Reviews of Omnia (2003)
by Bulgari

A light unsharp citrus – I can believe mandarin – opens up with spices; I get ginger and cardamom. Yes, I think there is some pepper in there even though it isn’t listed, (I consider myself lucky because I’m rather anosmic to pepper-like notes). Then the spices from the middle enter in and I get a definite clove and cinnamon along with a rather basic tea note and a floral. I can’t really tell, but I will take their word that it is lotus flower – I believe the floral isn’t meant as an individual floral note, but simply to round out and provide body for the tea / spices. The drydown is wood (what is Indian wood, anyway? Wood from India?) but primarily sandalwood. I join a long list of reviewers who don’t smell the chocolate. Smelled close to the skin most of these notes are quite clear, pure, and strong, and I admire that. As a sillage maker, Omnia doesn’t do a lot of that… it creates a rather translucent, not overly sweet, feminine fragrance that is a genuine delight.

I'm wearing the last of my sample and I'm sad about that - a good indication that I should purchase a bottle. Not very sillagey, true - it does wear close to the skin, but it's long lasting on me. I enjoy wearing this scent close to the skin all day like a little sheer blanket of comfort. It's sweetish, spicy & woodsy without being overly sweet or sugary. The pepper doesn't bloom out of control on me, and the sandalwood stays soft and doesn't overwhelm. It has a bit of style and elegance to it, though it's casual and easy to wear. It's what I call a "white shirt" fragrance. I always need a perfect white shirt (at least one) that goes everywhere and with everything, is comfortable, yet always looks good and makes me feel smart. Omnia is a perfect white shirt.

At first spray, it's almost like one of those lemony wipes that used to come with one's Kentucky Fried Chicken. But that disappears fast. Afterwards, it's all freshly-cut cedarwood with cardamom. Maybe a little cinnamon, and a little citrus too. Most mostly cedar cedar cedar. Like walking into a cedar lined closet, while holding a sachet of cardamom and other spices. Some sandalwood too. I don't smell any white chocolate, or at least not any white chocolate I've ever eaten. Sillage is not large, but not small either. I *like* it! This is not a fruity floral. It's just a nice woody scent that has lasted over 6 hours on me today.

This was my original review: Gezhundheit! A blast of black pepper which magically disappears, is replaced by a cup of Masala tea with cardamom and clove, and a gingerbread cookie shaped like a Dutch windmill, spicy but only mildly sweet. As the skin warms, a most beautiful sandalwood emerges, long-lasting but close to the skin. Delicious. Expect minimal sillage. Snuggle up and enjoy.
My new advice is to avoid perfumes with black pepper notes. They seem to "bloom" over time and overtake the other notes in the fragrance. So, unless you really like pepper, or you buy your perfume fresh and use it fast, you can't trust that note to behave.

Wow, this really is a case of horrifically awful bottle-design putting me so totally off a product that I only smelled this yesterday... and loved it! LOVE! To me this smelled like lemon being strenghtened by something soft and fresh which does not adulterate it... I really didn't get much spice, except quite a bit of pepper, and no chocolate or sandalwood, weird. I shall try again, but I hope I only ever get this lemony, peppery goodness. Quite unusual, very cheerful and very clean. I do suspect it will not have great sillage or lasting power on me, though, sadly. This is very expensive in SA, but I will track it down, in spite of the awful, vile, cheap-feeling and looking, impractical and heavy-spritzing 'bottle'.

A lady friend of mine wears this, on her it makes you want to inhale her in one long sniff. I've tried it and on me it lasts half as long and is merely pleasant. On her it is nothing short of fantastic, sexy and inviting. I.ve never smelled it on anyone else so it seems to be uncommon If more women wore it I'd have to take lots more cold showers!

This is a lovely warm, spicy smell. The masala and chai notes come through the most on my skin, and while i'm much more of a sweet, fruity perfume wearer, this is lovely for a change.Though I must admit my boyfriend wears it more than I do, and I truely think it's a unisex perfume. It smells great on him!

A rich and spicy Oriental with fabulous chai notes.

Omnia really should be promoted as a more of a unisex frag, IMHO -- a man can certainly pull this one off if he has the guts. Great bottle too -- really fun! Add to all this the fact that Omnia is often VERY affordable and you've got a winner on your hands.

A most wearable oriental if you don't like orientals. It's spice over wood which is sensitive nose-friendly and unoffensive, lacking the usual smack of vanilla and amber. This is a compelling chai tea fragrance that dries down to rich sandalwood...I personally don't catch the chocolate note on my skin. I would catagorize Omnia as typical Bulgari... rich yet controlled, sophisticated, refined, and very wearable.

I'm quite surprised that this has been described as 'quiet' because (maybe just on me) it has an amazing sillage, and similarly amazing longevity. I noticed this on a lady in Greece who was standing several yards from me, and asked her what it was. I sought it out at the airport before flying home, and it's now one of my favourites. I wear this one when I really want to make an impact. I think of it as a perfume with the 'thud' factor (I know that sounds odd, but to me it just smells heavy, in a good way). I love this fragrance, it's so unusual, and it always gets comments.

I love this...its fresh to begin with smells as though it has pine in it but then it becomes very subtle, creamy,soft. It is a lovely evening fragrance one that will not overpower or be offensive....oh and men seem to notice it and like it...even when I think it has dissappeared.

"Omnia" has the potential to be a truly great fragrance, but on my skin, it never really works. The base notes are gorgeous - a warm, creamy almond, with hints of cocoa powder and orange - and the heart contains some very pretty and (to my nose) nostalgic masala chai spices. However, the top notes are too peppery and aggressive for my taste, and they take quite a while to settle into the sweeter and more subdued notes that characterize the rest of the fragrance. (I should mention here that I wear Tabu, and love many heavy orientals - if something is "a little too peppery" for me, it's probably peppery enough to cause convulsive sneezing fits in the vast majority of the earth's population.) The black tea notes are also problematic; while I love the bitter, smoky smell of tea, I just don't find it wearable. It turns sour and dirty very quickly, and when I wear it, I always have the nagging feeling that I need a hot shower.

If you've been blessed with the chemistry and the temperament necessary for tea and pepper, "Omnia" may be great for you. Unfortunately, it's wasted on me.

Very underrated and underexposed, exhibits the grace that seems to typify Bulgari scents. Whereas Bulgari's jewellery is so often so gaudy, their fragrances are so restrained and poised. Sweet without being at all cloying and spicy but not gratingly so. Apparently gourmand in composition yet not the sickly sugary kind of thing that the word "gourmand" often refers to. Yes, as others have pointed out, very easily unisex, and I find the sillage quite good. I bought it for my mother and sprayed some on her wrist, I'm sure I didn't get any on myself but I kept getting whiffs of it all day. Downright charming.

A beautiful, sort of "quiet" oriental, easy to wear, not sweet, more dry, and longlasting, too. The bodylotion is really good! There are more exiting orientals, but I really like this one, as it don´t effend the people around you, yet being a real oriental.

Why didn't I discover this earlier, I don't know. It has everything I like in an oriental soft wood and almond being my favorite. I just simply love this and it has a very creamy vanilla. It is not strong so I can wear this anywhere without fear of offending too many people.

In my country there is a small shop that sells similar essences to the haute couture fragrances:great sillage and copies.The interesting fact is that Omnia is sold as unisex and so , I one bought a 5 ml bottle.This is excellent,masculine, but with a delicate touch.On some women it smells great too but this one it is not as feminine as Bulgari pretends.

This fragrance never really came into focus for me, and I tried it in two different stores. I was hoping for a dark, spicy tea scent, but all I got was a thin whiff of distant chai, then poof! all gone. Certainly inoffensive, though.

I went mad about it when I first sniffed it. :) And I bought 2 bottles. :D I also got bored very quickly, but there I was and here I am... with 130 ml of Omnia.

This a a great spicy scent. My wearing it lead to a friend buying it and now it is currently her favorite.
There is that first blast of peppery spice, and it settles in, smooth, tea and a hint of the chocolate.
I like the way it lingers.

This is a dry oriental. It begins with an intense, spicy, delightfully complex tea scent. However, the dry down is very flat, and it dries down within about 30 minutes. On my skin, at least, it becomes boring at that point, and almost masculine. Although the opening is lovely, the drydown discourages me from a purchase.

I've waited a few weeks to write a review on Omnia, since I've been--and still am--somewhat undecided. I like the scent much more now than initially; it's sweet, but nicely grounded by a spicy basenote that works well. I was expecting the white chocolate note to come through more clearly, but I only get a hint of it. There is a bit of a "kick" to it that reminds one of chai and sandalwood. Quite nice, somewhat wearable, infinitely sniffable in the bottle. Should my mini ever run dry, it will certainly be replaced--I'm just not convinced that it's full-sized-bottle-worthy.

It has this freshness in the beginning, sensual, inviting, and right down to the base, a neutral composition that doesn't overpower, but has a confidence and ease that like everyone else, enctices one to want to drink it!

Another stunner from Bvlgari with a gourmand compostion that reminds me of Chai Tea. Light enough to wear during warm weather, and neutral enough for a guy to pull off, the chocolate in the drydown makes this one good enough to drink!

love the "links" bottle.
great scent,oriental but not too heavy.
exotic notes of masala tea and white chocolate
yum

Omnia feels like falling in love over and over again! I love orientals but there are times when I find them a bit too much - like in the scorching heat of a humid summer day. But today in the cool and fresh autumn air Omnia is just divine!
I love Omnia because it's not your "cookie cutter" type of oriental fragrance in any way. It's quite distinctive and unique... Much softer then a lot of orientals and ever so sensual... It's a fragrance that's a "must have" just in case... Like today :) For me it creates a very deep, sensual mood that just refuses to allow you to forget, even for a split-second, that above all you are a woman! Omnia is slow, provocative and ultra-sensual... a scent that in a hushed voice whisper of romance and long sultry night!

Omnia is a scent that doesn’t get much mention on basenotes. I smell mostly sandalwood and chocolate. It wears pretty close to the skin; it’s not quite as full and lush as a sandalwood and chocolate blend could be, but is a nice fragrance.

For me, there's just not enough "there" there from Omnia, which is too bad because on paper it sounds like a sumptuous wrap of a fragrance, all exotic spice and melt-in-your-mouth white chocolate (which isn't really chocolate anyway but rather vanilla and cream) and an undertone of light-bodied tea. Then again, perhaps I'm missing the point; while it sounds as though this should be the ultimate in "oriental" fragrance, it's really a truly close-to-the-body skin scent, the type that travels with you in your own space as opposed to arriving in a room before you do and lingering long after you've left. I like the way that Bulgari has taken the idea of fine teas - green, black, white, masala - and built an entire fragrance wardrobe around it, but the Omnia just seems to be lacking the kick, the little edge, that exists in the Eau Perfumee The Vert with its citrusy zing of an overlayer, the Bulgari Black with its almost oily, rubbery undercurrent or the pepper zip in the Eau Perfumee The Blanc. But then again perhaps that's the point; not everyone likes a twist in his or her tea, after all, and so Omnia is there in its own soft and very gentle way.

This isn't unisex? Why not? The spice and woodiness make me think it could cross over, although it is gentle, too. It is exotic, even a mite odd in its blending of mandarin, saffron and tea. Credit is due for originality. I'd say Omnia fits autumn. I'm giving my miniature flacon to my husband to use.

very quiet oriental - blends with your skin

I highly recommend Omnia as an oriental for anyone who doesn't care for the heavy, strong orientals. Omnia is not an ambery oriental, but a woody oriental; loaded with spices, yes, but a dash of this and a pinch of that, just the right amounts and beautifully blended, in my opinion. While not linear, it seems to change little on me from start to finish. The saffron is most noticeable to me on opening along with some ginger, followed very quickly by a tea note; it then becomes very woody, almost drylike, and then a sweetness begins to emerge. I think its perfect balance is both its glory and its downfall and why it is thought by some to be so unremarkable, so forgettable. Omnia, I would have to agree, is nothing extraordinary; it's certainly not earth-shattering, revolutionary, ground-breaking.... It is, however, a delightful and lovely perfume.

I absolutely love this fragrance. It starts off a bit strong, but it mellows down to a delightful sexy fragrance--a lot of sandalwood, but other notes as well that together make this one of my favorite scents. I am ordinarily more of a oceany or fruity fragrance person, but Omnia is soooo good that my usual rules go out the window.

This is an unusual scent. I wouldn't call it a perfume. It's more like an extention of one's chemistry. It develops toward a chocolate dry down. This one takes getting used to. Sample first.