Collection Classique

Wazamba 2009

Wazamba by Parfum d'Empire
Bottle Design:
Bel Epok
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7.4 / 10 188 Ratings
A perfume by Parfum d'Empire for women and men, released in 2009. The scent is spicy-smoky. It is still in production.
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Main accords

Spicy
Smoky
Resinous
Woody
Fruity

Fragrance Notes

Ethiopian opoponaxEthiopian opoponax Indian sandalwoodIndian sandalwood Somalian frankincenseSomalian frankincense AppleApple Fir balsam absoluteFir balsam absolute Kenyan myrrhKenyan myrrh LabdanumLabdanum Moroccan cypressMoroccan cypress AldehydesAldehydes

Perfumer

Videos
Ratings
Scent
7.4188 Ratings
Longevity
7.9146 Ratings
Sillage
7.4140 Ratings
Bottle
7.2129 Ratings
Value for money
7.345 Ratings
Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 04/23/2025.
Interesting Facts
The fragrance is part of the "Collection Classique" collection.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to
Fille en aiguilles by Serge Lutens
Fille en aiguilles
L'Eau Trois by Diptyque
L'Eau Trois
Plum Japonais by Tom Ford
Plum Japonais
Haxan / Häxan by Parfum Prissana
Haxan
La Liturgie des Heures by Jovoy
La Liturgie des Heures
Encens Kapnos by Maison Incens
Encens Kapnos

Reviews

8 in-depth fragrance descriptions
SystemeD

58 Reviews
SystemeD
SystemeD
3  
Wondrous Woodiness
Wazamba is one of the most interesting and fragrant incense-based scents that you will find.

It opens with a Cepacol note that I very much dislike (just like the original Comme des Garcons).

However, it immediately deepens into a resiny, piney, sandalwood-suffused fragrance, with a touch of honeyed apple to provide a delicious roundedness.

There is incense here as well, but it's the wondrous woodiness that makes Wazamba a unique experience.
0 Comments
7
Bottle
9
Sillage
10
Longevity
10
Scent
Greenfaerie

86 Reviews
Greenfaerie
Greenfaerie
0  
Snowy evergreen mountains
Wazamba is such a fantastic immensely woody fragrance. Just an entire mountain range covered in evergreens, with precious resins seeping out. A touch of crisp, sweet apple in the first few minutes serves to uplift the heavy notes and the mood, but this is not a fruity fragrance on the whole. It wouldn't surprise me if there was a little bit of oud in there, or maybe a mahogany note, as the woods seem a bit on the dark side. Lovers of forest fragrances take note--Wazamba is as good as it gets!
0 Comments
9
Pricing
7
Bottle
7
Sillage
8
Longevity
9
Scent
OdorAeternus

27 Reviews
OdorAeternus
OdorAeternus
1  
scent of sprituality
This perfume is not on my buying list but I appreciate it as artistic and a high niche fragrance. The concept of the fragrance is spirituality. All 3 notes of myrrh, olibanum, and labdanum together with incense have important religious essences and have been used in religious and spiritual events throughout history. The top apple note was selected to complete the concept of this fragrance, which has a symbolic meaning (the forbidden fruit) in relation to other notes.

Regarding this concept, this fragrance was not created to get you compliments or refresh you like a cologne, it is rather more suitable for your private moments or your special events when you want to have a layer of spirituality around yourself.

0 Comments
8
Bottle
7
Sillage
8
Longevity
8.5
Scent
Meggi

212 Reviews
Translated Show original Show translation
Meggi
Meggi
Top Review 28  
Il Duomo' as a prelude and elsewhere
Great experiences are worth to be reported a second time and at the same time to be warmly recommended to others.

Last Easter I was with my family in Milan. A sight of global importance is the Milan Cathedral, whose roof can be walked on. With stairs or elevator it goes up, a small corridor leads into the free one. Marble without end, deep below ant-like people and a panoramic view over the roofs of the city all around. But also the cathedral itself offers new perspectives during the tour: Surprisingly narrow paths and niches alternate with wider sections up to the huge open space left and right of the ridge. And that one is simply overwhelming.

At one point not only the organ music and the singing of the Easter Sunday mass penetrated through some grids, which probably served for ventilation, but also quite clearly the smell of incense. As a North German I did not know before how bright and sour, almost green it can smell.

I find a similar fragrance in the prelude of 'Wazamba': light, acidic, resinous smoke, but here quickly accompanied by fruit. For a while, a haze of fiery plastic disturbs, but that becomes clear and in the course of the first hour more and more fruit and darker smoke are added to the initially dominant church appearance. As it progresses, the fragrance draws a beautiful, wide arc from light to dark, from bitter to sweet.

I imagine chocolate patchouli, after about an hour dark wood appears, duro-like in its compactness. Apart is the interplay between acidity from the incense and from the fruit, Madame Plum secretly gives herself something (rosy) tipsy and, I think, leans on Mr. Cashmeran. Probably Vetiver's Heller incense idea about time helps in the background. If I return to my office after my absence, I don't think "incense", but "vetiver".

Around midday more sweetness appears, the fruit gradually detaches honey-like. Again there is an interplay, this time between bitter-sour and sweet aspects of the smoke. I especially like what's floating about it. And once again I think of the cathedral, of the abundance of loving decorations, of the partly angled little corners on the roof, which actually lend a certain lightness to the monumental building - as far as possible.

The fragrance keeps the same for a long time, until the afternoon. More creamy grave-goods and more dark wood are added carefully and become compensators for the swelling sweetness. Only in the late afternoon and evening does the gentle, increasingly honey-like sweetness finally take over and remind us of the more passionate smokers like Tom Ford's 'Sahara Noir' or 'Calling All Angels' from April Aromatics.

Only the plastic of the beginning and the sure impression to have experienced practically everything already several times prevent me from exuberance today. This may be unfair in so far as among the numerous references (no twins, just siblings and cousins of various degrees, but lots of them!) there are also younger representatives, such as the beautiful 'Incense Pure' by Sonoma Scent Studio (2010), which spans a similar arc, or said 'Calling all Angels' (2012). Nothing to change. Nevertheless: 8,5 points are quite good!

If you find incense scents too glowing or too powerful, you can try the test here and feel your way there throughout the day.

I thank Yatagan for the rehearsal.
19 Comments
8
Bottle
9
Sillage
9
Longevity
9
Scent
Augusto

164 Reviews
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Augusto
Augusto
Top Review 16  
Frankincense from heaven and hell
First of all: This is one of the most incense fragrances I have tested so far. These are several different varieties and types of incense in one. It penetrates the skin and respiration like an incense. The perfume is not worn, it penetrates - per-fumare.

Incense from the first minute. And resin, and wax. The smell of sulfurized fruits, spicy sweet as the thought of Christmas, penetrate a floating layer of church frankincense. And there's myrrh! Scented floating glowing myrrh pervades the nave. And that smells so pleasant, as if one could simply paint the church association and get to the core of incense.

The scent fluctuates between occidental church and antiquity, archaic fire smoke and smoking fire, perhaps even to preserve food. Dried fruit, dried fruit, campfires. This incense, incense and incense again is so multi-layered. Not easy to grasp, of special quality. Dark, but not gloomy, pervaded by bright silver flags and strong etherics. Powerful, enveloping. No scratching in the throat, no touching on note distracts here. Nothing for everyday life, Wazamba is too strong for me for that.

Harzig, the pine resin unlocks the nose. The fruits fill in sweet stickiness, and build the bridge from the sweating fir cone to the prune. Apple, myrrh for brightness and effervescence and joy of life. Plum and pine resin and labdanum/cistus for darkness and warmth.

It is probably about concentration of fragrance matter, and also the smell, the sensation is concentrated. Hence the impression of ritual smoke, even if the rite is and remains unknown. The mood is not everyday. Here the perfumer has dared to attempt to make something extraordinary, perhaps something rooted in history, smellable and thus more unconsciously than consciously perceptible. This goes one step further than the atmospheric painting of the Lutensschen Nadelmädchen, as much as I like it, and which I already experience as very insistent and which it reminds me of in places. But Wazamba is denser, more violent, more comprehensive. This one's got a different handwriting. That the perfumer approaches scents and fragrances for his compositions from the historical point of view is not - by the way - an advertising stunt. This is not a light coniferous forest but a blazing fire in which resins and woods burn and soak and transform the environment with this scent. He takes you with him, there's nothing strange about it, I really appreciate that, otherwise the scent would be quite heavy to wear.
I begin gradually, hour by hour, to approach the radiance of incense and that is nothing peripheral with this fragrance. Surprisingly, I don't sit spellbound, but like to wear the scent consciously, for hours and by the way. What a scent experience. This is already the second scent from PdE, which leaves me somewhat impressed as soon as it passes away. But, as I said, it takes many hours.

Conclusion: He pulls you away. Contemplative, yes, also with great inner peace, but also with impressive power and complexity. Smoke and fruit acid, wood, dry and full-bodied. Heaven and hell. Meditation and soulful free feeling.
8 Comments
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Statements

8 short views on the fragrance
AlexD76AlexD76 2 months ago
8
Bottle
8
Sillage
8
Longevity
8
Scent
Mystical scent of incense, myrrh, sandalwood & cypress, brightened by apple. A captivating & deep fragrance
0 Comments
BamBamNYCBamBamNYC 7 months ago
8
Sillage
7
Longevity
7
Scent
Opens really camphoraceous. Full on resins. Interesting but not my cup of tea.
0 Comments
Jbl775Jbl775 7 months ago
8
Bottle
7
Sillage
7
Longevity
9
Scent
Incense and apple cider...best incense along with Sahara Noir hands down. Its niche perfection here.
0 Comments
Finerthings8Finerthings8 3 years ago
4
Bottle
8
Sillage
8
Longevity
7.5
Scent
It has mixture of resinous notes with boozy dry plump.i got more myrrh then incense.it is unusual and interesting.
0 Comments
HolscentbarHolscentbar 10 months ago
7.5
Scent
Smoky and I perceive a spice like black pepper on top, but then combined with a fresher greener part
0 Comments
ErswanErswan 11 months ago
8.5
Scent
Apple might not be for everyone, but rather key to the theme. Very wearable incense perfection sans church mustiness. Aldehydes exalt this.
0 Comments
Topfpflanze3Topfpflanze3 2 years ago
7
Bottle
8
Sillage
7
Longevity
6
Scent
The incense has this church vibe like in Montale full incense. Its a creative and artistic but completely unwearable. Others did it better
0 Comments
MeliponeMelipone 2 years ago
Interestingly, this has some vibes from L'AP Aedes de Venustas (just one year older). And I bet it has inspired TF Plum Japonais.
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