me to Acqua Fiorentina Perfumed Oil ($145), which I purchased recently from the CREED Boutique in New York. The day it arrived, I sprayed it on my neck, chest, and arms before bed. I awoke the next morning and wondered for nearly 30 minutes why my whole bedroom smelled so good. Having forgotten my treat before bed, I was worried that a bottle of perfume has spilled. Crazy me! I was the reason my bedroom had that heavenly fragrance. Actually, CREED can take most of the credit. I just had the good sense to buy and use the Acqua Fiorentina Perfumed Oil.

To make perfumed oils, Olivier Creed uses the same crop of handpicked ingredients he uses to make his original fragrance formulations (and he's very picky about his ingredients). Instead of the traditional fine fragrance alcohol base, he crafts an alternative of calendula oil to gently soothe the skin, almond oil with omega-3 for its treatment benefits, and aloe extract to soften and heal the skin.  The result is fine, fragrant oil that's light enough to spray on its own or to layer with its companion eau de parfum.

Interestingly, CREED's first perfumed oils were made for Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie, who used the oil to soothe her skin during the long Paris winters and scorching summers - basically any time she wanted a treat. I'll be using my new Acqua Fiorentina any time I feel like it too, but especially before bed. I love drifting off to sleep with a divine dry oil scenting my skin while it moisturizes. I really love awakening to the same divine fragrance the next morning.

The Acqua Fiorentina Eau de Parfum is in extremely short supply. It's my understanding that when Creed cannot source his ingredients, he will discontinue production until he can replace the ingredients with exact duplicates. I'm not sure where you might find a bottle of the irresistible eau de parfum today. I want the flacon, and I'll start my quest now. I bought the 2.5-ounce spray at Neiman Marcus months ago.

I do know where you can find the Acqua Fiorentina Perfumed Oil: at the CREED Boutique, where I bought mine. You should also be able to find it at Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, and select Saks Fifth Avenue stores, although it's so nice, they sell through the stock quickly upon delivery.

Photos courtesy of CREED, darvillsrareprints.com, and metmuseum.org