Alaïa

It’s really hard to pick up a distinct note. I found it to be spicy, ozonic, mineral, slightly metallic, with a hint of gasoline, solvent liquid, pleasant aldehydes, and flower sweetness of peony and young rose. The temperature of it is absolutely unrecognizable - it combines cold airy touch with warm and thick aroma of something you don’t expect to smell on a human. The most adequate association is hot concrete or melting asphalt, but I really want to believe that’s how lava smells like This is exactly the fragrance that makes a great trio complete: Ganymede, Bois Imperial, and Alaïa Ganymede is something that cannot be described but must be experienced: clinically cold, sterile, clean, slightly maniacal. That’s an underworld dimension with unsolvable riddles that puts you in a mental cage The second one is a fresh and crisp woody fragrance with a luxury lounge feeling that I admire for its simplicity, efficiency, and performance. It’s safe and neutral, but not artistic at all. Bois imperial sits exactly in the middle of the spectrum And here’s a hidden gem that nobody put next to the names before - Alaïa. The paradox here is that the fragrance happens to give burning hot feeling, yet not through generic viscous notes, but a blend of surreal essences. Like the hot as a concept has been torn out of the heart of fire and forged into a similar clean environment. It shouldn’t work and never meant to, but it does…

Alaïa is a beautiful fragrance for winter; on a bitterly cold day, it's exceptional to experience that mountain freshness with a hint of violets. It deepens into a very assertive leather note. It's androgynous, very personal, and has a strong personality. It's unique, a rare gem among so many repetitive perfumes. It was named perfume of the year upon its launch, and deservedly so; it's imposing in every way, an unflappable lady. I could even say it's Maleficent's perfume.

<3 Refined, elegant and deep, it wears like a dark, silky veil. Amazing. It’s contemporary, yet somehow familiar and evocative of vintage perfumery. Out from my mini dabber bottle it smells like nail polish first, but the moment it’s mixing with skin, a vibrant floral cloud with leathery undertones emerge. There is a certain wet aspect noticable in Alaia I can’t really place. I know for many people it doesn’t read as a dark fragrance, but for me it does and find it to be in the same alluring vein as other current offerings with a vintage memory like Musc Noir Narciso Rodriguez. It has vivid film noir vibes (like a digitalized diafilm) and dark femme fatale charm I crave for ages. UPDATE — ordered a 10 ml mini and a 30 ml FB the same day.

Not a big fan. Smells too chemical and tv static. Like cheap flipflop production.

If anyone is selling a FB please message me on instagram @reves_de_bleu 🥀

One of my all-time favorites. So sad it can now only be purchased on the Alaïa website and is not found in department stores (Europe). Very warm, leather, spice and musk are domineering to my nose. Beautiful scent for autumn and winter, very descent staying power, the sillage is rather intimate though. Although it's marketed as a women's fragrance I'd say it's near true unisex. Not your typical spicy juice, its creamy and lovely.

I love this! Always get compliments! Smells so good in the air!

Apparently layering this with both Zara Supreme Vanilla and Immortal Vanilla draw in the ladies! I've NEVER had random women compliment my perfume before, so sapphic women/enbies take heed <3

this is a sexy, elegant perfume. it smells mysterious and mature but not old. there's something intriguing about it. i love loved it! might work better as a night perfume if you don't like strong scents throughout the day.

I've just finished my bottle of this and I don't think it's one I'll repurchase. I think I loved the the idea of it more than the reality of it. I don't think it had great sillage and the fresh notes in the opening remind me of cucumber. I just wish it was a little bit more heavy on the violets. It's a shame Juliette Has a Gun have discontinued Citizen Queen because that was a similar but better fragrance to Alaia.

Mystical. This is what the cloud of unknowing must smell like. Yes, it is intimate, but that's the point. The arid, mineral qualities of this fragrance is so unlike anything else. It's so perfectly blended you can't be bothered to decipher the composition. It's mysterious and meant to transport you that acoustic space of preliterate cultures. Spiritual comfort in a bottle. Contemplative like the cave of a saint. It's my signature for Lent.

A truly unique perfume, the only place where I can find it is in Alaia store in London. Very special and dark, perfect for cold days

I hate to criticize certain perfumes, but to my nose it smells like insecticide...

This is fantastic layered with Narciso Rodriguez Pure Musc. Adds a fluffy, sensual dimension to the formal cool elegance of this scent. Btw people saying that this scent has no longevity or projection must be anosmic to some of the notes. After spraying this on and leaving my room, I can smell it in the air when returning to my room hours later. I also sometimes wear it to bed, and I still smell it upon waking up.

Truly unique fragrance. Balance of contrast between mineralic and animalic. The leather here is suede-like, soft and smooth. On my skin, the fragrance is not linear. Burst of pink pepper and chilly airy notes at the top give way after a few hours to the warmth of leather and musk. It's such an elegant fragrance, perfect for work. It's inviting but doesn't scream for attention. It's quiet, boss-vibes confidence in a bottle. Lasts for hours on skin, days on clothes. So sad this is discontinued.

Very airy and fresh, the wet chalk effect is palpable. I barely pick up leather at all. There is a light non-sugaqry sweetness, it feels like there is some sort of fruit I can't identify. Maybe from the musk? It's a very clean musk. But this is mainly about the floral (rose is squarely in a supporting role) and airy mineral notes. It's not edgy in any way. In fact, it strikes me as kind of bland. I recognize that's on me though, because the mineral notes were very forward thinking in 2015. A safe daytime reach if you click with it more than I do. Leans very feminine and somewhat youthful. Seasonless

If you want unusual, dark, clove-y scent, this it. I bet no one will smell like you. I scent tons of cloves, violet, old leather (not bottega edp like leather) and yes, I get the mountain air. The musk on my skin is very subtle. I scent some hints of rose during drydown. Very intimate sillage, absurd lasting power. Nothing like it on the market. VERY unusual scent. I cant say that I love it, but I can say really like it. The scent evokes different notes through the day, it does not evolve into base notes, it comes and goes. Very nice! Not safe for blind buy.

Alaia is not what I expected at all, honestly, and I'm slightly disappointed. Noses are so weird, aren't they? Based on reviews, I was expecting a sophisticated spiced leather to come forward at some point to add a bit of earthiness to contrast against the fresh ozonic quality of it, but I'm not getting earth at all. Pepper and musk with some kind of airiness listed in the top of the note pyramid as "mountain air." I don't know about mountain air, but it's certainly peppered ozone in the initial stage. I don't know if I like it or not yet. It's interesting, but I'm certainly not having an "ooohhhh, this is amazing!" reaction. Luca Turin's review is pretty spot-on, though, even if he likes Alaia much more than I do: it truly does develop backwards with a dry down that is fresher than the initial peppery spray. I found it more interesting upon first application; now it's starting to morph into a typical floral-musk, pretty and common. Very common. Still no leather for me. Still sniffing my wrists and pondering. This is very different from my usual favorites, and I'm trying to give it a fair chance. It's just so damn *pretty*. And floral. And fresh. Those words just keep coming back over and over again. That's not what I gravitate toward, so maybe it's just a personal bias. With that said, it's also admittedly blended to perfection and, because of this, really nice to wear. There are no unpleasant shifts between stages and no notes that stick out oddly. Very well done; however, I hate to say it, but if it weren't so well-blended, this would be a drugstore young-adult fragrance to my nose, like something Britney Spears would peddle. I'm not saying they smell the same, and the quality of Alaia is obviously superior, but I swear I get the same scent memory of briefly wearing "Curious" back in the early 2000s but without the fruit. Maybe it's that aquatic-fresh-musk part of "Curious" - it's admittedly been decades since I've smelled Curious, so take my scent memory with a grain of salt. Now 30 minutes later the pepper is completely gone and all I'm getting is a light, fresh-but-sweet aquatic-floral-clean-musk skin scent. It's lovely, for sure, and I like it so much better than many of the "clean" chemical aquatic-musk fragrances that smell like fabric softener dryer sheets. Alaia is so much better than those. There is nothing sharp-edged or astringent here, thank goodness because this is exactly the kind of fragrance that typically dries down into something unpleasant and disturbingly artificial on my skin. Alaia just melds with skin like it's meant to be there. It's like the less lived-in, better blended, watercolor-floral version of a Narciso Rodriguez musk perfume. I'm now reconsidering Alaia as something to keep in my collection: this would be perfect as a safe, clean, fresh musk fragrance for times when something more spiced, leathery, and/or animalic might offend or distract others, such as when I'm teaching smaller classes or presenting at conferences. It's just sophisticated enough without veering into unapproachable aloofness like many of my Chanels do. It's warmer and more inviting, totally approachable, and thankfully never reaches a headache-inducing state during any of its phases. While it's not really mind-blowing or anything for me, and I do sometimes wish it had a bit more animalic skank to it, I'm going to hold on to Alaia and revisit again in the future. Two hours later: even sweeter-but-oddly-fresh abstract floral saltiness lingers on my skin. I just don't know. This might smell a little too young for me at this point. I swear, this stuff is so weird, beginning more mature and interesting yet ending so youthful and fresh. It's quite lovely and I do like it, but I don't think I want to smell like this for too long because it just doesn't feel like "me." Would make a fantastic laundry scent or candle, though! Wish I knew whether or not the extrait is deeper and richer because it'd be worth a sniff, but, based on this edp, I'm not going to blind-buy the extrait as I had originally planned.

Coming back to this, am sure I smell a strong note of cloves! As with all versions aside from nude, I see too much violet. A dry, floral, spiced, slightly aqueous, high quality violet scent.

LoL, I'm a man and i love wearing this. It fits my skin chemistry. After 3 sprays, I would waiting 1 hour for the drydown. The combine of leather and floral is so great.

Ở note hương đầu, thật lạ vì tôi không hề thấy chút vị cay nào của tiêu, mà chỉ thấy sự mát mẻ của không khí trên núi,nó làm tôi nhớ đến sự mát mẻ trong trẻo của buổi tối trên Tam Đảo -Việt Nam Sau đó là mùi hoa rất mạnh,dễ nhận thấy nhất là mùi hoa hồng và mẫu đơn.độ tỏa hương giảm dần theo thời gian,nhưng thoang thoảng xung quanh cơ thể,lúc có lúc không nhưng dai dẳng,và khi thành skin scent thì mang lại cho làn da cảm giác thơm tho sạch sẽ như khi vừa tắm xong,

Floral powdery musk, not much leather to my nose, maybe a touch on the drydown. Mountain air are you kidding me? Quite a bit of violet.

I bought this on a whim together with the Nude fragrance from the same line. It was affordable and I thought why not as I love black pepper and I haven’t had a leathery fragrance like this before. On first impressions I thought oh this is a nice floral and then slowly it opens itself up to me revealing the leather scent that might be hit or miss with some people. My body chemistry loved it thankfully and as it’s on sale here in New Zealand at the moment, I’m thinking about buying another one before it runs out as I believe it’s no longer being made. I’m usually a girl who enjoys gourmand, sometimes fruity, sometimes floral or oriental fragrances. This one I believe would be gorgeous sitting by a fire in the winter snuggling up on a Chesterfield chaise lounge with a good classic (book). It is Autumn (Fall) here now and I have only sprayed it twice on my body. It is all it needs as its pretty powerful juice is enough to last me all day and perhaps in all night. Why this is discontinued is sad as I see it as a classic and the bottle itself is very attractive. I will have update this review as I get to know it more. It’s definitely unique one I never thought my body chemistry would suit. Gorgeous!

Useless as a perfume. It is even useless as a body spray. My bottle is few years old, and I still can't get more than five minutes out of it. Leans masculine. I think this is my most regretted purchase ever!

Discontinued in NZ I brought a half bottle from Trademe Myyy goodness it's certainly different Reminds me of Bvgari Jasmine Noir , read a few reviews Noone else mentions that. Starting to think I must hva unique nose. Unisex, spicy , masculine. I don't mind this is that. & I do like it 👌

for me it is unique, but unfortunately I have a bottle with one fragrance, and I can’t judge the entire Alaya line. Clean, slightly cool sea air of the summer Mediterranean, wandering near the houses of the medina (the walls of the houses smell of lime) Absolutely not oriental and not gourmand .. but very respectable and noble. If I didn’t feel sorry, I would have used it a long time ago and bought a second ... a third ...

I managed to get some of the original on Ebay uk! And they are listing weekly. Worth checking and saving search.

This is also available on the Alaïa Paris website although it is about £100 for a 100ml bottle. However, I adore this perfume and had to get a bottle for old times sake. I tried this when it first launched, it was summer and I got so many compliments on it. The description of “water poured over hot bricks” really does sum up this fragrance, it has an essence of heat about it. To me it also smells very classy and expensive. For me it works better in summer heat, in winter it smelt a bit screechy on me. It is a surprisingly fresh perfume given the notes, nothing in this feels too heavy. The violet in this is prominent but doesn’t have a Parma violet vibe like Balenciaga Paris or Insolence do to my nose. It is well balanced with the rose and leather. The body lotion of this is gorgeous, so sad it is discontinued as I often wore that on its own and it would project as much and last as long as the perfume. Probably not a safe blind buy, especially given the price, but gorgeous nonetheless and worth a sniff if you are a perfumista! I think it actually smells niche quality so I am not surprised Creed have a similar fragrance in their line, it is a concept that has been executed to perfection by Salamagne for Alaïa. Can totally see when Turin was coming from when he said it smelt like the inside of a Concorde, perfume and leather.

John Lewis Exeter has the remaining stock of the original eau de parfum!

I have and love this - so much I struggle to review it. But I did smell Creed Love in Black recently to compare. LIB is a much stronger leather, whereas Alaia tends more soft suede. LIB is VIOLETS. Violets that reminded me of insolence. Alaia has detectable violets for sure, but overall balanced with the peony IMO. If the violets and the leather are your favourite parts of Alaia, you might enjoy Love in Black. I also find Alaia to be super fresh, I’m surprised by all the winter votes. I’m wearing it now in midsummer and it’s perfect. The review about it resembling a bouquet of peonies and violets tied up with a suede bow sold me, and is spot on. The ‘mountain air’ freshness makes it beautiful for summer, and the leather isn’t too heavy at all. I asked Alaia customer service whether this was discontinued, and they said it was just out of stock. Hopefully it trickles down to stockists again soon.