Samsara (1989)
by Guerlain

Samsara is a wonderful perfume that is a huge jasmine experience ,smoothed out with ylang and given a little lift with vanilla and tonka and then it expands beautifully with sandalwood . This is the vintage extrait I am reviewing. This is a gorgeous Guerlain perfume ,strong and with sillage and tenacity .
However, it would not be my personal choice becasue I do not like the vanilla tonka combo in this scent , I think . I appreciate it completely but I will not wear this. It doesn't meld well with me .

If you love the sugary smell of Iris, and if you can smell the iris in it, you'll love it. It's...sort of... similar to Shalimar. I was a teenager when I fell in love with it, because I read that there was iris in it, and had always loved the fragrance of an iris bloom. I never smelled much iris but it's still pretty. Unfortunately, I forced it too hard as a signature scent. I went through bottle after bottle, till I was 26 and hated it. My sincere love of Samsara for such a long time before that makes me give it a thumbs up. That's for the scent alone. Even as a seventeen year old, I could tell the marketing was forced. I mean, what's with the name, and the cheezy story about enlightenment and traveling the world? Lame marketing, nice sweet powdery perfume.

I think a lot of people shy away from Samsara simply because it's so notorious, a plight which seems to affect many 80's fragrances. Personally I love the 80's; the big hair, outrageous clothing, loud fragrance and of course the music! To me, Samsara doesn't feel out of place or dated, it's a gorgeous blend of jasmine, ylang and sandalwood that feels very exotic on the skin. The EDP is much better than the EDT, the Parfum doesn't seem to last long at all and was a big dissapointment! Definitely a classic and suprisingly 'Guerlain' in style.

this feedback is for the Parfum concentration - Samsara in it;s parfum concentration is extremely creamy and powdery with the Iris and vanilla pods in full bloom with hints of floral and some that smells like rosewood. it very easily reminds me of Parfumerie Generales Cadjmere (the rosewood, and cocunutty vibe) although here it's much more opulent, creamy and thick. i havent tested the EDP or EDT, but i can strongly recommend the parfum concentration, it's pure delight.

EDP: It opens with quite a heavy dose of Jasmine, but I believe the beauty of this scent is in the Sandalwood dry-down and the slightly powdery and incense-y base. This is my reference sandalwood scent.

I'm puzzled. Why do certain scents evoke vivid imagery while others don't? Whenever I smell SAMSARA, I find myself in a tale from A Thousand and One Nights as a dashing adventurer in search of fame and fortune. My daring exploits eventually brought me to the attention of the Caliph's shapely and exquisitely beautiful daughter who summoned me to her private chambers late one evening. While it is ungentlemanly to describe what happened next I could still recall the opulence of her room in its shades of red, burgundy and mahogany. And I remember smiling as I left the next morning, her hauntingly beautiful scent still lingering on my skin. UNFORGETTABLE.