Fragrance Overview

I only put this on occasionally, but it is my most-opened attar by a long shot.  I am now familiar with a lot of the florals in here, but I had no clue about the narcotic power of florals until I began to constantly sniff this.

This scent profile blew my mind the first time I smelled this.  Every day, I would have to open this up to get another experience with it.  I couldn’t make sense of the smell profile I was inhaling.  This opened new horizons of what scent is and can be.  Florals are so much more than the flower section at the store (and we have some amazing flower sections here in the Northwest, but this was entirely new).

It is a give-and-take wearing.  As an oud lover, I have to give up the very strong animalic, pungent profiles I am used to, but I get in return a bouquet that is loud but matched by a medium-toned oud, kept in place by a dance of olfactory love.

Here’s why distilling your own ingredients is so unique and important to me: the distiller tightly controls the rich facets he wants to bring out of his raw ingredient, adding a perfume print that can’t be copied.  That is really important to me with buying perfume.  I have never smelled Champaka like this one in any other composition.  It’s vibrant, creamy, powdery, rich fruity tea scent with an air of Bubble Yum OG bubble gum.

Champaka - Rich, velvety, suave, vanilla-sweet floral with warm, dense, peach/apricot-like notes and spicy tea- and hay-like undertones; the rich, sweet floral and tea/hay notes remain in the long drydown

Fragrance Review

I finally figured out what Champaka is the day I smelled this.  It is the star, bar none.  This perfume is a story of Russian Adam and his beloved.  The beloved always shines, and you can smell it here.  Behind it is a masculine accord that stares down the florals with protection, provision, and devotion.

While Champaka opens this up, oud shows itself in the heart.  An easy-to-wear-oud with none of its more animalic traits.  A cleaned-up gentleman, if you will.

As it transitions, you get a bit of winter love in the form of the first Christmas cups at the coffee shops, serving up some hot cocoa that you can tell is rich, melted-down chocolate with some of the best cinnamon I have smelled in a composition.  Seriously, this cinnamon note is the best one I have smelled, and this will ruin every cinnamon note after you reach this level.  People who have been turned off by the note need to at least smell it at this level.  I really can’t stand some forms of it but absolutely love other forms; that’s part of what has made this journey so worth it.  It’s funny how we can shut down things and never return, but discovering every side of an element can sometimes be rewarding and add depth to the journey.

The rich, refined oud only supports everything and never stands up and roars above everything else.  It just adds a rich, earthy support to the florals and spices in here.  Saffron no doubt adds to the depth of the sillage and adds a lush air bubble around you.  It is a high-end saffron note.  Whiffs of the tobacco can be found if concentrating, and the same goes for the vetiver, but all ingredients add to a fume that provides many transitions, but with great nuances in every sniff.

Overall, this is the ultimate marriage fragrance in my collection.  The story is fully backed by the composition of two sides: a floral and an oud that come together to form a complete, beautiful accord.

Heavy, classical, floral oriental blend, with a touch of highly matured, chocolaty deer musk, and a gentle whisper of animalic royal oud. Top notes: yellow Champaka [Champaca] distilled by Russian Adam, magnolia otto, and absolute Heart notes: Royal Bengal oud, tobacco absolute, Indonesian cocoa extract, saffron, and cinnamon Base notes: legally obtained wild Siberian deer musk; vetiver absolute, aged from 2010; Indian labdanum absolute; and Peru balsam