Maja

One of the top favourite fragrances of my small collection and possibly the cheapest too. This perfume does not even slightly, smell cheap, the opposite in fact, it is so unique and distinctive that it punches WAY above its price. It smells of carnation, clove and other warm baking spices. I also get Turkish Delight, the rosy pink one that is dusted in powdered sugar and exquisitely wrapped in waxy tissue in a box that is like a jewel box. The powdered sugar note introduces another powdery olfactory memory, that of granny's dressing table drawer, sweet, musky, grown-up, ladylike. I picture a beautiful elegant and mysterious Fado singer or Flamenco dancer at her dressing table before a show, dabbing Maja on her neck, and she would definitely have the beautiful Maja dusting powder on her dressing table too. This perfume has the magical chameleonic ability to be the fresh cologne you want in Summer but also the spicy, cosy aura you crave in Winter. I have pretty much the full scent suite; the perfume, the talcum powder, the deodorant and the body cream. There is also shower gel, liquid soap and tablet soap available. I can confirm that the complementary products smell exactly like the perfume which cannot always be said about body creams etc. The black and red packaging on the range is very classy and vintage style and makes them very giftable. Good gifts for lovers of all things vintage. My only complaint with Maja is that I would love the option of a more intense incarnation of the perfume which sadly wears off rather quickly. I would also favour a 30ml bottle that would be handbag friendly. I will have Maja in my collection and weekly rotation for as long as I can obtain it. Highly Recommended.

Lucky me! Groupon had a"deal" on Maja. I DID NOT buy it, but something tickled my memory. I remembered these fantastic soaps my grandmother and mother had. ...and then remembered the pretty much "nearly" empty bottle of Maja, sticky, resinous, and strong smelling just from the perfume's use, sitting for years on my mother's dresser, most likely handed down from my Grandmother from her travels in Europe. After closing the Groupon app, I went off in search of that bottle which has nestled in one drawer or another reminding me of my mother and grandmother both, and my "genes" for loving perfume. There it was, and now is in my hands. My bottler is simple with a label that says Spain and made in Mallorca, Barcelona with a street address. The cap is red, lettering red (actually brickish red), juice is amber brown red and thick with age, not green. It is heaven in a bottle, very thick, sticky and syrupy and after decades, going strong just from my touching the bottle where perfume has leaked. Merely by touch transfer of hand to bottle to my neck, I get a spicy amber, carnation, somewhat sweet scent like honey and tobacco, rose powder, even trace tuberose, incense!, sandal wood, touch of orange flower, very light patchouli, wood smells overall, and other florals my nose cannot identify. It is simultaneously spicy, soft, powdery, old fashioned in the best way. Longevity is'till the next day. The 80s went for this in perfume. But this is far grander. For those of you who remember Vallee Des Rois, this has an echo in the dry down only (not at all in beginning), or vice versa since VDR came much later in 90's. I'm so glad I found this gem again.

I don't know what the original Maja smelled like so I can't comment on that. However, the one I have, which I assume is the reformulated, is unlike any other fragrance I have. I've been wearing it for over a week so I could think about the scent because so many people say they do not care for it. It starts off really strong(at least the husband says so)so now I spray it into the lid and dab it on but once it calms down, it is really exceptional (after a couple of minutes). It doesn't fit neatly into any category. It's not flowery, not classically oriental, or musky. At once, it has a citrus-y masculine scent, then a burst of flowers comes from nowhere, then woody spicy incense. Even after several hours the different scents will reappear for a time. My husband really likes this one. I asked him what he thought of it and he said it is like from a different time but is not old-fashioned or "old-lady-ish" although I may comment here that one needs to remember that just because we smell certain scents on older women does not mean that these women were always old, know what I mean? I think that since Maja is hard to pin down, people may have trouble liking it because you don't know what to expect. I really, really like it for being so unusual and it is really pretty in all it's facets. This fragrance certainly has character, which is something I always look for in fragrances and is sorrowfully lacking in many newer fragrances. I feel bad that many of the women on this board miss the old Maja and I can certainly appreciate that. All I know is what I smell and this fragrance is interesting, pretty, and complex.

I have a recent bottle that now has macerated for 1.5 years. I haven’t worn it much, because the lasting power was so bad. I’m happy to say that it is so much stronger and better lasting now! This is a very beautiful fragrance. It’s surprisingly complex and elegant, especially given the price point. The version I own is light and airy and I think it’s most suitable for spring and summer, for its cologne like qualities. It has a soapy quality, without smelling like soap the way most other soapy scent do. I think I mainly recognise it as soapy, because it smells like Maja soap, and I probably subconsciously remember that from my childhood, perhaps from my grandmas house. It’s very addictive. It smells classy, clean and fresh, without ever smelling generic. The spices give it some depth and body, in an otherwise very translucent and delicate fragrance. I believe vintage versions may be a lot more spicy, and dark, and I’m interested in layering it with spicy fragrances (thinking of Kenzo Jungle l’Elephant and Mancera Red Tobacco for starters), to create a deeper version for autumn and winter. All in all this is a great choice and definitely worth the money, even the newer versions. For the humble price, you can’t really go wrong, and it’s such an inoffensive fragrance that it’s a pretty safe blind buy. I do recommend letting it macerate for a very long time (a year or so), because the lasting power on a new bottle is atrocious. Happy to say that the juice does get more potent the longer it sits.

Maja is one of the MOST deliciously musty, dusty, rosy, powdery, sharp, step-back-into-the-past scents around. I do not know what the current scent smells like, but if you can find a vintage bottle of the eau de cologne or eau de toilette, and you're someone like me who takes pleasure at such ancient scents, you'll adore this. This is one of the sharpest orientals out there. Although it's not listed in the notes, Maja has a very animalic quality as well - smelling it, I'm reminded of that strange but alluring smell of old lipsticks; a kind of rich and oily scent more akin to ambergris than anything. This is a scent that perfume historians could love, it has such an historic quality to it. I've always loved all scented things made by Myrurgia, which I trace back to my first trip to Spain when I was in college and bought some shaving soap from El Corte Ingles in Barcelona. The smell of that soap stayed with me for years. I notice that Myrurgia puts just a hint of sandalwood in everything they make, giving their scents that quality of the orient and north Africa that is distinct to them. Glorious old stuff!