Voile d'Ambre Yves Rocher

Desirability: Decant

Source: www.punmiris.com

A soft oriental that reminds me of other similarly mild tempered characters like Oppoponax by Les Néréides and Opium Eau D'ete Summer Fragrance 2003 from Yves Saint Laurent. 

Starts off bitter green and tangy like the rinds of dozens of limes being peeled off simultaneously, with a dash of the aromatic sweetness that is unique to cardamom seeds. It turns a bit dry and dusty with a sweet woody smell before evolving into a sheer golden amber, citrus-tinged vanilla and smoky sweet resins. Many ambers get too powdery or too sweet but Voile d'Ambre is nicely balanced in both these categories, with the balsamic elements featuring more prominently.

Voile d'Ambre hovers close to me so much so that I really have to stick my nose to my skin in order to smell it after the first two hours. The longevity fares a bit better, I can detect it up to around six hours. Overall, a nice scent for those just starting to venture into the oriental section of fragrances and those who prefer gossamer-like fragrances in general. 

Oppoponax Les Néréides

Desirability: Decant

Source: Fragrantica

Les Néréides fragrances are the archetypical "the bang for your buck" scents and Oppoponax is no different. In return for the very affordable prices listed on various online stores and Ebay, you get well-made fragrances of acceptable quality, with decent performances in the sillage and longevity departments. Totally blind buy worthy I thought and I did. No regrets.

Oppoponax stays true to its name and is a fine introduction to balmy scents.  A soft oriental that is revolves around warm and sweet resins, uncomplicated and largely linear on my skin.  The scent is both cozy and light, the ingredients a sheer version of themselves as compared to their roles in more heavy-hitting resin-based scents like Calvin Klein's Obsession, Guerlain's Shalimar or Yves Saint Laurent's Opium just to name a few. 

So if you are after a sultry, intoxicating scent, Oppoponax is not it. If you would like a lighter Oriental like a subtle golden shimmer accompanying you for the better part of a day, I would recommend to try this.