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Varanasi Meo Fusciuni 2020

7.9 / 10 86 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

Resinous

Woody

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Frankincense Saffron

Saffron

Cardamom

Nutmeg

Heart Notes

Ambergris

Jasmine

Ambrette

Cypriol

Rose

Base Notes

Animalic notes Oud

Oud

Gurjum balsam Leather

Leather

Spikenard

Vetiver

Perfumer

Giuseppe Imprezzabile a.k.a. Meo Fusciuni

Ratings

Scent

7.986 Ratings

Longevity

8.375 Ratings

Sillage

7.773 Ratings

Bottle

7.867 Ratings

Value for money

7.445 Ratings

Submitted by M3000, last update on 09/24/2025.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Rien Intense Incense

Serenity

Bois d'Oud

Bois Mystérieux

anti anti

L'incendiaire

Reviews

8 in-depth fragrance descriptions

04/06/2025

7
Pricing 7
Sillage 8
Longevity 8.5
Scent

Smirky
483 Reviews

Smirky

5

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

8
Bottle 7
Sillage 8
Longevity 9
Scent

MrIDK
12 Reviews

MrIDK

4

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!

04/07/2025

7
Pricing 9
Bottle 9
Sillage 9
Longevity 10
Scent

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!

09/28/2024

Cedric34
13 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.

05/23/2024

HalfEntity
2 Reviews

HalfEntity

1

Teleportation device to Varanasi

This is not a fragrance. It's art for the sake of art of a teleportation device. Now, I have never been to Varanasi but as it's a famous place of India , I have read and watched documentaries about it. I have some idea of what it would smell like. The fragrance starts of smelling like ashy dirty water accompanied by incense in the air. If I wouldn't know that the fragrance is about Varanasi I would say it smells like an antiseptic bandaid but I get what Imprezzabile wanted to achieve here. The incense is not the sweet kind like in CdG Avignon or the aromatic kind like most of the Amouages have. It's dry but no devoid of soul. After 1-2h it's starts getting some sweetness but it's not distinct to anything from the note breakdown. That dirtiness and incense still linger. The dry-down is the most beautiful part of the fragrance. It's clearly some oudh as it's getting skankier and skankier along with some saltiness from the ambergris most likely. This is my #1 "don't buy for for compliments or to impress" fragrance. It's just a picture of Varanasi that Imprezzabile pained with his nose not with his hands. Performance is massive, I still get the ambergris and oudh blend after 12-14h easy. In fact, I showered after this period and the heat made it come alive again. 100% try before buying, multiple times and if you like it ...get a teleportation device to Varanasi for around $200.

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