Angkor Night

I had a decant. Really liked and toke notice. Bought a bottle. Mostly get milky cedar and Oud. They compliment each other splendidly. Very pleasant. I find the fragrance really develops when sprayed on the core body where it can warm up and project.

That one is so dreamy for me - it really evokes my memories of Angkor Wat and the Golden Palace of Bangkok. It really draws back that unforgettable pictures of the ancient temple complexe's ruins overtaken by a lush green-flowery jungle!

This is really strong. An oud, lavender and woody bomb. This projects, last long and has decent sillage.

I had hoped for something a bit more oriental, oudy, resinous, and deep, but Angkor Night isn't that. Nor is it particularly exotic. Instead, it is a pleasant aromatic-woody scent. The long dry-down was heavily dominated by juniper, lavender, and cedar. Not too heavy or dark. It became more masculine throughout the day--in that men's cologne kind of way. Overall, it's quite good, but didn't knock my socks off or scratch the itch I hoped it would. Since it can be found for a good price, I'd suggest a man looking for a good daily scent that isn't totally mainstream, but not too unusual, should try it.

As im testing more and more stuff i haven’t heard or read about, im wondering if the complete blind aproach is beneficial or even the proper way to do it. This becomes even more “concerning” when im thinking that i have a good bunch of artisanal/niche samples AND two more official discovery sets (from Akro and Nishane) waiting in line and i haven’t done proper research on those eighter. There are two arguements that support my blindtestings: the avoidance of being handheld or guided by the brands and secondly, exercise for my nose to see if throughout the years it gotten keen enough to detect notes. But the truth is, i love a good story and an indispensable part of a good story has to do with the context that is given. This got me thinking, perhaps i would have better appreciated certain perfumes had i read the briefs or blurbs beforehand and haven’t went in completely blind. What i did with Angkor Night was childish in a way. I took a peek on Fragrantica and looked at the brief and general family the fragrance belongs to whilst closing my eyes the notes. I tried to catch a glimpse without having too much revealed, kinda like children covering their eyes when a scary scene plays on TV, but curiosity drives them to take a peek here and there. The story of the fragrance is interesting to say the least. It speaks of Angkor, a 12th century city in Campodia, full of ruined temples dedicated to Vishnu. A city left to oblivion and taken back by nature, only to be discovered again in 1860. On a side note, documenting myself on Angkor got me wondering if George R.R. Martin took inspiration from the place for his A Song of Ice and Fire novels when he wrote about the city of Yeen and the continent of Sothoryos. The premise was promising to me and on paper it announced an evocative experience. The negative part is that i’ve set an expectation and if the perfume didn’t live up to it, it was all for the worse. The good news is that the perfume achieves two great things in my books. For one, the scent provides a meditative ambiance with a mysterious and dark, reclusive tonality. This ambiance fits the brief well and its done very much to my taste. The second great achievement of the perfume is that it comes across to me as a combination of three scent directions that im very fond of. It combines the tea-like, relaxing and meditative facets of Serge Luten’s Five O’Clock Eau Gingembre, the spicy and mature pimento accord of Nawab of Oudh Intensivo and the general profile of Commes de Garcon’s Zagorsk. Angkor Night smells like wild and untouched vegetation, woods and pine trees, sprinkled in with brewed tea, pimento and incense. Considering the fact that i really like both the Serge Lutens and the Ormonde Jayne and i desperately yearn for Zagorsk, i really appreciate Angkor Night because it combines the three of them in a single package. Admitedly its not as high-street-chic as Nawab of Oudh, not as cozy as the Lutens and not as lithurgical as Zagorsk but its somewhere in the middle, utilising some of my favourite accords in perfumery. The criticism i have is that i wish the accords and the overall composition was fuller, richer, with more depth. A touch of non-sweet amber or an earthy patchouli would have given it more background and that would have yielded better results. As it is, the elements are a bit two-dimensional but still nice on their own.

Very fresh, aromatic, lavender juniper, woody scent. It is green and calm, relaxing. It feels like incense. The oud here is very tame, nothing dirty or animalic. Nice experience. I liked it but I don't think I will buy a full bottle, I don't wear this type of scent, not my type. But I can say it smells very pleasant, and the ingredients have to be really good. I don't detect anything offensive or too harsh. Maybe I will get a little decant...maybe...

First impressions:I'm getting a clove or carnation type scent. It's definitely mature smelling. Spicey and aromatic. Smells better in the air than up close. I blind bought it and can honestly say it's not really worth going out of your way for unless you want to smell like someone's uncle Mort.

Its a nice scent... I can understand that it could smell mature and I agree, but also is a calm relaxing scent. Angkor Night brings me some memory of the Angkor palace/temple plus mens cologne type of scent. Not bad, not wow... Regular profile, masculine, little mature, woody and relaxing.