PerfumeBore

Smells nice, reminiscent of an old school unisex eau-de-cologne (you know, the ones that used to be sold in apothecaries). Sparkly herbal opening with lemon; prominent "ambergris" in base. The structure looks very much like classic fougere, but this is very unisex. Not sure why would this cost quite so much. I mean, I don't suppose they used natural ambergris here?? Easily could have been an Aqua Allegoria.

I thought I'd write this up as people might be wondering if this can replace the Samsara extrait. Crazy priced as this is, the extrait is not cheap either.

TLDR: no, this closer to modern Samsara EDP rather than the extrait.

The opening markedly different from the extrait (I have early 2000s version) - the Samsara has a mix of citruses with prominent lemon, and something else, very sour (not sure if the top notes in my bottle went south tho - the EDP doesn't have anything sour in it, the lemony citruses + something fruity like a peach or the like). Danger has sweeter citruses, I'd say mandarin and lemon are very prominent.

Samsara extrait is very woody, creamy, powdery and vanillic. There are aldehydes as well. It has a slight vintage vibe (likely from the aldehydes and carnation), but it manages to avoid smelling old-fashioned.
Danger is a simpler scent, smells like powdery jasmine-rose vanilla (aka the Guerlinade type of thing). There is less woodiness comparing to the extrait (although I can tell the base does have something woody synthetic in it, but not a lot), and less creaminess. I think it's closer to the modern Samsara EDP rather than the extrait, as the modern EDP is also simpler than the extrait, and less woody and creamy.

All three scents are not long lasting, Samsara EDP being the most fleeting (3 hours on me), Danger in the middle (4 hours on me) and then the extrait (5 hours on me). The deep dry down is different for the three: the extrait is actually powdery, vanillic and musky (in a cat litter sort of way, but it doesn't smell bad on me, there aren't many of those musks in there); Danger displays some smoked wood (similar to maybe synthetic vetyver); Samsara EDP is very powdery.

Considering the price difference, I'd go with Samsara EDP instead of this (unless you want not so much the scent as the luxury bells and whistles), or would procure the vintage Samsara extrait as it is more interesting and complex and lasts longer.

Final note: I had a discovery set with 51, Elixir, Amber Aoud, Sweetie Aoud, Gardenia, Enigma and this one. This one is the best of the bunch - because it smells like a Guerlain lol

Easily the weirdest perfume I own. Not sure why I got this. It's strangely addictive, in a varnish kind of way.

Sniffing my skin up close, it smells like either a varnish, or gasoline, or a new leather shoe with rubber soles - something that would come out of oil refinery, you know. I have no idea what it is, but I wonder if it's birch tar.

[I am describing the middle stage of the perfume here. The opening is so weird, I cannot quite put my paw on it] When I don't sniff it close to my skin, and just smell sort of the cloud that this perfume envelopes me with, this very powdery (not Guerlain Insolence level of powdery, but somewhere in the vicinity), sweet with honey and something vaguely fruity (could be apricot jam too, yes), and then there is saffron. Not the medicinal iodine type of saffron you'd find in something like Baccarat Rouge, as well as miriad of modern Middle-Eastern-ish perfumes. No, this smells like literal spice, if you ever cooked with it. I actually don't find this type of saffron in many perfumes - the only two that have this literal saffron smell in them are this one and another Amouage scent, Figment W. Because of this note, I cannot wear Figment - I just feel like a vegetable soup in that perfume. In this one, although discernible, it's actually less prominent, and together with the strong honey-fruity sweetness and the powder creates this really weird effect. (I hate saffron, so for me this note seems to be more prominent than for other people, but I also have to wonder how many people ever cooked with saffron - it is expensive and not easy to find). There's also the leather shoe smell somewhere in the far background. There is a certain creaminess to the scent as well. The perfume definitely is richer than what I can discern, but it's just all so very densely together, it just creates this very weird, complex in a true Amouage fashion, but also very festive smell.

Yes, a thing about this - this is very elegant and festive. Very appropriate for a night at the opera or something like that. In fact, the powder in this does conjure up an image of a theater, velvet curtains, dressing rooms, mirrors with the light bulbs. The gold-and-red bottle is very fitting. Although I can definitely see this on somebody wearing jeans and flip flops - it would make a statement. This definitely has a unique character and is distinct.

I am perplexed, looking at the rating and the other reviews. Did I get a counterfeit discovery set?? I absolutely cannot smell what others here smell. No "floral", no "powdery" (ok, maybe some), and not even close anything "oriental".

The perfume opened with the usual Roja screechy fresh something (decidedly _not_ bergamot) alongside a fruity candy (quite fun, actually). The sparkly fruity candy was rather fleeting (unfortunately, as it really is a fun note), and after that the smell morphed into something fresh, very sharp, synthetic (like calone, or laundry musks, or something of the kind) and indescript. I cannot smell florals (at least naturalistic florals) or much else, quite frank. The base seems to be woody - again, something reminding me of Molecules (or, rather, their Escentric ones). There also seems to be a bit of something sweet like vanilla or vague fruity notes in the background. This stage lasts about 1-2 hours.

As the perfume continues to develop, it gets more and more sweet, with vanilla and fruity candy re-emerging. The fresh synthetic part subsides, but doesn't go away entirely. This is a nicer stage, it is far less sharp, but still largely fresh synthetic. I noticed it is very typical of Roja perfumes, to have very loud, sharp and screechy opening and the first 1-2 hours, and then turning into something nicer. In roughly 3 hours the scent gets considerably quieter. On skin it smells vanilla, fruity hard candy, something woody synthetic (very lightweight and fluffy) and laundry musk. There is something powdery as well, but rather faint - but only close to the skin; in general I would not classify this scent as "powdery" at all.

After 5-6 hours there is only a faint powdery slightly sweet scent left on the skin.

Overall, the smell would not suggest the price that is being charged for this. The esthetics is more like a designer fragrance - I would not be surprised to see something like this in a Versace line up, say. Maybe a Parfums de Marly would be more apt a comparison. The good thing about this perfume is that it does go through stages of development, so it's not linear - which makes it more interesting for me. Another good thing is that the base does not completely break down into something illegible, so this is not poorly constructed.

This is like a photo mosaic. You look at it closely - you see wormwood, frankincense, cloves, orange, wood, cardamom, florals. You step away - you see all these combine to form a mosaic of a smoky plum. Dark, viscous, velvety smoky plum that reminds you of vampires and gothic cathedrals.

It's interesting, but actually Dior's Poison opened this perfume to me. Before testing Poison, I thought this smelled simply of plum, and I always was bewildered to look at the pyramid. Why are there so many notes listed, when all I hear is smoke and plum, thought I to myself.

Then I tested Poison, which does smell like a plum, and it has a literal and simple plum note. At first, I thought they are very similar. But when I compared them side by side, the smoky plum disappeared from Memoir, and instead all the beautiful spices, florals and herbs emerged. It was like magic!