Rose Amira

This is a very expensive fragrance commodity. I've had the luck to wear Rose Amira and Oud Essential for five days because the pharmacy I frequent has them on sale near the register. ("On sale" they are still over USD 200 in Switzerland.) I've already posted about Oud Essential being a very handsome and pleasant fragrance but over the five days my appreciation for Rose Amira on my other, hairy, male, arm, has grown daily. First of all, I concur with other reviewers below who praise its longevity and projection. It performs on me, too. On skin as well as clothes. Of course this is the kind of plush purring patchouli that smells so nice on hairy male skin. Not only are the rose and patch well done, the frankincense is essential to the blend, calming, and adding a bit of spirit. Rose Amira has a long lasting very lovely dry down. It's not powdery rather velvety and slightly sweet. It would be a mistake to assume this really is for women because I think it may better suit men. Yes, it really is an oriental blend, with nods to current Arabic styles, and rose is a pillar of Arabic perfumery for men. The price fits a luxury commodity and I dare suggest the price conscious consumer is going to push back and find the ways to explain how this "isn't worth it" and I agree. It's not worth it, if the price is a challenge. That's the way luxury works, nowadays. Luxury products mostly offer pleasure nowadays when the consumer doesn't wince - at all - about the cost. This is because luxury products have mostly declined in quality, with few exceptions, and prices have risen. But luxury products can still offer pleasures - to the appropriate consumer. Rose Amira is 250 USD on high streets in Switzerland. (Amouages are 400-500!). If that's not your range, find a lovely fragrance for 30 USD, or 60 USD and don't fret about these overpriced commodities. I know this product is not for me, for example. Yet I would wear both of these fragrances, alone and together, with great happiness, if I received them for free. No quibbles whatsoever. They are lovely. I think I would drain the bottles quickly, too, if money was not a factor in the experience.

I'd like to get this review right because this fragrance initially, it's not I expected at all when it was recommended to me by a sales associate at the Duty Free in the Honolulu International Airport. #RIP I was expecting a light, airy rose sent as I hadn't experienced the magic of Guerlain before. Rose Amira is a dark woodsy rose that one could appreciate if they're a novice to different, niche fragrances the way I am. I've had my bottle for a year and I feel like it's more appropriate for crisp fall or winter days when you want to feel warmth in your lungs. I brought it to Philadelphia and New York City and I was right. But here in Hawaii, we generally experience the hot and humid or rainy, windy days. So I just wear it when I want, and I'm okay with that. The thing I appreciate most about this scent is that I don't go nose-blind to it. It takes a couple of hours to go nose-blind to? But even then, by the end of the day, I can still smell hints of the one spritz I used on my skin. Where you spray it definitely has strength and staying power. If I want the fragrance to be a little lighter, I walk into the spritzed cloud. I know that people I work with are sensitive to fragrances and/or may not like this fragrance so I usually like to be mindful of that and spray the fragrance for me in this way. In short, it's too good.

I agree with everything @rene.saller said below. She is spot on. This is similar to Ungaro Diva but with an amplified rose and a more "modern" spirit. Rose Amira also has that bee sting honey bite that Ungaro Diva has. Absolutely stunning and great value for $$$ in my opinion. You can find bottles of this for around $200 and they are 4.2 ounces. That works out to around $50 an ounce. You can definitely tell this is a Guerlain. It has that Guerlain base, just like you can always tell a Chanel from a Patou. A gorgeous slightly powdery, slightly sweet rose and clean patchouli. The olibanum is done in a subtle way which makes this much more feminine. Very musky but I adore Guerlain musks. They amplify the rose and create a rose haze that surrounds you completely. The bottle is absolutely stunning and would look great on my vanity. My husband adores this and would probably like me to drown myself in it. So on the want shelf it goes. Thanks Guerlain for having such great customer service and generous samples. You'll be hearing from me again. If you like Rose fragrances with patchouli like I do This is a beautiful one and a must sniff at the very least. Edit the dry down of this reminds me of my bottle of black perfecto. Very "black musk" with a hint of leather with the rose and patchouli. This is a winner in my book.

This is just so good! Smelt this and fell immediately in love. I agree with the reviews saying it smells a bit 'dirty' at first, to me the opening is indeed quite earthy etc, but wow the rose that remains is perfectly balanced between realistic rose and a sugary, seductive, wealthy rose (but still quite playful). This is not a grandma rose scent whatsoever! The image that comes up when I smell this is that of a really wealthy, playful, slightly mysterious, stunning young woman who is a guest at a billionaire's wedding in Monaco. She's very classy but is out to have some fun. This scent also reminded me of Van Cleef & Arpels 'moonlight rose' and I'd definitely say it's in the same vein! The Van Cleef one is much earthier and much mossier, though, and much better for wintertime. Van Cleef also has that kind of 'hippie shop'-vibe going on with that fragrance (because of the type of patchouli used I think), whereas the Guerlain Rose Amira doesn't have that vibe at all (which I kind of prefer)!

The rose note is strikingly similar to the rose in the L'Art et la Matière line's Rose Centifolia Extrait 1 but at a much more affordable price point. The patchouli, like all Guerlain patchoulis, is clean and herbal, verging on minty. But the rose is truly the star of the show, and even though I have far too many rose-dominant perfumes in my collection, I could see adding this one. I also love the bottles for the Aqua Allegoria and Aqua Allegoria Absolu or whatever the hell subsect of Guerlain AA this is. Perfume is a luxury item, but I appreciate the way that Guerlain offers a range of prices--if everything was as costly as the L'Art et la Matière line, I certainly would not have so many (if any). But the quality is unimpeachable among all the Guerlain offerings, and Rose Amira is no exception. If I had to compare this to a non-Guerlain perfume, I would say that it resembles my beloved Ungaro Diva slightly, only with amplified rose.