Pink Oasis

So I wanted to try the dupe by the DUA brand for Guidance by Amouage, but I no longer live in the US and having close to 200 DUAs I find that some tend to smell too sticky syrupy and similar after maceration, so I opted for this one since I stumbled upon it at my local pharmacy in Greece. These are made in Spain and they offer some good dupes that smell better than the original perfumes, like Rouge, Claudia and Majesty that I liked and Be Amy. I also liked Valeria for Valaya. Majesty had gone bad in the tester tho so it was a bit dusty. Pink Oasis stood out the most to me even tho I have aton of rosewater and sugared rose scents. It is very similar to VS Rosewater Sparkle the body mist being sugared and green too but the latter is a bit dusty while Pink Oasis isn't a dusty rose even tho it's warm and still floral. So in this concoction I detect rose for sure. Not sure why it's not listed; there has to be rose in this just like in the OG by Amouage. Now the olibanum and labdanum are absent here, among some other heavy notes like the saffron and the leathery osmanthus. I wish the first two were present as they def make the og more balsamic. The lack of saffron and osmanthus makes Pink Oasis more summery and heat-friendly. Osmanthus is a note I dread especially in DUAs btw so another reason why I prefer this by Verset. We are having a crazy heat wave in Greece, worse than the heat of SC and GA, so I couldn't imagine wearing the OG in this weather. Pink Oasis has a fresh tart pear in the opening, smoothed out by the vanilla, creating a beautiful almost savory sensation contrasting the warm woody hazelnut and I find this attribute unique in the rosewater scents league. It is rendered green by the pear accentuating the heady sugared rosewater scent since the rose here is also green and fresh despite its ambery warmth. The rose and amber are balsamic the way a heady rose smells but not in an old fashioned way. The warm hazelnut and syrupy, slightly powdery rose are at the core. It maintains its rich creamy woodiness from the hazelnut, a mature flair from the amber throughout, and some of the pear's green saltiness without much of its sour aspect at the later drydown. At the 4-5 hour mark, the scent becomes very sour and green by the rose-pear duet as the vanilla has completely faded, so that's how I can tell that its rose is also fresh and green, aside from the pear influence. The vanilla pear combo btw is found in sweet lotion-y types of scents like bbw Wild Madagascar vanilla, and here it gives that rich smooth, salty vanilla lotion scent that I detect at the base of Pink Oasis. The opening of the macerated tester was a bit less woody in the opening. The tester had the sugared rose more prominent right away in the opening. My fresh bottle I bought is equally beautiful but more like pencil shavings at first due to the strong hazelnut being a woody note, while the amber is more sharp. In the opening I get a strong sandalwood effect and for about 20 mins. In time its notes develop more harmoniously. It reminds me of other sugared rose, green, fresh yet sweet scents. Pink Oasis has the type of rose scent I smell in Idole and the same high-end, classy vibe, but this is more woody and youthful, just like ppl suggest Idole Power as a similar scent to the OG. Lasting power and projection are amazing.

It is not exactly the same as Guidance but pretty close: less woody, slightly sweeter and more vanillic, I would call It a Guidance "Ice cream". The drydown isn' t nearly as complex and rich and It does not have the same longevity, but still a decent longevity, on the same line of most designer fragrances. In my opinion It is a better dupe than Lattafa Bayn Al Asrar by far.

I wanted to love Guidance but didn’t get on with it (made me headachy and nauseated), so I’d hoped this was a dupe which would give me Guidance-Lite without the note I don’t love. However, I’ve sussed that the note is hazelnut, which this has lots of! That said, it’s a close match for (what I remember as) Guidance...definitely close enough if you don’t want to pay Amouage prices. It is strong and it lasts. You just cannot argue for this price! I really want to love this! 💔

Something here (on paper!) smells like a vinegary curry to me so I’m scared to test it on my skin! On skin.... Pickled pears on a wooden table, sprinkled with curry powder.

A lovely fragrance, I'm glad to have a bottle.