Astaral

#978 in my "Tour de Fragrance" Got this as a decant. Kemi Blending Magic was such a genius fragrance house, so God bless Xerjoff for bringing their scents over unchanged in the acquisition. In my career I've managed 32 mergers and acquisitions and this is such a rarity it's almost beyond belief. Usually the acquired brand disappears entirely as the bones are picked for talent, patents, technologies. Think L'Oreal's disastrous and destructive acquisition of Thiery Mugler and the resulting loss of some of the best men's fragrances ever made. (I'd still like to find the SOB behind that in a dark alley.) Astaral remains the fabulous fragrance Kemi created, remaining bottles selling on eBay for just under $500. But this is the same juice available for under $200, so unless you want the Kemi bottle for collector purposes you needn't spend the money with the scalpers of eBay for this fabulous fragrance. It is a little oriental in a way I usually dislike with all the rose and florals, but not enough to make it grandma juice. Kannauj shamama attar really is magical, and gives this scent a completely unique and complex herbal quality I haven't encountered with any other ingredient. I can't stop sniffing it. If you're carpooling or otherwise in tight spaces this stuff really projects at first. It will get noticed, and if overdone will not be appreciated by everyone. So go easy. Though in terms of longevity, makes it to lunch, not much beyond. I wouldn't wear this to the office, but it would be a definite for date night. Unisex for sure, leaning a bit femme with a floral opening, but that gets out of the way in 15-20 minutes. I'm in for a bottle.

Those accords and that scent pyramid are crazy, does not at all align with my experience. It opens fruity-floral and I'm instantly thinking feminine scent. The first comparable I reached for was Pink me up by Atelier des Ors. A little bit harsh up-close, some bitterness. As it dries, the fruity-floral accords have some freshness and some soapiness added. But once we exit minute 5 or so, what I begin to notice is a very dominating rose - a dewy/sweet/jammy rose that seems recognizable from a lot of the scents released by Fragrance du Bois and some also from Roja Parfums. For example: Parisian, Oud Rose Intense, Taif Aoud, Amber Aoud - scents in that general bracket. Or if I'm more harsh about it: rose-oud scents where there is basically no oud. The tones flanking the rose eventually become slightly comparable to those in Nishane's Favonius - a cypriol/nagarmotha-driven backdrop is mildly apparent after hours 2-3, maybe hour 4. But the craziest part is that this Xerjoff is far louder, has far better longevity, and costs €290 for 100ml vs. those FDBs and Rojas trading at 2x the price for worse performance. So shoutout Xerjoff for not offering a watered-down product at an absurd price. Purely from the perspective of what the comparables are, this is great value and I would encourage anybody to try this side-by-side with the scents I listed above and see what your performance impressions are. Most suited for spring-fall, might have a narrow feminine lean to some. Works for both day and night. Not sure I'd touch it in summer or winter. Does it smell like Blue Sapphire? I wouldn't know.

If I had to review Astaral in three words I would say "delicate and delightful". Subtlety is something i much admire and think we need more of in our lives. Hence my deep love for this perfume. On my skin, it is not a projection monster, but rather an ethereal, yet consistent and uplifting presence. In a fragrance landscape often dominated by olfactory maximalism, Xerjoff has done something admirable: they have created a scent that whispers, and in doing so, says far more. There is a celestial airiness to Astaral: From its slightly spicy opening, to the long-lasting rose heart, and the sweet woody base, the fragrance stays light and delicate. It is clearly a rose scent, but never powdery, never heavy, more like catching the scent of a rose on a breeze outside a spice market. As the projection recedes a bit with time, the intensity of the scent itself remains remarkably consistent. It is just perfectly constructed from top to bottom. The oud is mild and well-behaved, grounding the airy top and floral heart in a sweet, woody spiciness, an experience bordering on the spiritual. The rose-oud combination is well-trodden territory, but the lightness and spice here give it a genuinely fresh twist: timeless without feeling dated. Astaral is perfectly unisex and flattering at any age. I love wearing it on a spring or early summer evening with a leather jacket. I am also looking forward to trying it on colder days. Could potentially be a date night fragrance. It is the kind of scent that invites you to lean in closer, and that, perhaps, is exactly the point.

I hated this on paper and now I just can’t get enough of it on me. I think I tried this because of the shamama attar note listed and is supposed to be a mix of many spices and herbs from what I understand and definitely feel that. Theres warm edible smelling spices and herbs along with a very clean Oud note that I really can’t get enough of, I don’t really get much of a rose but definitely detect a chocolatey patchouli in the dry down. Performance starts off borderline nuclear but after about an hour it seems to start fading but I’ll say it’s above average. One of the best rose ouds I’ve tried it doesn’t feel right to even call it such, beautiful.

Fucking Awesome! Sometimes blind buys work out. I just had to have the bottle for my collection, but when I read the notes, I was a little worried. I am not really into spices, oud or ambers for that matter. From the first spray, I went from it’s not that bad, to it’s actually pretty good, to OMG! This is awesome. I have no idea what Shamama spices are but I guess they smell great LOL. The fragrance is beautifully blended - you can pick out the rose and oud and you really try, but just sit back and enjoy. I find it to be similar, but better, than Alexandra II. What an underrated fragrance.