Perfume Calligraphy
Aramis (2012)

The original Perfume Calligraphy was the first of three oud-themed releases for Aramis. This original release was quickly overshadowed as the fragrance community more warmly embraced its flankers, Calligraphy Rose and Calligraphy Saffron. All three have since been discontinued and are destined to fall into obscurity, given the wave of oud-themed scents that crested after their release (and is still with us now).

I dissent with consensus, and the original Perfume Calligraphy remains my favorite of the three in the Aramis trio. Perfume Calligraphy manages to be dark and smoky while also remaining fresh and zesty, a feat its thicker, richer siblings don't achieve.

Calligraphy opens with an effervescent citrus that verges on grapefruit, conjuring up a smoky, translucent sheen thanks to how it mingles with spices and incense. At the heart lies a smooth, sleek rose, and, beneath it all, you get a very clean faux-oud base, dark and abstract. The overall feeling is, indeed, synthetic, but it's hard to identify a more authentic or richer version of the smoky-smooth effect Calligraphy delivers.

The opening with its combination of cinnamon, cardamom, saffron and a touch bergamot/lemon is quite unusual, and results is a thick and quite heavy and fuzzily rich mix - quite original and surprising.

The drydown adds a rose impression, a quite restrained rose (amplified in the Rose flanker of the Calligraphy series) and a myrrh note. This myrrh is herbal in character with a woodsy undertone, a restrained incense feel only and a bit on the trim side; it is far less rich and rounded than, for instance, in Annick Goutal's Myrrhe Ardente, but it is nonetheless a convincing addition to the heart notes here.

The base is sweeter, combining a smooth and edge-free very artificial oud with a dark musky impression and a somber and soft patchouli. Towards the end, the myrrh and the patchouli dominate the whole on me.

I get moderate sillage, excellent projection and a splendid thirteen hours of longevity on my skin.

This is an unusual wintery scent for evenings that are not too cold, and it impressed by some originality and a creative touch. The drawback is an, at times, rather egregiously synthetic character. Overall 3.25/5.

In a page filled with wonderful reviews, my review is still decent to good, but there are definitely much better reviews than mine, all this, even before I start writing the review. So I write all this to compare how Aramis created Calligraphy already knowing how crowded the middle east is with fragrances with these 3 notes - oud / rose / saffron. Still, like my review, Calligraphy still stands well in this crowded field. I'm on the verge of ordering this - but need to wear the sample again from our generous epapsiou before I actually do. Reactions from my home was all positive.

Estée Lauder wanted in on the Middle East perfume market, and with increasing interest in that sector for their Tom Ford subsidiary, they thought it keen to directly cater with a new series of fragrances called "Perfume Calligraphy" in 2012. There are a few inherent problems with a thoroughly-Western perfume and cosmetics company trying for Middle Eastern appeal, and coupling that with a few dubious choices on Lauder's part, and we end up getting a fragrance line met with mixed reactions. The first dubious choice was going the blatantly-synthetic route with oud for a market used to the real thing, or at least a more virile and authentic dupe, but part of this methinks is because of the success Tom Ford Private Blend selections have had in the Middle East, and they too can wear their chemistry on their sleeve. The second dubious choice was to use the Aramis brand for the line, since they're marketed as unisex (like most authentic Middle Eastern attars), despite the Western eau de parfum format and intentional association by Lauder of Aramis with men's fragrance. Lastly, Lauder made the puzzling decision to release this in American markets a year later but aimed at just men as part of the "Aramis Gentleman's Collection", in the same steel-capped bottle design borrowed from Tuscany Per Uomo (1984) as the rest of the collection. This last move wouldn't confuse anybody if the Internet didn't exist, as we'd all just get the bottle shapes we're used to, but folks buying online don't see things so clearly with such "localization". Many think one is a reformulation of the other, chasing after the one they think is vintage, or that one is a weaker concentration of the other. Some mistake them for his and hers versions, or even entirely different scents altogether, with hysteria resulting among perfumistas and colognoisseurs. To compound things further, there have also been flankers released with no American packaging adaptation, which is just lazy for a designer that wants to sell these at a niche/prestige price point of about $140 MSRP. Oh well, at least they got a good nose in the form of Clement Gavarry (son of Max Gavarry) to compose.

Aramis Perfume Calligraphy (2012) is primarily a rose and oud fragrance rounded out by saffron, patchouli, amber, and leather. The big giveaway that this is Western besides it being a perfume with synthetic components in the first place, is the proportions of rose and oud in relation to the rest. A lot of Middle Eastern or at least Middle Eastern-themed fragrances in the style have a fierce Turkish rose or more-virile "barnyard" oud note which hangs its ass out, with saffron serving a role similar to labdanum, and use supporting players to shore them up, not blend them down. With Perfume Calligraphy, Lauder deals a conservative hand, the Americanized "casual dining" interpretation of this kind of scent, slathering the rose and oud in a slick layer of it's supporting cast rather letting the notes actually support the star players. The opening begins with lemon, cinnamon, cardamom, and a sweet Damask rose which instantly recalls Azzaro Acteur (1989) for me, but while Acteur's sweet rose plays with leather, Perfume Calligraphy's rose is quickly saddled with a pasty saffron and myrrh accord, diminishing into a larger whole of candied spice. The synthetic oud in the base is also fairly medicinal as expected from a Western perfumer, but is dulled further with amber, patchouli, and musk, rounded to the point of disappearing once the slight petrol leather note emerges, once again recalling Acteur in my mind, just not nearly as resolute in it's intention like that older composition. Longevity is impressive but sillage is a quiet skin glow, another hallmark of Western tastes. There is also really no appropriate context to wear this, so just wear it where you want and chance having some eyeballs on you. The drydown of Perfume Calligraphy is remarkably very chypre-like, and also draws comparisons to Aramis 900 (1973) or Clinique Aromatics Elixir (1971), particularly with the rose and patchouli, even if there's no galbanum or jasmine here. Estée Lauder is exceedingly good at chypres, and maybe part of that DNA bled into this, because I can smell it.

I like Aramis Perfume Calligraphy in spite of it's many compromises and flaws, because it's middle ground between Eastern exotica and Western diplomacy is uniquely endearing to me, but at the same time, I would neither recommended this to a fan of rose scents, nor oud. I wouldn't even recommended Aramis Perfume Calligraphy to a beginner looking to try this style, nor someone looking for a more subtle take, as in both cases, this is just too much it's own creature to be anything other than a happy accident of a cultural hybrid for fans of sweet, voluptuous blended fragrances which work for any gender. If this sounds interesting to you and you're going to buy it blind online, I implore you to choose based on list price, as both bottle designs have fallen into discounter and eBay seller hands, but some want closer to the original niche MSRP while others carry it closer to the $40 mark depending on what coupons and sales are offered. I'd say only go for the wood-capped version if you're trying to complete a set with the flankers, as they only exist in the tall wood-capped design (yay for inconsistency), but I'd honestly say not to even to buy the original Aramis Perfume Calligraphy in any bottle format if you're just looking to try one from the series, since the flankers to this are far superior. Aramis Perfume Calligraphy Rose (2013) switches out the old-timey Damask rose for a dark Turkish rose, and although also not very culturally-authentic, it ditches the leather and is positively riveting in it's own right as a rose scent. Aramis Perfume Calligraphy Saffron (2013) goes back to Damask rose and leather, but adds marigold, vetiver, and styrax to a more-prominent saffron for a drier, smokier, more animalic yellow ochre which ends up the least-oriental, but also most distinctive. Aramis Perfume Calligraphy can be enjoyable to me for it's weirdness, but this cultural Heinz 57 of a perfume is really only for the deep-interest folks who dig the strange and unusual, or house Aramis completists (if they exist). For everyone else, I suggest moving onto the rose or saffron entries, as they're far more focused on what they want to be without as much compromise, and have much more personality. Thumbs up

I sprayed this on my wrist and for the first couple of hours the rose was extremely cloying (for someone who likes rose fragrances). But the oud(?) and leather drydown managed to stick around on my watch band and definitely smelt like a niche a couple days later. Appreciation for the uniqueness, but cloying rose note gets a thumbs down overall.

Rating: 5/10

Perfume Calligraphy goes on with a mild, amber sweetened cinnamon and vague sharp citrus, supported by traces of saffron spice and Oud. As the composition moves to its early heart the Oud takes its place as star, gaining a slight barnyard animalic facet as it grows in intensity to the point of dominating most of the other composition aspects. Joining the Oud in the background is the supporting hay-like saffron, the relatively sweet, smooth amber and barely detectable dulled rose. The composition remains highly linear through the late dry-down with the Oud taking center stage throughout, only allowing remnants of the saffron detectable with the smooth amber providing mild to moderate sweetness through the finish. Projection is excellent, and longevity outstanding at around 20 hours on skin.

Usually one samples the original composition its flankers are based off of before trying the flankers themselves. In the case of Perfume Calligraphy this was done in reverse. The Rose and Saffron flankers both proved excellent, so it would stand to reason the composition they were based off would impress as well, right? Enter Perfume Calligraphy... As soon as I sprayed the composition on skin disappointment immediately set-in. No, this was not the kind of disappointment from a terrible composition, but rather the kind where you go in with relatively high expectations only to find the composition more in the range of average, maybe even *just* good. The culprit here is the primary Oud note used in Perfume Calligraphy. Definitely the composition shows significant Oud-like qualities with its mild barnyard facet, but to those who have experienced the real thing this will quickly reveal itself as synthetic. Certainly Perfume Calligraphy is not alone in its reliance on synthetics to recreate super-expensive high quality real Oud as most of the "Oud" compositions on the market are equally guilty, but the amber-driven sweetness just doesn't mesh with it well at all. Also of little help, is the synthetic Oud is so dominant that excluding the previously mentioned sweetness, only the saffron spice can hang with it throughout the entire composition's "development". I put quotation marks around the word "development," because there really isn't any. It is the same overall accord throughout from near-start to finish, and the underlying sweetness mixed with the synthetic Oud can get annoying as time passes. In the end one has to appreciate the composition as being well-made with its outstanding performance metrics, but the real question is whether one would want to wear it? In the opinion of this writer the answer is a somewhat hesitant "no". The bottom line is the $120 per 100ml bottle Perfume Calligraphy shows off it performance chops in fine fashion, but its highly linear sweet synthetic Oud focus is tiresome, earning it an "above average" 2.5 to 3 stars out of 5. Having worn its great flankers that are both highly recommended, this one I feel completely indifferent. Word to the wise; buy the Rose and Saffron flankers and leave this one on the shelf, gathering dust.