When the temperature is in the low to mid 30’s, a spiced semi-catastrophe from 1992 is probably not what you should be wearing. But I saw this in the collection just now and fancied it as a pointlessly spiced antidote to fascism (the royal visit? – gross).
I unfortunately don’t have the fiery red breasticle above – the ultra rare parfum. I only have the edt – whose cheap tackiness in person isn’t quite captured in photos; such feeble plastic; so unluxurious.
The not quite there-ness stretches to the scent itself – not to mention the hopelessly gaudy and unartistic ad campaign featuring some Italian nineties woman suddenly fancying herself as the custodian of an Afghan harem via the business lounge of Siam Reap.
There were quite a few thuds like this in the nineties, as perfume houses tried to veer themselves away from the ‘excesses of the 80’s’ but still hadn’t really found anything to substitute them with. We are very far from emaciated Kate Mosses in CK Ones here – Asja is still aping on about Opium and even the original deliciously baroque Fendi – but is simply not convinced enough by itself to give us the full run for our money. The perfumer was the great Jean Guichard (Obsession, Loulou, Eden), a man not known for his temerity in throwing everything into the mix to create a smooth amazingness that no one else could have come up with: here, in this cinnamon ambre-lite – which could easily double for a plug in Halloween pumpkin spiced latte Airwick – he (allegedly) tosses in
apricot
raspberry
peach
bergamot
lemon
carnation
cinnamon
honey
nutmeg
ylang ylang
bulgarian rose
orris root
mimosa
egyptian jasmine
orchid
lily of the valley
benzoin
sandalwood
amber
vanilla
styrax
musk
and
cedar
but all we get is a clogged vacuity; we want a ‘derangement of the senses’ but are just left vaguely bored. Hot and lifeless. I wonder what happened? I quite enjoy Asja in its own way as I do like a shake o the spice once in a while – and this is definitely spicy. But it is seriously missing something. Like a soul.
I’m definitely a 90s kind of gal but I don’t recall Asja.
How ever do you get into that striped plastic monstrosity of a bottle?
From the notes and your description it sounds like yet another mediocre homage to Coco Chanel (THE mega hit of the 80s) with a dash of Cinnabar? There were soooo many.
“Custodian of the senses” indeed.
Harumph.
Yes it is trying to do a Post-Coco but without that perfume’s gorgeous rosey chocolatenesss- it simply doesn’t work !
Fendindeed! Had quite a small bottle of edp, maybe even P her/himself?? Liked it, very classy. Had to choose my apparel very carefully. Never was an Opium Addict! Too eastern for my taste. Nor CoCo-ite, although I liked to inhale it on my friends. Always stuck to my Guerlain guns and Arpege and what appealed to my senses ..
Well played. I could never TRULY love Coco either if you know what I mean.
Asja would horrify you
Asja never caught my attention. It was sub-Opium. Coco took years for me to truly love it. My brother’s wife & her very nouveau riche family all wore Coco, even playing tennis & sunbathing round the pool. Not that there were many sunbathing days in Yorkshire back in the 90’s
But so much better than Mademoiselle! I could inhale Coco all day but if it was the latter they would be going IN the pool
Asja totally flopped. It made no impression anywhere but when I discovered the bottle on a recycle shop I couldn’t quite resist it- Fendi has a certain draw for me – Teorema is an undiscovered gem and I wore Fendi Uomo. I can do a polished spice. But Asja is just sloppy