Alaïa Nude
Azzedine Alaïa (2017)

This cashmeran heavy, lightly sweet and quietly modernly cozy scent is all at once lightly musky, slightly woody, a touch powdery and solar, with a hint of leather and a bit of sandalwoody aroma; it's hard to describe, and I would almost add it to the category of those "your-skin-but-better" scents, but I feel like it has a bit too much character for that, too. I know, I know, I'm rambling and spewing adjectives, but this scent is also a bit abstract and hard to describe - although I am already on my second bottle.

For me part of the beauty of this fragrance lies in its slightly scratchy texture that quite a lot of cashmeran-heavy scents have to my nose - I know, it sounds terrible, but it is scratchy in the most pleasant way, it almost tickles my nose - but not in an annoying way; in a way that makes me want to smile. However, I feel like it either does not last on me very well, or (very likely) I get a bit anosmic to the scent after a while and cannot smell it on myself, so I have to go and reapply. This, together with the fact that I find it adorably cozy, is why I mostly wear it only at home - so that I could happily respray as often as I want if it's really short lasting, and so that I am not a perfumed hazard to others if it's actually lasting much better than I think. I have worn all three versions of Alaia and found them all lovely and interesting in their own respective ways (maybe the original Alaia in the black bottle is the most distinctive and interesting), but this one is my favourite. It just makes me smile, makes me feel cozy and at home, and comfortable in my own skin - and that's not a small thing.