Auriga

This is my third fragrance from Profumum Roma, a house I have loved since I first experienced Acqua di Sale over 15 years ago. During a recent visit to one of their boutiques in Rome, I had the opportunity to explore several creations. I already own Acqua di Sale, Acqua e Zucchero, and Dulcis in Fundo, and was looking for something different. After sampling a number of fragrances, I asked to try one of their latest releases from a few months ago—Auriga—and I was genuinely impressed. It is an explosive, enveloping, warm and comforting scent. The composition evokes a leather accord, yet rendered in a sweet, smooth and highly seductive way. The result is both powerful and refined. Even my partner, who usually does not appreciate this type of fragrance (despite enjoying all my other Profumum Roma scents), immediately agreed that it was worth purchasing. It has quickly become one of my absolute favourites. An outstanding fragrance—well worth trying and easy to love. I can only recommend it.

This is a new one for me. I have the 18ml size, as these are potent and highly concentrated. A beautiful and refined masculine scent with familiar notes but flawless quality. A guy’s guy staple profile without disgusting chemicals. Really really worth having.

Review from first spray of new bottle. On initial spray the saffron and labdanum completely dominate completely blanketing the other notes. The bergamot is maybe there but it’s hard for my nose to discern. After about two hours the vanilla and sandalwood start to make an appearance. Just as @Sissen wrote in her review of Conffeto, “this is the play-dohy, plasticky sweet smell of some girls toys”, that is exactly what is happening at this point. It’s not until about a half hour later that all the notes appear and balance the smell out. It’s at this point that I can finally actually enjoy this fragrance. I would say this fragrance is unisex but if you associate the vanilla/sandalwood smell as plasticky sweet smell of girls toys then it will lean more feminine to you. Overall I rate it a 4 out of 5. Definitely try before you buy.

Sweet ambery woody aromatic scent that intends to please. The scent opens with some bergamot and saffron which disappear soon to reveal a heart of labdanum and vanilla. The scent settles on a powdery patchouli sandalwood accord. The unisex fragrance has moderate to strong projection and very good longevity. Inoffensive and elegant but nothing particularly groundbreaking, this confection like scent will be a nice more natural smelling alternative to the Baccarat Rouge fans out there. Enjoy!

I received my sample today and the scent is quite hard to describe. On paper, the opening has a noticeable boozy facet, perhaps just the alcohol evaporating, but it’s clearly perceptible to my nose. This is definitely a fragrance that needs to be tried on skin, where it behaves very differently. The warmth of skin seems to transform the composition dramatically. On me, it reveals a warm, distinctive aroma unlike anything I’ve smelled before. I get hints of dried hay and saffron. Vanilla is listed, but it’s not sweet, more a subtle background support. There’s a soft animalic nuance, never unpleasant; in fact, it’s what keeps drawing me back for another sniff. It feels earthy and dry at the same time, like burying your nose in sun-baked hay. Truly captivating. It also leaves a slight oily trace on my skin, typical of Profumum Roma. Fragrantica lists citrus as dominant, but I don’t really detect that. To me, Auriga sits on the more artistic side of Profumum Roma’s lineup, closer to Ichnusa than to their more “one-note” scents like Ambra Aurea or Patchouly. It feels more like an olfactory scene than a single ingredient. I’d love to know what inspired it. It’s not a crowd-pleaser or trend-driven, which makes it more interesting. One of those scents you keep revisiting. Totally unisex, and it reminds me a bit of VIR from the same house. EDIT: There’s a very noticeable highly synthetic note in this perfume, and I can’t quite identify what it is. I’m genuinely surprised that Profumum Roma would use synthetics in such quantity to boost longevity without mentioning it.