Arso

FREAKED OUT! FIRSTLY, AWESOME SCENT! Secondly, after purchasing this on reviews elsewhere I was astonished to read here so many reviews summing up my thoughts. I'm trying to purchase Norne and I was going to compare this to Serge Lutens Fille en Aiguilles. The note table is for once very appropriate however is as often the case most reviews here are apt in capturing the emotive simple feel - i.e yes it smells like a campfire. burnt needles etc etc. Yes there is cedar, resin etc... I get some of the urinic tinges, the pine forest etc etc but its more than this... Yes, its vaguely like SL FeA though this is rougher, sharper and brighter and to me and feel more like only two layers - a bright powerful fresh pine on top and an earthy complicated rich base as opposed to SL FeA which is smoother, more rounded, more syrupy, bolder in the middle and a stronger scent bubble. I can't speak for Norne yet but I intend soon... When it is like this it puts this perfume into a category like Parfum De Marlys Galloway or to a degree Serge Lutens Fille en Aiguilles (which is the most forgiving) - where it is challenging and confrontational to a degree for but just verges on wearable. Every one I have offered a sniff to has never been negative - just either a raised eyebrow, pout and a "cool, interesting" or a "wow, never smelled that before, where do I get it?". The negative reviews here I think are unfair, this has typical Profumum Roma construction - huge concentration of oils and reeks of amazing quality. ABSOLUTELY ridiculous longevity. The Pine which is super strong is easy to miss even though its projecting as it is like menthol or slightly even in the vain of vaseline or camphor even - you will easily suffer olfactory fade until you refresh yourself with a movement or waft or reset your senses. There in lies for me the beauty - the mid and base notes are blended together and are closer to a skin scent but they are so delicious I can't help but draw my nose close to smell and decipher. Its this simple in fact two dimensional layer that has me hooked. My bottle came with a refillable roll on - I keep it a work and when sometimes my perfume of the day has faded mid afternoon I put this on - it freshens me up - its like cocaine - can't stop putting nose to arm to get the amazing depth. To put a different spin on the description (as opposed to the technical notes), at first I though of smelling a freshly prepared simmering pot of say, a thick soup or sauce of fresh not too sweet tomato, nutmeg, clove, bay leaves, paprika perfectly blended (as your mid and base) with wooden perforated chopping board on top with fresh mint leaves on top it and you breath in the steam whilst your sucking on a menthol lolly. I'm reminded of this first more than a pine forest with a campfire. I agree with some that the leather is hard to detect for me and this is somewhat herbal though as I've described its almost more of a vegetative organic feel to me. If you'd like to try a left of field scent for the first time this would be my second recommendation after Serge Lutens Fille en Aiguilles (as Ive already reviewed) not because its somewhat similar but because it just makes you wonder how something unconventianal smells so good. Its worthy having it sit on the shelf together - make no mistake they are different enough to justify both. This is fresher - works for summer and SL FeA is boozier, warmer for winter. Sounds like Slumberhouse Norne may also make the perfect trifecta ;)

"Evocative" Profumum Roma amazes me with every creation, and it ranks up there with Amouage and Xerjoff for me. Each fragrance takes you on a journey and Arso isn't an exception. Consider a journey around Christmas time to the middle of the woods to meet with close relatives in a wooden cottage. Happy times are awaiting. Good food, love, warmth, relaxing music, fireplace, red wine, and gifts. It is cold, not blistering, and grounds are covered by snow. The sky is mostly clear with stars shining but with a few scattered clouds. You are fully equipped for the journey. There is no apparent threats or moments of scare. No starvation, no attacks by wildlife, accidents, or freezing. Just a long walk in the middle of the woods and through several hills. After a long journey and going through hills and valleys, the cottage finally becomes visible from the middle of the trees once you reach the top of the last hill. Adults are creating a camp fire of pine woods. Smoke and fire can be seen and laughs can be heard from distance. As you get closer to the cottage, you can smell the burning smokey pine trees. People come forward and greet you. You enter the cottage and warm yourself by the fireplace. Your better half dressed in beautiful and colorful Christmas clothes approaches you to give you a snug hug followed by a kiss. She cozies up with you until you warm up from your journey. After having a good meal, you go out by the well established fire to enjoy the shining stars, the company of your better half, and the warmth of the camp fire indulged by smoky burning pine tree. Arso depicts the most natural form of burning pine trees in cold weather. It is extremely dark, deep, and rich. It has to be one of the best combos of woody smoky fragrances. The longevity and performance is beast mode like any other Profumum Roma fragrance. No more than 2-3 sprays please because it is capable of filling a ballroom. I spilled some by mistake in my car's glove compartment. I could still smell it months after. Arso may not be playful or sensual like rose fragrances, but it can be romantic if it is applied properly. It is best to be worn in colder months. Thank you Profumum Roma for this wonderful creation. 10/10.

I adore Arso. Over the year that I have owned a bottle, it has grown to be my absolute favorite scent. My signature scent. My bottle has also "matured" during the year and has become deeper and richer and in my opinion even better, to the point where I almost thought there had been a reformulation when I smelled a fresh bottle recently. The note breakdown is deceptively simple, but because of the amazing quality of Profumum Roma, the result is a rich, thick, deep, intense, resinous, balsamic, warm, cozy, masculine, rugged, and very natural-feeling fragrance. It doesn't really smell like "perfume"... To me it smells like a pine tree oozing with sticky sap and baking in the sun on a hot summer day. That smell of walking through a pine forest on a really hot day... And I love it. Nothing else compares to this. Woodcut isn't the same at all (sorry, Ellen). Cape Heartache doesn't even come close (sorry, Josh). This has deep, warm, woody, resinous bass, and ticklingly effervescent, piney, terpenic treble. There's a certain sweetness, but no more than what feels natural in a rich pine resin. There is a subtle smokiness, but to me this isn't nearly as smoky as the name (which means "burned") and some of the other reviews might imply. As it dries down it changes (as fragrances with natural notes tend to do), perhaps transitioning a bit from pine to incense, and seems to reach a point where it actually starts gaining in intensity after a few hours. It turns into something that reminds me of BO, or of sexual pheromones, in the best way possible and without being the least bit animalic or funky. I wouldn't say it's a "clean" scent per se, but there's a refined purity to it that makes it hard to call it "dirty", even though it's so rugged and natural. I could go on and on, gushing about this wonderful fragrance, but in short: Possibly the best natural wood scent ever. Thank you Profumum Roma for creating this gem. May you never reformulate or discontinue it.

File Under: Reversal of Fortune Yet another review saying "this wasn't at all what I was expecting, but wowzers it's good". Either I've gone anosmic or this was named in error: I get hardly any smoke at all, maybe the odd waft from a distant church brazier, where I expected this to be hugely camp-fire-y, ashy, Christmas tree on fire, etc. I was also braced for something way too butch for most women to wear, metaphorically covered in edgy tattoos and dressed in a lumberjack shirt. Right out there on the frontier of being wearable for me. On first spray it even *feels* thick with real resin - your wrist stays sticky and shiny where it's been sprayed for ages, leading me to expect an absolute monster of timber and petrol notes. But no. Instead it's just the warmest, most enveloping woody incense ever, with an astonishingly smooth gentle mix in the centre, so harmonious it's almost sweet without being sugary in any way (perhaps it's the resin, so mellow and huggable here it feels almost like amber without the headache) and dressed in haute couture tailoring. (Not a leather jacket, though - I don't consciously get leather either, but maybe it is discreetly helping knit that gorgeous centre together.) Lasts like a champion on my (female) skin and doesn't suddenly morph like a werewolf into something savagely feral once night falls- just gets gentler and sweeter than ever, and clings on tenaciously without cloying. Call me a tree hugger but I'd happily hitch my wagon to this one. Comparisons: the only thing this really shares with Fille en Aiguilles (another great forest love) is for me the initial pineyness; Arso is mellow gold with absolutely none of the FeA's deep-red stewed fruit and syrup. Much closer IMHO to the dry, high, Saharan airy feel of Wazamba. Which is fine by me. It's a cracker.

Profumum Roma’s Arso accomplishes the great feat of mixing some great cold weather notes of resin, pine, cedar, incense, and leather, and somehow coming off a bit sweet in the process. I love the mix of notes on paper and they end up being harmonious on skin, as well. The leather is comparatively subdued, as I get mostly pine, incense, and resins, but this certainly still feels like a partly leather fragrance somewhere in the mix. I regard it as almost halfway between the sweeter Imaginary Authors Cape Heartache and the sharper D.S. & Durga Bowmakers, though it leans closer to the former, just without its noteworthy strawberry sweetness. Still, there’s something about Arso that’s sweet, and I assume it to be the resins. One notable YouTube reviewer said it wasn’t sweet at all, but on my skin, it’s very sweet---perhaps not all-out gourmand sweet, but certainly sweet enough to be called a sweet fragrance, though of course experiences vary. I believe Arso is depicted as unisex but I regard it as masculine-leaning , though I could imagine some women liking it. Performance is very strong, high projection and well above average longevity. I’m not sure I’d necessarily buy this one given that I own the two similar fragrances I cited above, and Arso is the highest priced of them of them all, at $250 for 100ml, but it’s certainly something to consider in the future. A great fragrance, especially for cold weather. 9 out of 10

This one is beautiful. If you've ever lived somewhere with evergreen forests that get dry and hot in the summer you'll recognize that it captures that resinous incensey natural smell wonderfully. I do not think this feels like a cold weather fragrance because of that reference. Perhaps it will work in the cold, but I think due to its oily heavy weight it might not come alive the way its meant to and maybe that's why some people have a 'Christmas candle' impression from it. The oiliness and weight of it makes it a unique wear experience that I like because it doesn't immediately project much, but it will hang around forever and continuously surround you in a very present bubble when you heat up. It feels extremely durable and long lasting, and it might feel underwhelming until you know how it behaves, because these qualities also give it extremely good performance in the summer and keep it from being unpleasant or cloying (if you don't overspray). I've worn decants of Interlude 53 and Interlude Black Iris, and this absolutely does have a lot in common with those, especially in the heart and base. They feel similar enough to me that I'm satisfied with my bottle of Asro and wouldn't be compelled to track down the others. Arso feels on par quality-wise but opens from a more natural and familiar place for me, having fond memories of camping in dry hot forests where I live. Very happy with this one.

Arso is an original and great proposal of Profumun Roma. The fragrance starts with a sweet touch bordering the gourmand to the purest traditional pastry style (this beginning reminds me a lot of the filling of some cakes made with "almond", walnut, anise and sugar). After this sweet phase, the fragrance begins to smoke by the incense and becomes more and more woody by the pine and sure that by the balsamic fir that also carries, and the birch wood that contributes the hue leather, vegetal leather and nothing Animal, that here, with all this lot gives the sensation is the one of a chimney that burns resinous wood in a night of cold winter. The fragrance becomes darker but the feel is warm, cozy and floats around you like a smoky mist with that almond dotted with lilac flower and narcissus background by the terpineol-resins effect that never disappears on this olfactory path. The drying is much more resinous and incensed, rubbing the church, spiritual and Zen effect on tiptoe. It is soothing, peaceful and reflective. The resin notes are powerful, opulent, but they are not heavy, they are rather like a cloud floating along the incense. Arso I love it, it is an almost monolithic fragrance, of modern, abstract, complex, suggestive, well-made and calming-home-like. Excellent durability, good projection without being exaggerated and exceptional qualities. Rating: 9.1

I don't get burnt Christmas trees as other reviewers have mentioned, but I do get a pine forest with some freshly cut timber and a small campfire in the vicinity. This is a woody incense accord that is strong but not overbearing, expertly blended, and surprisingly pleasant -- not a dark, foreboding black forest, but one with long shafts of sunlight slicing through tall pine trees onto a shaded forest floor strewn with dry needles. I can understand the comparisons to Interlude Man, but Arso replaces the oregano with pine resin and comes off a bit less oily, drier and fresher. It is not sweet like Lutens' concoctions and leans decidedly masculine, and it is not a smoke bomb like Goodsir's Bois d'Ascese. I absolutely love Profumum Roma's incense accord, which is on par with Amouage's: smoky, persistent and contemplative without becoming churchy. I think it's a genius blend and wish I found it sooner. The challenge is deciding when to wear it, not because it is off-putting or beasty, but because it smells exactly like my forest description. I consider it more of a personal fragrance. Also, it would be nice if they made a 50 ml size (a little goes a long way). Projection is powerful for the first couple of hours but it lightens up. I score it a 10/10 and think it's worth the price when compared to competitive niche offerings. It's one of the best fragrances I own.

Ideal Person: Ned Stark, before King's Landing (Game Of Thrones) Ideal Place: Alone, or nearly alone, in an old growth forest, making preparations for a hard winter. The sun has just set, you've sparked a fire and, apart from the darkness outside of your little halo of light and warmth, there's nothing causing you trepidation. You are sure you're going to survive the coming cold. General Associations: Green and smoke. Hard, outdoor labor done by one accustomed to it. Old fashioned, stoic masculinity with a healthy dose of the laconic loner. Any woodland mythology that isn't childish and contains an element of terror and a classic hero. I absolutely love this scent. While I feel forced to say that it's basically masculine, a woman with a certain can-do attitude could model this baby with aplomb. There is nothing boozy or foody about it, which couldn't please me more (I tend to dislike fragrances that remind me of mundane humanity by incorporating notes that drag one's thoughts toward eating or drinking; unless done with an EXTREMELY avant-garde approach, I can invariably pass those by). This is pure tree sap and smoke, swaddled in leather, and it just keeps working through an eight hour day. It's a hero that won't quit until the job is done and is in no way cynical about his role or his task. You gotta respect that.

Much more wearable than I expected. It smells like burning wood in an outdoor fireplace surrounded by pine trees. Very photorealistic. When applying it on skin, I am instantly reminded of Maison Margiela ́s By the Fireplace - which is strange since they do not have any listed notes in common. I detect a resemblance especially in the smell of something I would describe as sweet, burning firewood. I am no expert in perfumery but I believe they must have used the same chemicals/molecules to produce a burning wood-effect in both of these fragrances. Arso is a grown-up, higher quality By the Fireplace in my opinion. It does not have the same level of sweetness, it is more masculine, and smells more outdoorsy and natural. I would wear them for exactly the same occasions, but I would pick Arso over By the Fireplace every time - mainly because of the dry down. Arso stays smoky/piny/resinous/foresty like in the opening and does not go into creamy vanilla territory. By the Fireplace also has a balsamic base note that I am not a super big fan of. In short - wonderful fragrance, 8,5/10 overall for me. If you like the idea of smelling like a slightly smoky, sweet, and sappy pine forest, you're going to love Arso.

This is the 6th fragrance I've bought from the unrivalled house of Profumum Roma. They just seem to be in a league of their own when it comes to the quality and purity of their fragrances. They are not overly complex and seem fairly linear. That's not always a good thing because there is a certain magic to some fragrances that have a complex evolution, but in Profumum Roma's case the simplicity and purity only adds to their unparalleled excellence. They seem to focus on only a few notes in their fragrances but strive to make those notes as pure and perfect as possible. Arso is a potent juice that, as other reviewers have said, just radiates a smoky pine forest kind of scent. It's wonderful, truly wonderful. It is quite similar to Cape Heartache from Imaginary Authors, another juice I love, although Arso does not have the added strawberry that sweetens CH. I would also add that I think the fragrances from this house are pretty good value for money. They certainly aren't cheap, but I've tried a ton of more expensive fragrances that have left me underwhelmed and disappointed with their quality. Not so with my purchases from PR which have been consistently amazing and super high quality.

The opening is soft resinous smell of conifer cone, the dry down is smell of wooden cabin. It is very dry, my overall feeling is wood sawdust smell with resins. I think you cant oversprayed self with this scent. If you take 1 or 5 spritzs its still the same intensity. Friendly office scent. There is also some medicinal antiseptic aspect in this scent, feel fresh & healthy when im wearing this. Arso mean burnt in english, but it is not smokey, sometimes i get something like little smoky nuances but its from the perspective of wooden cabin, not the fireplace, not the smell of the smoke or the burn wood itself, but smell of the heated wooden cabin from the fireplace inside. It smells really natural and you can feel really good with this fragrance, the other scent which have same positive effects on my mind is Arc from Mallo. High quality ingredients, all year round perfume, Perfect! I was really enjoying wearing Arso in Japan, it fits very well in that incense / hinoki / cedar forests. Yesterday i collected fresh pine resin from pinetree, at home i burned it on charcoal. Arso perfectly capture smell of burning pine resin, this is the short definition how does the petfume smell.

I don’t know what it is about this one but I love it. I need to buy a full bottle soon. I have two 10ml decants so when I finish them I will buy a bottle . I have found that I adore Profumum Roma. I adore every scent I’ve smelt so far. I’m about to purchase Patchouly next. I have the Ambra Aura and love it. These perfumes do get better with age. What a great perfume house. You know a perfume house is great when ppl like or love every perfume they sell. There are only two other perfume brands that I can say I love everything they’ve put out and that’s Kerosene and Ormonde Jayne. And about to 90% of all Tom Ford as well. I need to sample the rest of the line from this house to see if indeed I do love everything Profumum Roma has to offer, but so far everything I’ve sampled I am planning to buy a full bottle of or already own a full bottle . I love Arso but this is not a safe blind buy fragrance, u really should sample it first. But if u like a sweet cedar like smell, you’ll love this perfume . Btw I own Replica By The Fireplace and this is NOTHING like BTF. I do love both and each is amazing in their own way, but they are nothing alike. ALWAYS sample first.

I've jvst pvrchased a bottle of this jvice. It has a lot of common with Olibanvm from the same hovse. Olibanvm is fresher, with the orange blossom to make it less harsh. Olibanvm feels like a fvneral, becavse of the orange blossom and incense. Arso has some smoke and pine. I feel festive, like drinking Glühwein in a chvrch. Very comfortable. I don't think ladies will compliment me on this scent bvt I don't care becavse I'm gay. Sorry ladies! How to use: even if this juice is expensive, it is better to use more sprays (4-5) but from a certain distance. Don't try to use less sprays (only 1 or 2) by holding the sprayer too close to your skin. The smell will be awkward. When I spray close to my skin on a single on a single spot, it just makes me want to puke. But from a distance with more sprays, it is divine. This perfume is very special: you will be able to smell it but it is not a sillage monster. My friends have to come close to notice it. You will be able to smell the burnt note, that one that can make you gag, but your friends won't. One of my friend thought I was wearing Fou d'Absinthe, go figure...

Arso is the ultimate in pine realism. This is one of the most natural interpretations of coniferous exudate; all that's missing is that sticky, tacky feel from touching the sweet, smoky, aromatic resins and savoring their scent as my tree-hugging self gets up and close and personal with the denizens of the forest. This is a warm spring or summer day, when the sun heats up the pines and the aroma is released in the dry air, especially as Arso dries into its heart. I have the imagery of a grove of Ponderosa pines in the southwest, the sun, the blue sky, the romanticism of the frontier. Arso becomes drier, more incense heavy and leathery on the skin as it dries into its base. It's especially spectacular while outside and the sun is on you; it really radiates with life. On clothes, those resinous, smoky facets of the pine resins remain for hours. It's really has an astonishing beauty, but would appeal to those such as myself who revel in stark realism as opposed to embellished impressionism (which has a place in my heart as well). A 10/10 on all accounts.

العطر غريب عجيب مميز متفرد، لم يسبق لي أن مر على أنفي مثل رائحة العطر.. قبل وصف العطر، لابد تعرف ما هي نوتة الصنوبر أو الباين، الصنوبر يستخرج منه زيت عطر نفاث يسمى زيت التربنتين، هذا الزيت يستخدم في كثير من المنتجات الطبية والصناعية وأيضاً العطرية، واشهر استخدام له في الفيكس اللي كلنا نعرفه.. رائحة زيت الصنوبر أو التربنتين، بلسمية خضراء نفاثة، بلمسات سويتية بسيطة، وبكل بساطة، مشابه جداً لرائحة الفيكس، الرايحة النفاثة في الفيكس هي عبارة عن منثول وزيت تربنتين.. هذا العطر رائحته بالضبط رائحة فيكس مع جلود بلمسات خشبية بلسمية، أقرب وصف للعطر، اذا تخيلت رائحة الفيكس مع رائحة جلود وكأنها رائحة شنطة جلد جديدة، بلمسة خشبية، تقدر تتخيل هذا العطر.. الثبات قوي وممتاز جداً، لكن الفوحان حقيقة متوسط ولكن مرضي إلى حد كبير.. أنا اشتريت العطر من بوتيك برفوموم روما من مدينة روما نفسها ، كان سعره 180 يورو حدود 700 ريال بسعر صرف هذه الأيام ( يورو= 3.80 ريال) لحجم 100 مل.. العطر يحتاج تجربة مرة وثنتين وثلاثة، ولا يصلح للشراء العمياني أبداً، ولكن اذا كنت هاوي عطور وتبحث عن العطر المتميز، صدقني هذا العطر ما يشبهه عطر على الأقل من العطور اللي مرت على انفي، ويستحق التجربة..

For some reason, at the very opening of Arso, it smells to me like Oud for Greatness, even though the two have vastly different notes. The cedar and incense blend really give it that similar bitter wood OFG scent profile for the first 1-2 minutes. Fairly, quickly, though, the pine scent comes out and it smells like pine sap, and then the incense takes over. It's an ecclesiastical incense, if that's your thing. You won't need Hosier to take you to church -- Arso will do it for you. I personally love it. The pine sap accord really heightens and elevates that incense accord -- at times smelling almost mildly minty, and still at other times the OFG tree-bark smell still penetrates through for me, all while somehow avoiding being overly harsh. By the end, Arso is just OFG, minus the bitterness and not quite as potent (so *almost* the best parts of Oud for Greatness). For that reason, Arso is a scent profile better suited for the cooler months and evenings. For me, a really, really cool and enjoyable fragrance.

If you are perfume lover you know this feeling when some amazing fragrance you discovered. All day thinking and sniffing your wrist. The fragrance you smell everywhere around you and you can’t stop thinking this is it. That happened to me when I found Arso. As usually Profvmvm Roma created masterpiece. But this time fragrance is something else... this is song and poetry. I never before knew that fragrance can have so positive projection to my mind. The story started as a very resinous and a bit of sweetness. Than the olibanum emerged and starts to play first role. Some little smokiness growth up and than develops as prominent however nicely balanced note. There is nothing modern in this fragrance anything from main stream. However in my opinion it can be the holly grail for the year 2011. Even it is very expensive it is worth its price – any price. So now I’m collecting money :-).

This fragrance astounds me! Just like some of the other reviewers, I found myself sniffing myself all day long- such a luxurious, delicious scent! It is nearly an itr/attar in its base-note heaviness- and its potency reminds me of them. I am going to disregard the fragrance-notes above, and state what I sense: scotch bonnet/chile habanero (witty, yes!), amber, olibanum, birch tar... the warmth of the fire is kept in check by just a touch of ethereal peppermint. Simple- yet so well-balanced! I don't think I will be able to avoid paying the $240. Nope. This is the first fragrance- not only of the Profvmvm Roma creations that I've sampled, but of any of my entire life thus far- without which I feel as if I cannot live decently! Update: Upgraded from a sample vial to a full bottle. No regrets!

This rocks. I find the opening to be really sweet, actually, like a crystallized fruit candied pine needle situation. It's very juicy, and I almost get a little bit of the vanilla you get when you stick your nose right in a ponderosa pine. That could definitely be nostalgia, though -- my alpine childhood rearing its head. The smoke slowly grows in on the skin while that initial sweet pine fades away, so somewhere in the middle of the wear time you've got this gorgeous camping-esque vignette of sitting next to a campfire in a pine forest, eating something sweet. The smoke lingers as a skin scent at least 8 hours, although in the latter third or so of that time you're missing most of the complexity. Too expensive for me right now certainly, but I do think you're paying for quality.