Stellar Amber

I have the OG Amouage Guidance and I am very pleased by having a bottle of Stellar Amber by Zara, too. Very similar to the actual Guidance. Now I don ́t want to discourage anyone from getting the Guidance, by no means, as I really appreciate the perfume (not that much because of its actual beauty, but more because I find it really interesting, unique), but I ́m thinking actually, would I be getting it if I had a chance to get Stellar Amber before? That ́s how much of a close dupe it is. Like, in the world of dupes, this is a great one. :) It even starts of with that slight sourness/dill scent that is so typical for Guidance. Then it moves into the sweetish, slightly powdery, lactonic field. The juiciness of the pear is very addictive. The longevity and sillage are also pretty decent, sometimes moderate, sometimes even stronger. In fact, very, very good for the price. It is noticeable, the sillage is there. Now I have the "I" batch of Guidance which is considered to be weaker than the original "G" batch, so in terms of longevity and sillage it really isn ́t that far from Stellar Amber. To conclude, if you have a chance to get the "nuclear" G batch of Guidance, then it is definitely preferable to Stellar Amber. However, if you want to save some money, it is more reasonable to get Stellar Amber instead of the "I" batch of Guidance (sadly, the G batches are getting rare to find). I don ́t have the regrets, I am such a fanatic perfume collector that I am still happy to have the OG in my collection, but that would be my genuine advice if you don ́t feel like splurging that much on a perfume that is not that strong in terms of performance anymore (at least for the money). I will probably save the real Guidance for special occassions whereas I will be spraying Stellar Amber whenever I feel like having that Guidance scent on me without wasting "the expensive" one, haha. :)

I am a huge Guidance lover. Honestly head over heels with it and has been since its release in April 2023. I’m on my fourth bottle, which I think speaks volume🤭 Anyways, I was traveling and on a whim I visited Zara because I always want to see if they have any new releases. I smelled the two others from the collection first and then lastly this. Flabbergasted!! I have wished for a dupe for so long, because my pockets are hurting with Amouage😆🤚🏽 This resembles guidance so much without it being a dupe. It’s amazingly beautiful but unfortunately for me it lacks in longevity. And I still miss the floral aspect that guidance has. I have tried to layer it with Delina, which I often do with guidance and it’s just not working with this one. Even though it lacks in longevity, it is indeed stellar when it comes to silage🤭 So delina just drowns and it’s like I never layered them at all. Nevertheless, a stunning scent!

I own guidance and guidance 46 but i still love this. The peach / pear musk combo is lovely. ...and lasting and wafts around nicely and is still a skinscent 12 hours later. If you know the pear houbigant use you may recognise it here but its more peach to me. I like tbe musk in this too Not jarring and no ambroxan. The only one in the amber range that has ambroxan is amber fever and unusually for zara it's not that heavy handed... noticeable yes though. This is my favourite from the line. Do I think it's an exact dupe no...guidance is more complex. This is more fruity but this does not smell cheap at all You have to like fruity and creamy scents to like this..but if you do you may really enjoy it like I do. Gutted is seems to be being phased out already.

When I first got the Amber Collection Discovery set, this one was a little bit more forgettable to me. I don’t really recall why the disconnect was for me, I heard that some people really loved it, but it just didn’t do all of that for me. Revisiting it 7 months later and I see what they mean! It’s really delicious! It’s mostly fruity, but in a very substantial kind of way. It’s not like a summery fruity scent, though I feel like it’s not too much where you can’t wear it in the hotter weather. I do also get a Play-Doh quality about it. Maybe a little bit misnamed because this isn’t an amber forward scent to me, but it’s a very enjoyable scent. Would be a shame if they discontinued this one. Which they probably already have at this point...

At first sniff I liked this. Then came the day I wore it and it was sadly headache inducing to me. I think it is the osmanthus, I had problems with this note in other perfumes too. The olibanum makes the drydown sour and sharp on my skin. Overall a sweet, beast mode fragrance with great sillage and longevity. For the price it is a good one. However, you need to like the notes to enjoy this fragrance, it is unapologetically intense. Update: it reminds me of Initio Absolute Aphrodisiac but with better performance. Update 2: After spending more time with it in the colder weather I LOVE IT! I don't know if it macerated or what but I had it on today and could not stop smelling my arm. No headache. Just a smooth and deep ambery vanilla.