Dark As Wood

Thank you, Fragrantica, for listing this beauty 💖👑 Dark As Wood is a magnificent clone of Guerlain’s Bois d’Armenie. It truly is outstanding which is why I purchased three bottles of this amazing fragrance. It is vanilla, iris and incense blended to perfection. Smooth, ice-creamy vanilla. The iris cools and lightens the vanilla. Nothing heavy at any point during the wear. Pure indulgence. It would suit more upscale situations; even those important business meetings. Ideally for autumn, winter and spring – I think Dark As Wood may be too cloying for our South African summer days, although it should be fine for evenings. This is luxury, sophistication and sexiness in a bottle. Easily one of my best fragrance purchases of 2023.

It is very similar to Bois d’Armenie from Guerlain, as intended. Unfortunately that one is discontinued, so this is much welcomed. It has a light hay like aroma in the beginning and as I warms on the skin it becomes heavier and even more similar to the original. Overall it isn’t as sticky and resinous as the original, but maintains the exact same scent profile with a prominent hay note to compensate for the missing more expensive elements of the original, but fits welll. Longevity and projection wise I would say they are very similar, as the original is not a beast. I love it, you definitely recognise the Bois d’Armenie scent in it and the price is unbeatable.

#1735 in my “Tour de Fragrance” Wow! Can’t beat this scent for the money. Nice iris and incense combination. I don’t like it as much as I like Ormond Jayne’s “Kashmir”, but I like the price way better than I like $200+ for 88ml of the Ormonde Jayne. By the way the liquid is actually green, not brown. This is pretty much same mix as Maison Asrar’s “Wood Intense” which is priced in the same range. Longevity and silage are okay. Can’t complain for $15. Office wear or date wear for warm weather. Inoffensive. Safe blind buy. I ordered multiple bottles of this one. Good Luck and Good Hunting!

Get a bottle of this before it is discontinued. 10/10 A niche-like perfume. The scent is fantastic.

Remind me of mm whisper the library .. Woody vanilla scent

To be honest, I have never liked woody fragrances, but this one was amazing. Realistically woody, warm, slightly green, smelling like a freshly cut wood from the forest. Unfortunately, I sent it back because the longevity was weirdly poor, like of a body mist or a very gentle EDT. I believe there was something wrong with my batch, because it's impossible for this scent profile to be so feeble. I also can't find any other sellers of this fragrance in my region. If someone could recommend me something similar to Dark as Wood, I would be extremely happy!

Guys please stop waxing poetic about basic ass fragrances. This is a linear boring amber with some faint woods but not even fresh cut wood or challenging cedar or burning wood, more like you can faintly smell the wood if you scratch an old wood desk kind of wood. It smells more like light sandalwood under a thin amber cloud. I don’t hate it but I also don’t love it. It’s just boring. It’s unisex & sits close to you with little projection but I can still smell it on my skin & clothes hours later it just starts out mid at first spray and then stays close. I don’t know what BdA smells like but I would expect more from Guerlain so I doubt this is a good dupe. I even tried dousing myself in overspray to see if I was missing something but in a few days I’ve already dented the hell out of the bottle testing it & meh. I’d call it inoffensive. Girls who like sugary gourmands will hate this so when I say unisex I never mean you, babe. I have no problem wearing this as a woman but my question would be why would I reach for this? Btw my juice from Jomashop is green. Bottle gets a solid 8.5, fragrance is a 6. It’s not bad by any means it’s just not great either. I layered it with Liam Grey (another middle eastern meh disappointment) & that doesn’t suck with them together I guess. From these reviews I was thinking I might need to stockpile backup bottles so you can imagine my amusement finding this juice is so utterly average. I think Cremo colognes probably have more personality. Thank god I got this for a song. Fragrantica reviewers are not to be trusted so blind buy at your own risk, kids.

This doesn't smell like my Bois d'Armenie by Guerlain - at all, not surprising for a fragrance being sold at Jomashop for $14.95. The problem with all of these so called dupes is that they then get sold as decants on sites like Mercari or Etsy as the real thing. eBay has tried to stop them, not because they're fake, but bc of hygienic concerns. You can't get this scent anymore, mine is a bee bottle that I had filled bc I love the scent. If you ever find a legit source, like the Guerlain Boutique in Paris - they have the fragrance stored for posterity's sake and allow the public to at least smell it - you'd be able to understand why this Fragrance World dupe doesn't have any resemblance to the real thing. Of course, that will probably not be a reasonable option for most and so called decanters will continue to sell these ME fragrances as the real thing and get away with it; making curious perfume lovers think that Bd'A smells like heavy amberwoods, overloads of vanillin, cheap incense paper with zero subtlety or nuance. Be wary of anyone selling decants of really expensive discontinued fragrances. Sellers have a vested interest in writing glowing reviews for these fragrances bc they try to make money reselling it. A surprisingly lucrative venture considering how much perfume costs these days and interest in older, better quality fragrances. I bought two decants off Mercari recently (of "Bd'A") trying to find out if the sellers could be trusted with other fragrances that I don't own to compare them to, both were this abomination.

Does AI pick the "reminds me of" Stuff? Because the only one that matches is the inspriation, Bois de Armanie. I have a vintage bottle of BdA and am wearing it head to head with Dark as Wood, and the dupe is SO CLOSE. I"m thrilled because BdA is one of my all time favorite scents ever and not only was it expensive when it was available, it's discontinued. So anyone who didn't get to try it, try this. Anyone who loved it but can't afford to buy decants sparingly drammed out by owners, try this. There's a bit more Vanilla in the dry down of Dark as Wood, but on my skin, wrist to wrist, this is so very close it will satisfy the itch and might even make you believe it's the real thing. As for the "reminds me of" stuff, Emeraude is too powdery and nothing like this, Musc Ravageur is msuky oily lacks the benzoin, the vanillic notes, the woody elements...I can see no similarity to Dark as Wood and anything on that list. It's Bois de Armenie in dupe form and darn well done too.

Dark As Wood is frequently cited as a close dupe for the discontinued Bois d’Arménie, particularly in the mid and dry-down phases. While it may lack the refinement of the original it does woody-vanilla essence at a budget-friendly price. The iris is slightly more pronounced, and vanilla is toned down compared to BA . It’s a luxurious unisex fragrance that punches above its price point, a sophisticated blend of woody, vanilla, and amber notes. While the opening may not win everyone over, the mid and dry-down shine, making it a strong choice for those who love Bois d’Arménie or seek an elegant, affordable scent for cooler seasons.

As mentioned previously, the opening may not be the most pleasant smell, it is a bit harsh, but it quickly dries down to a nice and soft woody-smoky iris scent. (With some vanilla maybe?) Anyone ha mentioned berries, I detect zero berry notes (or any other sweet fruity notes) Completely unisex, not too harsh for women and not too sweet for men. Great performance, fairly good sillage that lasts pretty long. I've got a decant only but am considering getting a full bottle.

Dark As Wood's inspiration, Guerlain’s Bois D’Armenie, is my favorite fragrance. Dark As Wood has a rough, mediocre opening. But the mid and dry down are excellent for the price. I definitely recommend this fragrance if you are looking for something to resemble the tragically discontinued Bois D’Armenie. It is quite close, especially in the dry down - which is obviously the most important part, at least for me. I got mine for about $22 at Triple Traders. 8/10

They actually switched things up a bit on this one. The actual notes are: Top notes: red berries, Peruvian balsam, irises. Heart notes: guaiac wood, patchouli, vetiver. Base notes: musk, benzoin, vanilla. I believe these are accurate because I definitely smell peru balsam, it's a very distinct smell and stronger than copaiba balm. (In my opinion anyway) In any case it's a great scent that lives up to its name. Dark wood covered in smoldering resin. Mmmm. ;-)

Am I the only one who thinks this smells like a watered down, more wearable DHP (pre 2025)? It certainly is good, iris, leather (probably from soft incense and woods) and.. that's about it. At least this is what my nose is grabbing. Not balsamic, maybe some red pepper, chocolatey patchouli. Very nice fragrance tbh, I was impressed tbh. It does not smell the price I paid (30$). Really smells soft. You're an iris lover? Get this, please.

Just received this and my first impression is this really looks and smells like Guerlain. It opens a bit masculine and remind me a bit od Habit Rouge edp from the first sniff. It mellows out quite quickly to beautiful powdery Guerlinade iris and wood dominant. It is really light and close to skin. I expect it to become stronger. Haven't smelled the original but I can only imagine how beautiful it was.

I blind bought this about 6 months ago and just threw it in the drawer, only revisted now and then.. its very soft, light, forgettable and can't detect it after an hour. I prefer French Avenue Chronicles when i want something iris powdery and incense-y of this sort. Note that my juice is green coloured instead of amber as shown here. I believe that's how the newer batches are.

I'm so happy to have found this, it is amazingly refined and smooth, silvery elegance. I'm grateful for good clones of discontinued gems. If they made one of Cuir Beluga, another discontinued wonder of the same one, I would be over the moon!

I was expecting something very incensy, very churchy, very dry ans smoky like Armenian paper. Those who know Armenian paper know exactly what i mean. Here it is very soft, ambery, vanillic, almost gourmand sweet. Big deception.

@Arlene_witha_Y ... I only saw your reply the following morning after posting. When I went to see, it sold 7 hrs ago from this writing. LOL Oh well.... thanks!

@jarrid_steel - Don't know if you saw my PM the other day. This is still available at FragranceShop, on closeout sale for $16.