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.

I excitedly ordered a decant as soon as this released, and my impulsiveness came back to bite me in the ass. Profumum Roma’s offerings are either beautiful & natural or straight up nuclear. This is the latter. I’d put this in a similar category to Vir with its borderline nauseating medicinal, licorice-like sweetness and overbearing wood. I don’t find this scent particularly balanced or deep since every accord is absolutely dimed. If you really want to make a statement, maybe you’ll like it. I have no idea what to do with the rest of the decant. I simply will not make it even through 5ml.

I first tried Auriga at a Profumum store in Rome last October and was impressed enough to get a travel spray on the spot. Since then, I’ve worn it 5 days in a row. Auriga is essentially a woody (sandalwood + patchouli) amber (labdanum) scent that is a welcome addition to the genre. There isn't ambroxan, or norlimbanol or ambrocenide here - at least to any noticeable extent. Instead, it is marked by Profumum's usual quality materials and blending which create exceptional depth and richness, without being too complex. The bergamot is short-lived, and well-connected with the woody-vanillic dry down, while saffron, a minor player here, adds a bit of darkness. There is a vague passing similarity to Malle's Uncut Gem in the first hour or so, in terms of how the bergamot is used, but Auriga is very much rounded/smooth whereas the Malle is more sharp, crisp, angular and spiky. The subtle darkness in Auriga comes from labdanum as well, though overall Auriga is a bright, uplifting scent like several other Profumum creations. One welcome departure is that while there is a warm, dry, enveloping vanilla in the dry down - any sweetness is kept to a minimum. Strangely enough, at times it brings to mind Musc Ravageur in the dry-down, though the Malle is more vanillic and musky, whereas here the emphasis is on the woody pairing of patchouli and sandalwood, with vanilla constituting the supporting cast. The dry-down in Auriga has the relative dosage of patchouli, sandalwood and vanilla calibrated to perfection. The texture in the dry-down is slightly dry, slightly creamy and with a slightest tinge of a powdery element. Auriga leans masculine to my nose, though it can be an interesting scent for women. Performance is exceptionally strong, with persistent sillage and longevity of over ten hours based on just 3 sprays. It lasts for days on clothing. If you like Antico Caruso, or the Profumum range in general, or even things like Amyris Homme EdP / Extrait or Allure Homme Edition Blanche - I'd suggest trying out Auriga. If you don't like Uncut Gem or Musc Ravageur, I'd suggest not to be dissuaded - this is a very clean, smooth perfume. This could appeal to those who like Egoiste, Floris Santal or Trumper's Sandalwood - stylistically it isn't far away from those. I can imagine Auriga working well in all seasons and settings, except for maybe in high summer heat or to a job interview in bank or consulting. Auriga might even be my favourite in the Profumum range, and I have tried a fair percentage of the collection. The other favourites would be Ambra Aurea and Antico Caruso. What is interesting here is that it almost feels that a great deal of attention went into "streamlining" the final creation - resulting in something that is easy to wear, versatile and just smells great. I consider this to be an excellent release. While some might bemoan a lack of creativity, I'm not complaining in the least bit. ;-) Rating: 4.5/5

On my skin this is horrible! Ughh. It’s so harsh and all over the place. Makes me a bit nauseous for the first 10 minutes and try hard not to scrub it off so I can see what the dry down does. To me it’s like a piece of plastic is melting and someone decided to cover it with cinnamon and then about 15 minutes into that added some flowers buds to the mix....and that is what this smells like on my skin. I should have gotten the 2 ml vs the 5 ml. This must smell different on other peoples skin.

Well, unless Scentsplit messed up my sample, I really don't find this masculine. For reference, I'm a woman in her forties and been wearing this for the last couple days and loving it. I was shocked to come here and read the reviews. This is very long lasting on me as well. I put it on at 8am and still smelling it on myself at 10pm...so not sure what the deal is but the labdanum and patchouli combo is really doing it for me.

Beautiful combination of saffron and vanilla but in a fresh muted composition that is more adequate for men because of the masculine type of bergamot and sandalwood, giving it a fine after shower vibe. Sweet aromatic for males in my opinion, maybe for a formal event because it’s very elegant. 👌🏻✨

Finally, a vanilla perfume from Profumum and without the other sweet notes like amber, tonka, benzoin, caramel, etc. If it has a few hours of projection and a touch of sillage, why not?

Oh man, this is going to be a good one!!