Ashoka

So, I just took a sample spray I had from MiN New York years ago of this fragrance, and literally smashed it with a hammer so I can smell it again. Had glass everywhere on my counter but it was worth it to get barely a sniff from it. Needless to say, I finally decided to purchase a bottle of it today... What’s to say of this one, it has intrigued me all these years but I never fully committed to a bottle until now for some reason. I mean it’s definitely out of my spectrum of fragrances, I tend to wear dark orientals, leathers etc (even though I live in a tropical climate) but this fragrance touches enough in my favorite notes to really reel me in and appreciate a far different take than what I’m used to. This fragrance has a journey which is what I love about it, even if the opening to me isn’t an “eyes roll in the back of the head” reaction. It’s a unique opening I’ve never smelled in another fragrance, it’s green but not a typical green, like petals of a mimosa and lotus thrown in a glass of coconut milk. It’s hard to even explain it without you just smelling it yourself. The fig here has a strong coconut vibe and mixes superbly well with the rest of the notes, which gives it a tropical feel but definitely with depth, especially as the soft leather and tonka start emerging. This is when the fragrance becomes addictive, the blend of all of these creates a comforting fragrance that smells divine; a mixture of sweet, green, floral and leather notes makes it transcend all boundaries of fragrance families, seasons and genders. This could be the most unique signature scent you can come across because I can’t even explain what kind of fragrance this could be categorized as. It’s floral, green, fresh, leathery and warm all in one. I’ve smelled thousands of fragrances and still have never smelled anything even remotely similar. Also let’s not forget the ingredient quality, which is just phenomenal and smells so natural like I’m in the garden of a Maharaja’s palace. Longevity from what I remember was pretty solid due to the heavier base notes, but projection/silage I can’t say until I get my full bottle. Price-wise, while this isn’t in Roja terms of expensive, it’s definitely not cheap but you can tell a lot of care went into this from the packaging, ingredients and of course the perfumer Bertrand who is a perfumer legend. EDIT: Got my full bottle and the leather is intense in this one! It adds a smoky nature amongst all the other notes, and a half spray constantly wafts to my nose from my arm so this is definitely a noticeable batch! A clear winner.

Far more discreet, femme and fragrant than I was expecting, but genuinely lovely. Maybe the name (Ashoka was one of the founding emperors of India's ancient Maurya dynasty), the house and the price misled me, because I thought this would be far, far louder - a great spicy trampling elephant charge of a scent - and instead it's a serene, reflective interlude by a pool in some lavish but tasteful gardens. In film terms, this is Satyajit Ray, not Bollywood. Classy and intelligent, not blasting your head off in a whirl of clashing sensation, but lulling you into calm contemplation. Extremely creamy at first - I could have sworn it was a good, natural, organic coconut note! - and the milkiness of the fig wood works wonderfully. There's not a whiff of bitterness or overbearing fruitiness, as many fig-centric scents can have; instead it's pure, botanical gorgeousness, smelling of natural sap and discretion. The lotus, tonka and mimosa are kept in check so it never gets too sweet or too rampantly floral. There's a really nice, mild, greenish note throughout which never gets bitter or overly herbal - it's like the very first few seconds of the smell of a snapped blade of grass, but without the hay or acridity that creep in to older, drier cut grass. Styrax and vetiver give a hint of earthiness underneath it all, but no more than a very subtle hint. Vague auras of sweet-very-gentle spiciness hang about from the sandalwood and resins, but they are not dominant at all. I get barely any rose or leather so don't be afraid of them. Overall this is still a green/floral, but one which is warm and restrained enough for me to absolutely love it - even if it's subcontinents away from my usual favourites. It's not cliched in any way, and while some facets reminded me of L'Artisan Caligna or Diptyque Philosykos, this is still a very different animal. Its performance is pretty low-key, and the full beauty of the initial creaminess doesn't last much past 2 hours, but every later phase is absolutely lovely too, and you can still get the odd whiff of pleasure up to 6h later. Coconut and/or fig fans should try it straight away; absolutely anyone who gets the chance should give it a go and prepare to be pleasantly, mildly surprised. ETA: and I cracked its code - if you want it to last longer, just put more on yourself! With 6- generous, but not extravagant, sprays - yes it can and will last all day. And be beautiful throughout. Just one more reason to get with its program and sign up for life.

"Opulent and majestic; a true Indian royalty with milky coconut fused with soothing incense and lush florals." Ashoka is an award-winning fragrance from Neela Vermeire Creations (NVC), a French perfume house by Neela Vermeire and a collaboration with Bertrand Duchaufour, who is perhaps one of the foremost noses in the perfume industry. All of the fragrances in NVC is spectacular in their respective way but Ashoka is perhaps my favourite of them all. On my skin, it opens beautifully with notes of fig leaves, soothing incense and white lotus. Fig leaves to me smells a lot like coconut: milky, sweet and soothing. The one I sense in Ashoka is more milky and less sweet, a high-quality type unlike those from most designer fragrances where the coconut/fig leaf note is more synthetic-sweet instead. The incense is not the dark, smoky kind; it's very smooth, light and meditative, one that renders the wearer relaxed and at ease. White lotus, a symbol of Buddhism, perfectly portrays the image that Ashoka is meant to conjure: peaceful, soft and soothing. Many have claimed that there is a leather note too, but I haven't been able to detect it till now (I highly suspect that it's the suede type because I do not hints of dark leather one bit). The longevity works decently on my skin: in the office, it will last up to 9 hours. Out in the hot weather, it will last approximately 5-6 hours. Same for the sillage: it trails beautifully up to a metre or so. The best kind of season to wear Ashoka, I can imagine, is spring and autumn but more to the former since it's a "bright" fragrance ("dark" fragrances is more appropriate for autumn IMHO). The price of Ashoka and the other NVC fragrances (sans Mohur Extrait) is around USD 250 for 50ml, which is kinda steep for most people. Although I find Ashoka utterly amazing, I hesitate to purchase it simply because of the price. Hope the day comes when I get my hands on the beautifully crafted flacon... Duchaufour is one of my favourite perfumers in the industry; his vision and mastery in crafting fragrances are impeccable. He doesn't simply create fragrances that smell good; his fragrances create stories and images, and only great perfumers can do that. All of his NVC fragrances tell a story, and Ashoka's story appeals to me the most. I will definitely try out the others when I have the chance.

Masterpiece incredible!!! the first thing I said after the first few seconds was .. WOW ... this is a wonderful symphony, this is peace, this is gourmand .. (followed by a happy smile). It is a really nice scent,that gives me happiness,joy,serenity,everything .. everything! is a ravishing beauty, here B.Duchaufour created another work of art. I love his compositions, and Ashoka on each note gives its value, blends perfectly with the other, everything is combined to create something truly divine,unique and special! The opening is intense calm after a few minutes, wrapping in an embrace soft,warm, comfortable,loving, and also elegant. All is peace, all is Love! the leather is not known invasive here, but there is so moderate, note that predominates is the fig leaf, but also the sandalwood and incense are felt. I love this fragrance, it gives me happiness and love, from the beginning up to the base notes! is a masterpiece. My soul thanks ... I've never heard a scent so!! High level. ***** Recommended !!!! Sillage: 6.5/10 Longevity: 8/10 Scent: 10/10 Overall: 10/10

A fragrance so unique and different that it sits in its own island on the olfactive map, waiting patently for anyone to approach it. While mimosa has been sort of overdone in perfumery, most mimosa fragrances evoke the fresh, green, and powdery pollen-like quality of the flower. These are beautiful fragrances, but never had I found a masculine twist to this accord until I came across this one. Ashoka cleverly lures you in with a powdery, feminine flower, an abstract "pink" mimosa, only to then enrapture you fully with a dense sandalwood-fig energy, transitioning to something leathery eventually. Duchaufour has a unique way of putting together contrasting elements at a very low volume. If you turned the sound up, surely it would be a cacophony. But at the levels you see in Ashoka, it becomes something of a natural hum, curious, mysterious, and alluring. No fragrance is intrinsically worth over 100 bucks, but with this fragrance I firmly believe you are buying an artistic masterpiece, unique and irreproducible.

Neela Vermeire Creations Ashoka (2014) - fig osmanthus - I found out about this perfume when I read it won Independent award from the #theartandolfactionaward in 2014. After trying a sample, I had to get a full bottle. Perfumer #bertrandduchaufour starts the journey with this swirl of Incense, Powdery-vegetal Mimosa, Jasmine and Fig accord. After watching a video about this, this chaos and rudeness was an intentional trait inspired from the Indian ruler the perfume was named after. It does smoothen and round off after a few minutes into this beautiful milky, woody and apricot-like Osmanthus, Leather, and fig leaves. More woody and suede-like than #dipytiquephilosykos and this perfume has a solid base of Tonka bean, Sandalwood, Incense and other amber resins, yet thankfully remains balanced and doesn’t go into amber territory. If you can find it, try a sample.

Ashoka is a shady, sappy green fig leaf over a lush, honey-sweet summer’s-day mimosa, with a liberal splash of coconut milk over a base of creamy sandalwood, and a light haze of spicy incense smoke. An endless lazy afternoon on an estate so vast it feels like a forest. Contemplative, softly radiant, all of a piece, in shades of leaf-green, cream, and copper. I’m always a sucker for fig-leaf notes and these green/floral dappled-shade summer vibes. But too often the scents in this genre are ultra-transparent and fleeting. Ashoka has more weight, with that milky-sap richness and that deep, spicy, endlessly-swirling sandalwood-incense base. It feels like it was made especially to hit all my buttons. One of my favorite fragrances of all time.

A bright and soothing oriental beauty where the two main notes are sandalwood and fig leaf/milk. These sweet notes are enhanced by slight hints of lotus, rose, water hyacinth, parsley, osmanthus, iris, incense, jasmine, geranium, ylang-ylang, fir, myrrh, cedar, vanilla, ambergris, birch, vetiver, leather, styrax, and heliotrope to create a mystical, meditative and very beautiful juice that is very spiritual and reflective. Never overpowering, the unisex scent lingers softly on the skin emanating a quiet spiritual radiance. Enjoy!

This is quite a complex fig fragrance. Compared to the benchmark for fig fragrances, Philosykos, the greens here are harder and the milky notes have more of a sandalwood intonation than the coconut and skin tones in the Diptyque, giving this a rougher and more masculine feel. By the dry down, the greens have all gone away and there's a pleasing sandalwood and incense finish. I think I can pick up some norlimbanol in the finish, but here it's skillfully blended and doesn't stick out too much.

First impression: very pretty, natural and softly persistent. I’m a self professed fig anything fan, and this scent with support from a realistic mimosa and lotus flower goes in a tropical direction. Ashoka May be similar to other scents but what sets it apart is that the notes seem to be pulled from nature. I love how easy Ashoka wears in what I imagine to be any season. Most days I need that kind of scent to envelope me. I’ll need to test this again...looking for a larger decant.

Its very nice and opulent as you would expect with so many notes. It opens with fig, incense. lotus and sweetness from the tonka. My skin really amps up the incense which prevent a fb purchase aside from the expense! A balsamic and vetiver close. Its a casual wear fragrance. Award worthy but not buy worthy with that price point. Moderate sillage and long longevity.

I'll leave the sophisticated review for greater minds than mine. Suffice it to say, Ashoka is a complex evolutionary scent that delights me with its every turn. It is he only fig I've ever wanted to wear more than once, but it is oh so much more than justfig. One of the few perfumes that has made my gotta have a full bottle list of late.

Opens with a creamy, milky fig leaf note that kind of smells like when you crack open a can of coconut milk. Reminds me of home cooking. Underneath is a subdued incense and some softer greens and sweet notes, but fig leaf and incense are the only notes I can really discern.

Ohh the sandalwood in the dry down is to die for! The real deal.

Ashoka was always going to have a tough time. The proverbial middle child curse has infected it fairly hard. How do you follow-up Trayee, Bombay Bling, and Mohur - the elder triplets who got so much of mom’s attention and adulation? Ms. Vermiere goes back to basics with Ashoka. Now whether by choice or by force, or a combination of both, is debatable but also irrelevant. Conscious creative decisions or good marketing/fiscal sensibilities can have overlap but rarely fully align. Ashoka is an amber, composed by Vermiere’s perfumer of choice, the legendary Bertrand Duchaufour. Ms. Vermiere has stuck with Mr. Duchaufour for all of the brand’s major releases - what a hardship, right? - and I have a very confident feeling that the arrangement is highly mutually respectful and pleasantly productive. There is a sense in Duchaufour’s compositions for the brand that he is having great fun making these under Vermiere’s creative direction (although, supposedly, Vermiere is quite a task master in the best way). The beautiful opulence, Indian inspired themes, and spare no details or expense approach are expectations Vermiere wants us to have for the brand, but it’s the previous statement, of a creative visionary and a master perfumer in joyful lock-step with each other, that I find truly appealing in the brand and Ashoka does not let me down there. Lactones. Ashoka has them in bucket sized quantities. The opening, which is supposed to be particularly brash, strident and difficult in order to convey an image of a violent conquerer, is very short and actually quite tame on my skin. If I hadn’t gone in for a quick sniff immediately after application I would’ve missed it because sure enough by the third sniff in a span of minutes it was gone. Subsequent wears and a blotter test were necessary, where I found the tight, watery, herbal green and impenetrable opening to be accurate to the brand’s description, but never did it last long enough for me to fully appreciate the evolution of the perfume as a means to tell the story. A bit disappointing but forgiven as I was made up to by the heart and base, where those lactones strongly carry Ashoka’s message. A floral amalgam of jasmine, fruity rose, tropical banana ylang-ylang, and creamy and buttery orris sit over the top of one of the milkiest and vanillic sandalwood bases I’ve smelled in a few years. There are quiet characters in the background, very quiet, singing almost imperceptible harmonies with the woods and vanilla: something incensey, something leathery which is more pronounced than others, something aromatic and green like vetiver, and probably some other vocalists as well. A fair criticism can be levied against the perfume that, perhaps, these other voices are a bit too muted and muddy; I can’t disagree because I do wish they were more apparent. However, the decision to do so by Vermiere and Duchaufour must’ve been intentional because the desired effect is achieved: Ashoka is one of the happiest, contented, and peaceful ambers I’ve smelled in a while. The emotion is palpable. Those thick, rich, and opulent lactones convey the simplest and almost childlike innocence and happy disillusion that must come from the true enlightenment the emperor Ashoka found. This is probably not full bottle worthy for me since opulent and elegant ambers are already well represented in my collection, and I can’t say it is truly unique enough to stand out in my collection, but it is an excellent piece of work nonetheless.

it is very flowery and i can't sense any leather even when it dried down. i really sense a HUGE coconut in. and i see it's a softly perfume not bad. ill give it more time. (1st Aug 2014) well.. my next try brought an all new thought. i still smell the coconut essence, i smell mineral water, lotus, and a bit incense as of the top note. the leather note is slightly appearing when it dries down as a harsh powdery hint hidden behind that pinkish flowery powder complex note that's besides the sweetish essence of coconut & vanilla. it is a calming semi-sweet flowery powder essence, no wonder it won a prize! i kind of like it after all. it's quite complex and infatuating at a certain level. Edit (5th March 2016) it is more of sweetish powdery, as of vanilla sweet lotus tonka beans coconut mix.

Oh, so beautiful to start. Ashoka opens with lucid, watery notes and fresh green coconut. Fig warms the scent and brings some milky depth but never subtracts the greenness, creating an interesting contrast -- slightly creamy like lotion with a hint of light floral beauty. I smell some subtle fruitiness contributed by osmanthus. Here it reminds me of Estee Lauder's Brasil Dream. Woody, creamy, figgy floral with a green resinous base. It's one of those that I'd classify as a green gourmand. Sometimes the fig notes linger too heavy for me and I feel like I'm smelling suntan lotion. I think though that this is a great scent for those who want to explore gourmand niche perfumes.

10 - Burst of vanilla and - spicy leather floral? Not bad. I can smell the incense. Very green open. 1:30 - forgot I was wearing it. Meh. Total skin scent. My coworker who makes a point of letting me know how he feels about the day's perfume didn't say a word. The positive though, one of the better tonkas I've encountered, and well blended. Has a lot of the qualities of a white floral perfume without being screechy or giving me a headache. It also has that juicy note that literally makes my mouth water.

I smelled other notes while testing and checked on Neela Vermeire Creations' website: Top notes Lotus, rose, water hyacinth,fig leaf, parsley leaf Heart notes Osmanthus absolute, cassie absolute (acacia farnesiana), iris, incense essence, Jasmine sambac, fig milk, geranium, ylang-ylang Base notes Fir balsam absolute, myrrh, cedarwood, sandalwood, vanilla accord, ambre gris, birch, Haitian vetiver, leather, styrax, heliotrope

I sampled a lot of fragrances with fig in them and this was my favorite. Too bad it's so pricey. I can't afford a bottle. So I got a bottle of "Fig-Tea" by by Parfums De Nicolai. It's ALMOST as good as Ashoka. Maybe not quite as creamy or as long lasting but nice.

Love this. The earthiness of the fig leaf and fir, leather and smoke and the balsamic touch of sweetness make for a perfect real earthy scent. Love scents that smell this natural.

Lovely summer scent but I absolutely smell coconut despite it not be included in the notes. Beautiful well blended restrained yet fulfilled scents. Fruity without being cloying.

A dreamy golden light, creamy fig, slightly powdered lotus. Gently glowing earthly sweetness and milky woody warmth.

Too complicated, I like it initially but it becomes too smoky and sweet.

Narvel Roth ( Joel Edgerton ) in Master Gardener 2022

A nice fig fragrance that I find closer to a vintage Dune and a Balade Sauvage than to a Philosykos by Diptique. It is excellently composed with pleasant nuances and that leather accord between osmanthus and styrax that makes it lively. There's lots of green,fresh. Ylang, and clear flowers that lighten the milky underside of the fig. In the dry it evolves more into a fruity amber, woody with sandalwood and cedar, dusty and again... green! It's fine...but in the drydown it's a little tired and its duration is long!

On me Ashoka starts off super sweet with a strong scent of hyacint, jasmine and vanilla. After a couple of hours the hyacint wears off. After six hours I get a really cozy inviting sweet jasmine scent with a deeper vanilla tonka bean. After nine hours the perfume is almost gone and what is left is a soft sweet vanilla scent. It's an ok perfume, safe and inviting. For me Ashoka is a unisex fragrance that works in most settings.

Interesting and complex unisex scent. I get strong incense and ylang-ylang to start. It feels very Indian and fitting to the name. Shortly, I get a smokey/tobacco scent on my skin. On my clothes, the floral scents start to emerge, though it smells elegant, mature, and not too sweet. This complex, smokey, floral, incense-style scent might be right for some, but it's not currently my style, maybe in 10 years I'll grow into it.

The very opening smells so beautifully floral but it quickly becomes a common coconut lotion/shampoo type smell. Definitely mostly coconut, as my wife agreed. Way too expensive for this smell. We have lotions that smell just like it.

I am going to try this again in another season, I only get soft pencil shavings from this. Not unpleasant, am thinking the stars are not aligned yet for me to get what it is supposed to be doing :)

Sweet, woody amber with ionones and laundry musk. In reviewing my laterest perfume samples, I can't help but think, IFRA and the aromachemical companies have succeeded in decimating an entire medium of art.

처음에 무화과 향이 났다가 어느순간부터 담배냄새로 바뀐다;;;

Ashoka is a recent new release from NVC, a niche line from Neela Vermeire that celebrates the culture, traditions, and histories of India in fragrant form. Ashoka joins the line that includes Trayee, Mohur, and Bombay Bling. Ashoka is named for a warring emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who converted to Buddhism after witnessing the savagery of battlefield slaughter. Fragrance notes are given as: fig leaves, leather, white and pink lotus, mimosa, fig milk, osmanthus, rose, water hyacinth, vetiver, styrax, incense, sandalwood, myrrh, tonka bean and fir balsam. Ashoka the fragrance marries fig (and a lactonic fig-milk note) to a jellied-citrus osmanthus. The effect is smashingly good, with the milky notes quieting the green sharpness of unripe fig, leaf, and twig notes and the citrus giving another bright and lemony dimension to the fig. Cool, watery flowers are transparent and add abstract floral notes remarkable not for their personality but for their sheerness; clearly, this is a fragrance where fig is the centerpiece. By the heart notes, an unexpected leather note occurs. NVC fragrances often contain a non-tannic leather note that I like to think of as a liquid, not a solid note. This note joins the top and heart notes to a vetiver base around which delicate touches of fir balsam, myrrh, tonka bean, and sandalwood have been planted. In the interest of comparison, I tested Ashoka against both of the famous L'Artisan figs (Premier Figuier and Premier Figuier Extreme) and also against Ramon Monegal Pure Mariposa. Ashoka was the clear winner for me since its fig was tempered with several washes of "color" from the woody and floral notes that, while they still allowed the fig to be the centerpiece, diffused the sappy woodiness enough so that whatever bitterness I found in Premier Figuier was not an issue. As for PFE, it is far more "perfumey" and somehow, to my nose, false. The Monegal has a titanic jolt of calone that renders it quite synthetic. There is still enough fig in Ashoka to appeal to fig purists, however. The fragrance is high-end fig, embellished and heightened, but still absolutely casual enough for simple enjoyment. Lasting power is excellent. After several hours, the drydown became mostly balsamic, with vetiver receding in the distance. People who have not found a fig fragrance they can wear might give this slightly more abstract interpretation a try. Ashoka will be released in the fall of 2013.

Ashoka by Neela Vermeire Creations is a contemplative beauty. A perfume for both men and women that is a thoughtful meditation on beauty and peace inspired buy one of the great leaders of not only Indian history but on the world stage as well. The nose behind the perfume is one of my favorite perfumers, Bertrand Duchaufour who has created for so many great houses from L’Artisan Parfumeur to Dior. Here in this perfume he has a soft symphony of notes. So many notes are in this perfume that in the mixing of them you find his great subtlety as an artist. The perfume is green and calm with the major note of fig leaf and parsley leaf being a very easy green complemented by incense aromatic notes of styrax, incense, myrrh and osmanthus. It is the very picture of a smoky blue haze incense market under the shade of rows and rows of fig trees in the heat and heart of India. Fig milk note along with vanilla and amber adds a creamy texture to the mix smoothing out all the incense. Other notes that flow through the perfume like a subterranean river are the florals of rose, water hyacinth, cassie flower, jasmine sambac, geranium, ylang-ylang and iris with the support of, rooty green vetiver, a soft tonka bean. There is a woody subtext and foundation of a tangy balsam fir and creamy sandalwood. The perfume is categorized as a Woody Aromatic. I find it to be more aromatic than woody. (Fragantica lists leather but I detect not a hit of that note) For me, on my skin it stays well blended and not one note other than the fig leaf dominate. It is not a huge dramatic perfume but rather a dreamy soft warm fragrance that longs to be on skin where it floats and shimmers in a nirvana bubble of beauty. It lasts on my skin about six to eight hours with a moderate sillage. And that is as it should be, one would not expect an enlightened perfume to be bombastic or all about ME! It is about sharing its beauty and inviting others in. ASHOKA FIVE GOLD STARS ***** (FOR THE STORY BEHIND MY REVIEW CHECK OUT MY BLOG, SCENTS MEMORY)

Ashoka is my second name, and Neela really respected my name creating this scent, Jokings aside, i really like it, it's a beautiful serene creation that works Mimosa and Lotus in such a elegant and refined way connecting it with Ying Yang and Fig leafs, Is ideal of any occasion and gives you a sincere and genuine feeling of freedom and airiness, compared to Pichola is less femine leaning for some reason and is more balanced to my nose, both are in the same field, but Ashoka would work amazingly on a man. The fig leaf and most of the rest comes slowly unfolding the scent bit by bit, however is one of those " one " entity creations, it has one single aurea that is mainly based on these flowers, i enjoy how naturally sweet stays on the skin, later it goes a bit more sour thanks to the vetiver and sandalwood, and this is where you have to make a decision, to accept the sourness or to embrace it. Either way, i like it, because uses Mimosa very intelligently. A Green, Serene Acquatic Flower scent coming from a sacred garden in india, you can almost feel the water around the lotus flower and the mimosa accord, the sourness is probably leaning into the stems greenery and is a logical transition, i dont feel any inciense or obvious sandalwood until the very last part of the life of the composition, probably because is covered by the natural sweetness of the flowers.

This fragrance is, for the first 20 minutes or so, lovely. I was excited, as I thought I finally sound a sample I liked enough to purchase a full bottle. After the opening, it just gets extremely powdery. I am surprised to not see this mentioned more often in other reviews. I’ve heard people describe this fragrance as juicy, but I experience none of that. The majority of the life of this fragrance is just a nice and perfectly pleasant vintage-leaning powder. Towards the very end, when I need to press my nose against my wrist, the surplus of powder does meld beautifully with the pretty opening, but it’s just not enough to justify the price. It’s perfectly nice, but far too expensive for something I don’t truly love.

My review based on a generous sample vial. I was immediately transported to a resort in Thailand, probably Koh Samui. Not the party side of the island near Chewang beach, more so the family friendly Bohput region. Serenity abounds amidst the lush green gardens leading down to the beach. I can smell lots of coconut and a few dewy flowers, a mango and melon cocktail is in my hand. Pretty and I can see how many would like this, but it comes across as an island inspired holiday scent on my skin which isn’t really my thing, Thanks for reading.

Bertrand Duchaufour is definetely schooling these perfumers. Who wants a scholarship?!!! Words cannot describe the level of beauty within this bottle.. Ashoka is gourmand without being gourmand. Elegant, mature and very inviting. It's almost like the opening is saying, "Hello" and the sillage is telling you to "please come over. The rumors are true. This is one weird fig. It's hard to describe and i dont wanna look stupid trying to explain it. One of the nice surprises of 2013. I'm glad to have gambled on this sample. Great Work.

SHORT REVIEW Ashoka has very heavy notes like leather , Myrrh and Sandalwood and then soft notes like floral and vetiver - They are blended So well as though you are bringing strong emperor personality which was King Ashoka earlier years and then soft monk personality which was later half of his life after he found moksha and adopted Buddhism - This is a great blend and very easy fragrance to wear - What i am liking abot Neela Vermeire is story they are telling with fragrance ! Full bottle worthy for me !

Baby wipes. This immediately brought to mind baby wipes. I think it might be the mimosa and lotus notes creating this feeling. Darn, I was excited about this one. I do get plenty of complexity, however. The leather and incense peek through and there’s a very pleasant sandalwood base. I *almost* really like this. If only I could get past the baby wipes association.

A smokey coconut gourmand. The floral, milky, tropical notes is balanced by the incense. Ashoka lasts and lasts. This is my favourite from the Neela Vermeire line, but that's because I love floral tropicals. If you like L'artisan's quirky, pleasant, nature inspired aesthetic, but wish they'd last longer, go with Neela Vermeire. So fricken good

A watercolor of a lotus flower on silk, placed on a mahogany table to dry. Its ends gently moving in the breeze coming from an open window. Complex, beautifully layered, and light all at once. Perfectly unisex, and near-perfect altogether. The drydown goes a bit sour on my skin, and that's my only gripe here.

Ashoka is a beautiful and wierd fragrance, one of the kind. Very smooth and very true fig, and very complex fragrance. I've just started wearing it, later I will write more about it.

went to MIN new york and sampled this. It is beautiful. smells sensual and warm. I can not describe it but worth sniffing, trust me

Not my kind of fig. Actually it's a pretty heavy incense and leather to my noise. Not an enjoyable scent.