Samsara

I blind bought a 1989 bottle of the EDP from eBay. So the "old" formula. I had this recollection that I had worn this perfume many years ago and had liked it very much. I put some on my wrist and the aroma hit me hard. OMG the memory of this scent came flooding back and I was in love all over again. I ran about asking friends (over 65 yo for reference) to smell it and they all loved it too. Yes, it is a potent perfume initially and not some sort of trendy cupcake gourmand or sheer skin scent. This is what I call a serious scent. It is woody/sandal wood initially but then the flower notes come out after about an hour. That first hour was however heaven and I couldn't keep my nose off my wrist. I looked like some twisted deviant smelling myself. I love the smell and the memory of the smell if that makes sense. Scent is strongly attached to memories for me and although it didn't bring up specific memories I kind of remember myself in my 30s wearing this scent. Why I stopped I don't know. Probably living in the tropics where scent would draw bugs. Memories of date night, getting dress up, lacy lingerie, feeling sexy, flirty and evocative. Exotic. Now, I love it enough to wear this in the day time. Frankly, don't care if it is categorized as a winter, or evening, or whatever category of scent. I love it and plan to wear it whenever I wish. Nice thing about getting older as we don't care as much about what others may think and we do what pleases us. It lasted on my skin for over 6 hours and as a skin scent for another 4. Projection seemed a couple feet. On clothing it lasted until the next day as least. For those women, or men, what would wish a less "forward" perfume you may wish to wear in the evenings. I can visualize this absolutely as a bed time scent that will take you to exotic places in your dreams. Although listed as a women's perfume I would love, love, love to smell this on a man as the sandalwood tames the floral notes

Samsara is a charming perfume. I only recently got into it. For me this fragrance is a sweet fruity-floral musk. It feels like a kind of licorice scented oil a sweet oil and you drink it like a medicine to boost your energy levels. I don't know what other people are smelling but fragrance has the power to show a different side to the different individual wearer each time. The opening is a soft subtle peach but even more than that ylang ylang seems to be the top note. Smells fruity and sweet with a yellow ylang ylang note. There is also a jasmine but not green with jasmine shrub just the white petals. Smells very sweet with a licorice. Then there's the heart of flowers which to me include a big dose of violets, iris and more white florals. A dainty rose way in the back. The sweet flowers eventually turn powdery because iris or orris root make the scent very powdery. This is the part of the fragrance that lingers the most. Just a sweet licorice floral and cosmetic style violet. Very feminine. By the time of the dry down it's vanilla with amber and some musk. A warmer and slightly spicy-smoky dry down. Beautiful and good sillage and longevity. I think this scent is good for any time of the year but best in fall and winter. It's not giving off dressy or formal vibes but can be formal and casual so it's just for any event or reason to wear it. Love the red bottle. Love how it sprays. This is an iconic Guerlain treasure.

Samsara is an envelope of sandalwood over a heart of non indolic- jasmine and luminous ylang. this fragrance is so smooth, also in the beginning with a citrus notes that is so well blended, neither screechy nor bitter, and a touch of green. So well blended to be almost synesthetic in compelling a sensorial impression of something creamy at the touch. But it is not creamy in a gourmand way, nor it is a total 'warm' fragrance, as its oriental nature and red pack may hint. Samsara carries in fact a detached, almost algid undercurrent, but in a positive way. It brings me a sensation of calmness in the mad swirling of or day, something like 'ok, make a step back and take a huge breath and live your live with more calm and clarity'. I would call it a meditative-almost zen - fragrance, suited for the woman who learnt how to live her life in pace and serenity, how to make a step behind, to not be dragged by our tumultuous times, and see the trouble of the life from afar with a detached and reflexive eye. basically, she is my opposite. Nevertheless, I love, and wear, Samsara as well. Side note: I've trid Samsara both in the bee bottle and in the new pagoda bottle, both the EdP and EdT. I prefer definitely the edp over the edt, for its major complexity. The bee bottle was a little more vibrant but, since it is not easy to find anymore, I think the new edition is a good alternative.

I remember when Samsara first burst upon the scene; I remember the Vogue, Cosmo, Redbook ads with the scratch and sniff patches or the little sachet samples. It was nice but didn't make much of an impact then I smelt it live. It hit me right between the eyes and I was a goner. The first time I sprayed it I was transported to a deserted Minorcan beach, standing just in the water line with my face and arms raised to salute the sun. I felt that sun gently seep into my body, into my bones, into my soul and releasing all my worries and stresses. I still feel that way today. Samsara calms me and uplifts me in all its iterations. I wear it when I want to go back to that 20 and 30 something who thought she was invincible, who danced the Zorba dance with a Greek family in Corfu, who portaged solo round Lake Ontario, who watched the sun set on Portstewart beach and rise on a Minorcan beach, who thought the Mona Lisa was just okay but preferred Whistler's Mother. That woman who stood in front of 10,000 people and told them that cancer is survivable and "early detection saves lives" Samsara is one of my happy places, my hope, my joy.

I have been cycling through all my iterations of Samsara, but this is the prize by far--about 8 mL of a 10 mL decant from a perfectly preserved 1990 bottle that my impossibly kind friend Sarah shared with me. Don't get me wrong: I love the bouchon coeur versions of the EDT and EDP and will keep buying them as long Guerlain keeps making them, but this original? The mysore sandalwood just sings! It's almost insane, how beautifully woody and complex this is in its vintage form. The jasmine/iris/rose midnotes are also deeper and sexier. The narcissus peeks through in a way that it never does in the contemporary formulation of the EDP, if it's even still present at all. I don't even know how to describe how gorgeous this is. I know people must exist who dislike this, a not insignificant number of Fragranticans, in fact, but this is as inconceivable to me as an aversion to Mozart. I know taste is subjective and all, but I simply cannot imagine not wanting to smell this and to smell like this. It smells like pure bliss and serenity.