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Varanasi Meo Fusciuni 2020

7.9 / 10 101 Ratings

A popular perfume by Meo Fusciuni for women and men, released in 2020. The scent is animal-spicy. The longevity is above-average. It is still in production.
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Main accords

Animal

Spicy

Smoky

Woody

Resinous

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Frankincense Nutmeg

Nutmeg

Saffron

Cardamom

Heart Notes

Ambergris

Jasmine

Rose

Ambrette

Cypriol

Base Notes

Animalic notes

Gurjum balsam Oud

Oud

Spikenard

Leather

Vetiver

Perfumer

Giuseppe Imprezzabile a.k.a. Meo Fusciuni

Ratings

Scent

7.9101 Ratings

Longevity

8.287 Ratings

Sillage

7.785 Ratings

Bottle

7.880 Ratings

Value for money

7.255 Ratings

Submitted by M3000 · last update on 01/30/2026.

Source-backed & verified

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

London

Varuek

Bois d'Oud

Rien Intense Incense

Bois Mystérieux

Serenity

Reviews

12 in-depth fragrance descriptions

04/06/2025

8.5Scent 8Longevity 7Sillage

Smirky
504 Reviews

Smirky

6

Very good but....

I was quite impressed with Varanasi. Opening is a bit poopy but only for a very short while (few minutes). It then blossoms into an awesome animalic/spicy/resin-y/woody scent. Quite a low-balls-hanging masculine fragrance. I couldn't help but think it smelled similar to a fragrance I already had. Upon further scanning my collection, I hit on it - Varuek. So I compared both with a single spray of each on the back of opposite hands and sure enough, there is a basic similarity. As far as accords go, I'd say Varuek pumps up the woody accord slightly more than Varanasi. Other than that, Varuek just strikes me as a much richer and deeper fragrance which I'm glad to have. I'll pass on Varanasi.

Longevity for Varanasi was very good while projection was more moderate.

08/24/2025

8Scent 8Longevity 7Sillage

MrIDK
15 Reviews

MrIDK

Helpful Review 5

Do you want the funk?

Varanasi feels very funky to me. Not “funky” as in overly animalic, but funky in the sense of being strange, unusual and quirky, in a way that’s intriguing and enjoyable.

There is still a hint of animalic character, especially in the opening. You’re greeted with ambergris, some leather and the “animalic notes.” I’m not sure I get much oud. Frankincense becomes more noticeable, especially in the sillage when I’m moving around. What stands out most throughout the wear, for me, is probably the ambergris. It gives a musky aspect that keeps the funk active.

The later drydown is somewhat unpredictable. Sometimes it leans warm, spicy and woody; other times it turns slightly sweeter, resinous or balsamic, perhaps thanks to the spikenard or the florals.

In terms of performance, it’s nothing to jump out of your seat by: I get around 8-9 hours, which is solid, though it loses its noticeable projection after 3-4 hours. It’s still strong enough to be detectable on my own skin.

I personally don’t mind its average projection, because the scent makes up for it. It’s honestly one of the most unique perfumes I’ve experienced, and I’m glad to have it in my collection. If you’re into scents that are unusual and quirky, definitely give this one a try!

Updated on 10/21/2025

11/27/2025

9Scent

DrB1414
276 Reviews

DrB1414

2

Unfiltered India

The way Giuseppe conveys personal experiences from his travels, and emotions likewise, through his works, is quite admirable. With Varanasi, he not only communicates his memories of the Spiritual Capital of India, but does it justice to such an extent that one can feel the energy of the city by experiencing the fragrance. He also portrays a lesser “advertised” face of India. It is not as pretty and colorful as you might encounter with most olfactory compositions or see in postcards and travel magazines. He shows the wild parts, the unfiltered bits that are purposefully omitted.

By now, you can contour an idea of what this fragrance smells like. Spiritual, spicy, dirty in a visceral and natural way (that developed countries forgot about). He offers glimpses of the agreeable: a shy jasmine and rose duet, some warm, sweet cardamom, enough to remind you of the beautiful parts. But make no mistake, this perfume is ultimately dark, sober, and quite dirty. Another fascinating thing is how the incense accord feels. It’s a “wet incense.” I can’t shake that damp quality off. Imagine Varanasi at night during the religious ritual of Asthi Visarjan. This is when people come to immerse the ashes of their deceased into the Ganges. How would that smell? He conveys that imagery through this scent. Indeed, the perfume is very earthy. Damp earth. I get plenty of the spikenard, but also the cypriol and the oakmoss. There is a slight minerality from the ambergris. The saffron and the musks help create a leather-like accord. It is both smooth and subhuman. The spices hit hard in the opening, mostly nutmeg and cardamom, and stick throughout. Above everything, the incense reigns supreme. It feels more like wood being burnt for incense rather than resins. The effect is quite dry and devoid of sweetness, slightly ashy. The damp quality sticks all along, making it stand out among other incense-themed perfumes. Truthfully, I find Varanasi rather unique. If I were to draw a parallel, I could name Tom Ford’s London. However, while London is bone dry and akin to the capital at night during Victorian England, Meo’s creation travels many miles to the East to tackle a more profound and religious approach to that same spicy-dirty-incense theme.

IG:@memory.of.scents

04/07/2025

10Scent 9Longevity 9Sillage

Petrittttt
7 Reviews

Petrittttt

3

The only thing that slightly detracts

I've been enchanted with the description of this fragrance, so I "blindbought" it.

Varanasi is quite hard to pin down because how much it changes on my skin and with the weather. It starts with a blast of Oud and very animalic leather and then the very grey ambergris shows up. Some days I get a lot of the animalic/woody, others it's almost like a garden of lovely florals and the green side with a very tame animalic side and others I get almost a bazaar of spices with the ever present oud backbone. It's almost as if the fragrance is the city itself and you discover new areas of it with every wear.

Performance is unreal, I clocked over 15 hours on a warm weather (~25 C) with very good projection/sillage!

An absolute joy in my collection and I can't recommend this enough for those who love bold scents and want to be mesmerized with each wear!

Updated on 04/07/2025

09/28/2024

Cedric34
14 Reviews

Cedric34

3

India in real life

Varanasi is an Animalic, spicy woody & aquatic fragrance.

Perfume in reference to the holy city of India par excellence, begins with a rapid and brutal but dizzying dive into a suffocating atmosphere of tanneries with its leather disemboweled in the sun, dust and ceremonial bonfires consuming the deaths of the day before, Loading the air with heavy, pungent odours, ammonia-like scents and charred wood.... Welcome to India. In real India, far from bollywood film productions and clichés for western tourists in need of exoticism. Hot spicy spices and a powerful incense jump to the face like a pomegranate unpinned in a very dirty copper facet at the limit of bearable. And it lasts for a while.

Here is the heart of an authentic city that is told with all its contradictions and its paradoxes scorched to raw in a perfume memory of this journey for any foreigner in search of spirituality and where they meet the sacred and the profane in an unlikely balance yet very tangible.

No need to look for a possible comparison with another perfume Varanasi has no. Varanasi will not arrive on the shelves of commercial perfumeries as this composition divides.

Either we will come to love him after much effort to go towards him or we will reject him viscerally .

Usually loving perfumes that push the boundaries of olfactory propriety, I can say that Varanasi is really a perfume difficult to grasp and wear. No Parisian niche store has yet dared to take the risk of offering this Italian artisanal niche house for now.

City located on the edge of the sacred river Ganges, the perfume also transcribes the essential presence of water in the life of people who come to purify themselves. The work of a grey amber recomposed, jasmine and rose manages with force and realism to restore the image of a river with cloudy water and yellowish carrying on its calm waves of flower offerings.

Finally, the Oud and Vetiver reflect the animal compost of this place in reference to the cattle that share the lives of humans, who in India have a pure veneration for these animals.

The Varanasi perfume crystallizes the Indian mandala: a daily scented complex but perfectly balanced mixture between spices, wood, incense, animal, water.

The drying of the perfume is an interior illumination in reward for efforts made in which expresses a dark, warm and woody background, amber and balsamic, all impregnated with a sweety shade of pink.

Updated on 10/10/2024

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