Jammy rose. There a so many bajillions of jammy rose saffron perfumes I just can't be remotely interested in this.
Nice, dry, herby, soft leather. It's soft touch, more on the suede side, and has a strong tea note. For me it's a unique, dry, herby tea scent, and I really like it.
It's pretty, uninspiring and uninteresting. There's nothing offensive here, but it's so bland. Immediately forgotten.
On card: Better than I expected. I find ambroxan-forward scents very tedious, and that note tends to prevent any element of magic or wonder emerging for me. I expected this to be similar to the ghastly Citron Noir by Hermès, and it is very similar for two minutes, then thankfully the complexity begins to emerge. It's not for me, but it's on a par with the overpriced abundance of MFK ambroxan freshies.
At first you may think, yes, OK this is a cute, delicious scent but nothing extraordinary. However when you wear it, over the course of the day you might, like me, start to notice what sets this apart from the average gourmand. The richness, complexity and delicacy of the balance is astounding, and it becomes creamy and enveloping. I must say I don't get any rum from this, and on my skin there is a shit-ton of vanilla, but it's fine by me as it's beautiful. The cacao comes and goes, and the fragrance oscillates between buttery cream and dry, bitter, sometimes fruity chocolate.
I find the first hour or so of this scent to be a bit of a slog. It has an aggressive chocolate note similar to the monstrous screech of Parfumerie Générale's Musc Maori, a plasticky, kinderesque milk chocolate similacrum, coupled with a loud, sweet burst of unidentifiable floral chemicals. Once the patchouli starts to take hold and the desperate, needy opening fanfare dies down, it becomes interesting. It's a choco-patch treat which performs well and smells expensive. However, the opening is so challenging to me I'm not sure if it's worth suffering the ordeal of the first phase. In this respect it reminds me of Lilac Love and Love Tuberose, insofar as it takes an hour before I find it wearable, but then I really love it.
Instant headache. Same cheesy, scratchy, screechy, synthetic leather accord found in certain fragrances by Alessandro Gaultieri. I really hate this, and of course it's insidiously nuclear. Edit after wearing on skin: I'd sprayed this on card and found it intolerable, and I didn't want to wear it. However now I have it on my inner elbows and wrists (it was a free decant, and the decant sprayer allows me to do little sprays, mercifully). It's different on skin. The cheesy leather is muted, though still present, and the warmth of my skin brings out the resins, labdanum and orris. It's more tolerable. I will say, though, that for my tastes this perfume suffers from the same issue as Shem by Nishane, namely a cypriol/leather overdose. It's just too screechy and scratchy for me personally, and it stills feels likely to give me a headache or become irritating at some point. I'd say this is a perfume whose sillage is way better than if you smell it up close. And one small spray, away from the face and neck area, will suffice. Chris Maurice is incredibly prolific, and many people seem to love his perfumes, but I've yet to find anything close to subtlety in his work, instead it's a smorgasbord of shouting opulence which I can imagine would seem apt in a Dubai shopping mall. I agree with the below reviewer, that this is for bros. Bros who perhaps first fell in love with Sauvage and are now a bit older with a bit more money. --- Yeah, I'm 20 minutes in and I'm gonna have to scrub it off. --- Whoopdi-frigging-do, it's impossible to scrub off 🙄
Roses and play doh!
Boring generic designer. Smells like everything and everybody else.
Staggeringly good gingery, salty lily. It seems delicate in the opening but it deceptively enveloping and intoxicating. This perfume is pure class, perhaps a but too classy for me, but I'm glad I have a bottle. It's in my top five Malle fragrances. Performance is relentless.
AMOUAGE Figment Woman Dorothée Piot 2017 (Not Karine Vinchon-Spehner like mentioned here) This is an absolutely amazing unique and artistic perfume like nothing else I have smelled and it’s totally underrated. White florals are done here in a mysterious way, they are covered with many different notes which each of them bring different kind of earthy and fresh feeling to the rich white floral heart. Figment Woman opens up with beautiful earthy menthol like freshness and a sharp peppery kick. Gardenia and Saffron together make it intoxicating and I think the menthol feeling - it’s just a feeling, not like you would have a menthol pastil in your mouth - comes from greenish Gardenia. Smell of the soil is absence which is not the case in Figment Man (gorgeous scent as well though but more challenging). In the heart together with white flowers you can feel an intense spicy and aromatic aroma from Cassia which is sometimes Cinnamon-like but here it doesn’t develop into that level. Papyrus in the base is very powerful and it turns the earthy vibe into dry smoke which is transparent and clean, not like from T***cco. Incense - Amouage’s signature note - finishes the base together with Patchouli and Orris. White florals are VERY unique and evocative. The whole concoction is crispy and cold. Despite of an extraordinary scent profile which can be polarising I don’t think this is offensive and therefore this can be worn easily at work too. This works as well year around like in different kind of temperatures as well. Thank you for reading and if you want to follow me on IG: @ninamariah_perfumes
I was so curious about this one since I see it so often in IG. The opening of this perfume is amazing. It's something quite unique what comes to designers but even niche Vanilla perfumes. Vanilla, Lavender, cacao and Ginger works together perfectly creating absolutely interesting and surprising combination. Vanilla comes through but it makes me to want to smell it more to understand the combination. It's fresh yet warm in the same time. Anyway unfortunately all that fresh and mysterious Vanilla is gone after 20 minutes and there is left only very general and mass appealing Vanilla which has made a thousand times before. It's not bad, it's cozy and comforting but it's very boring and all the people who love Vanilla perfumes has this scent in their collection already unless you have just started your collection. I would see myself wearing this for sleeping but I definitely won't buy it. If the notes in the opening would be the middle notes, this would be one of the best Vanilla scent I have ever tried. Thank you for reading and if you want to follow me on IG: @ninamariah_perfumes
I really like this, it's much more interesting than the name, marketing or general brand image would suggest. Despite the wealth of gourmand notes, I find it a little too soapy to be a gourmand, which is fine by me as there plenty of ice creamy, sweet perfumes of this type already. This is more like Noir Extreme but done through a summery, pistachio lens. It's quite subtle and delicate for the genre.
Omg how does this NOT have dates in it?!?!?. Smells soo much like Navitus XO Brandy with added peach lol. I'm a male and i much prefer xo brandy but I feel this one is a slightly feminine take on xo🤗
Warek is a very interesting scent. This is a pleasant fragrance which revolves primarily around rose, saffron and oud. A scent profile that has been done so many times, and yet this one does offer something different in my eyes. Rather than being overly jammy and sweet with the rose and saffron, I find they act as supporting notes to the brooding oud and smooth leather. This darkness has a slight bitter greenness about it from earthy patchouli and guaiac wood which I find rather addicting. Overall this is one of the more impressive scents from Kajal that I’ve tried. This one seems to go in its own direction and smell genuinely really good. It’s still not brilliant enough for me to buy a bottle but I will enjoy wearing my decant nevertheless.
Dahab is an intensely refreshing and tropical scent which I imagine would work brilliantly in the high heat. It’s not the most complex fragrance, it focuses almost entirely around a juicy combination of green apple and passion fruit. The apple itself does come across a bit overly synthetic but is refreshing and pleasant nonetheless. The passion fruit on the other hand amplifies that juiciness and brings that tropical element to the scent. From here there are soft musks and woods in the base but they are very subtle. This is a pleasant enough fragrance. I can see how the simplicity of the scent would make it a perfect pick for the summer, but personally I like my summer scents to smell more natural. This isn’t a bad fragrance at all but it doesn’t smell like it’s price tag.
I’ve seen a lot of hype around Almaz online so I was excited to try this one, but I have to say I don’t really get it. This scent has three noticeable aspects to it: the first is the refreshing juiciness, vivid blackcurrant and an array of citruses bring quite a pleasing freshness to the scent which is both satisfying and enjoyable. The second is the sweet, fruity florals - a strong dose of raspberry is joined by subtle powdery florals which to me add a slightly feminine vibe. Thirdly is the gourmand: thick, creamy vanilla and sugar dominate the base of the scent which really ramps up the sweetness. Overall this is a pleasant fragrance, I can see why people like it but good lord is it sweet. It’s not the best sweetness either in my opinion as it’s very synthetic to the nose. In my opinion I find this smells a lot cheaper than what the asking price actually is.
Alujain is a fairly standard take on a typical rose-oud fragrance. The rose dominates the scent quite strongly, it’s there from the get go and seems to linger for the duration of the scent’s life. This rose comes across quite synthetic and jammy, it smells nice but not very natural unfortunately. The next thing you notice is the oud. This does come across rather synthetic and doesn’t seem like the highest quality oud accord either, but has a subtle fecal character about it perhaps to seem more like the real thing somehow. All of this is backed up by generic sweet, creamy woodiness and musk. Alujain is a pleasant fragrance but I’m not overly impressed by it. This isn’t a scent that you will remember or be amazed by, it smells good but that’s all it does. Little to no depth to it unfortunately.
Strong fixative base, just like Homme A La Rose. Inexcusable for the price. There are hundreds of better rose fragrances for way less.
Licorice and TCP.
To me, Faris seems like a bit of a cash grab capitalising on the success of Sauvage and Aventus. It opens with a very sharp and masculine combo of lavender with an array of different citrus notes, and hints of juniper. You then start to pick up some spicy bitterness from coriander and clove, but this is only subtle. In the base, a fairly generic combo of Vetiver, sandalwood and patchouli take hold and lengthen the lifespan of the top notes. The quality doesn’t seem the best compared to Kajal’s other offerings, I feel like this scent lacks its own sense of direction. As I said, this bears similarities to both Sauvage and Aventus, but mostly Sauvage. It’s simply fresh and masculine with little interest or uniqueness about it. Good option if you just want to smell good, but you won’t smell memorable.
2 Man really surprised me as I wasn’t expecting this sort of scent profile from a designer fragrance. It opens very spicy straight away with warming masculine notes of nutmeg and caraway, which is then balanced perfectly by airy and powdery aldehydes with a slight fruity touch. From here we get into the depth of the scent - an earthy, dark and vegetal vetiver takes hold and paves way for a base of dark woods, leather and smoky incense. This scent smells incredibly classical and masculine, like a fragrance from a bygone era of vintage-style perfumery which is what took me by surprise. This scent reminds me ever so slightly of Diaghilev, likely due to the aldehydic combo of caraway and leather. It’s masculine, rugged and old-world in all the best ways. I much prefer Diaghilev personally but if I didn’t already own it I would seriously consider this as an alternative.
Hedonistic, as part of the Addictive Arts Collection, is a very unique and sensual scent. It opens with a very refreshing citric cocktail which acts as a base of support for a dark and juicy black Cherry, combined with a dry and slightly green mate tea note. This is already a pretty strange combination but it does seem to work. From here the scent begins to lean more into the dry direction as the mate is accentuated by a duo of soft tobacco and papyrus, before developing a sweet, creamy and leathery amber base. A touch of cashmere, sandalwood and oakmoss indulge into the creamy, powdery element and support the other notes very well. There’s a lot going on in this scent but overall this is primarily a sweet, leathery cherry and tobacco scent. It smells gorgeous and I imagine would do very well on a night out but for the insane retail price I would have expected more from it. Overall a very nice fragrance but doesn’t blow me away.
Le Flocon de Johann K is a brilliantly fresh and ozonic take on mimosa. It initially opens sharp and refreshing with citric notes, alongside intensely fresh ozonic and watery fantasy accords which accentuate this refreshing aspect of the scent. From here the star of the scent begins to shine - a heady dose of mimosa which is slightly green and powdery, offset by a subtle hint of mint. This minty mimosa mingles with the ozonic and watery notes for the duration of the scent’s life which makes for a fairly interesting composition. I must say the quality is decent, however I think you can only go so far in terms of quality when the bulk of the scent revolves around fantasy accords. This is a very pleasant fragrance which would do well in the summer but it’s not really for me.
FREDERIC MALLE 🥀 Portrait of A Lady 🥀 (named after the novel by Henry James from the 1881) Dominique Ropion 2010 Totally unisex I wore this one of the best dark rose scent yesterday evening. Straight away after spraying the scent filled all the living room and my husband who was in the kitchen came to say “ wooow, what is this scent, amazing, it’s everywhere here”. This is always a magical, mysterious and so elegant scent. Dark Patchouli with dark Rose petals together with spices has been done in absolutely perfect way. The blend is intense, so mesmerizing and polished, it’s like a thick velvet which is changing the color from dark burgundy to the darkest green. Rose Patchouli combination is very popular nowadays and I just can imagine how spectacular POAL has been when released but still until this day nothing can beat it in this category. Amouage’s Epic was released just one year before and they have many similarities. Still, especially the base of Epic is more complex with Oud which makes them to stand out between each others whilst Tiziana Terenzi’s Porpora, released in 2017, is very close to POAL. Portrait of a Lady is a classic and it’s classy. It’s sublime and it’s wafting around you and everywhere you go in attractive way. It’s not joyful but not melancholy either which makes it perfect for formal occasions with dignity and solemnity. It’s respectful scent which makes you feel confident. You can find many different kind of note pyramids from different sources. This is what make sense to me and (Note pyramid from FM website) ⬆️ Rose essence, Raspberry, Black currant, Cloves (Rose) ➡️ Turkish Rose absolute, Cinnamon, Patchouli (Black Currant, Raspberry, Cloves) ⬇️ Sandalwood, Incense, Ambroxan, White Musk (Patchouli, Sandalwood, Incense) Somewhere Benzoin and Amber has mentioned but honestly I don’t find hints of them which can be as well the result of masterfully blended concoction. Thank you for reading and if you want to follow me on IG: @ninamariah_perfumes
