ZARA Black Amber Special Edition

And hello yet again!

The potion I will talk about this time is an oldie actually! I had totally forgotten I had bought it and it was resting at the farthest corner of my perfume shelf until I threw a quick glimpse over it and brought it back to life. As all of us know Zara makes great dupes for popular high end brands however the quality - in this case the longevity and evolution of the scent greatly suffer, however the affordability justifies that.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce to you Zara Black Amber Special Edition EDT which is a softer and a wee bit sweeter dupe for The One by D&G. Black Amber was released in 2012 and is listed as an oriental scent. That's a bit weird for me because it is missing the depth and weight of oriental smelling amber and spices that I associate with it.

The top note of Black Amber is listed as Tangerine. Well, I can definitely smell the sweet citrus as an opening, it's quite sparkling, but it sets down quickly into a sweet and soft mix of tangerine and vanilla. The middle notes are tiare flower and passion fruit, and the base notes are vanilla and amber. Trust me there is nothing black about this perfume. The name can be misleading in this case. It's a warm fruity and vanilla scent. Quite rounded, soothing and very full. There is nothing missing here. Everything is really well balanced. The twist is that the tangerine and the passion fruit sparkle gets calmed down by the amber which in its own turn gets soothed by vanilla.

I like this scent on colder days as well as spring and some summer evenings. It's definitely inoffensive, feminine, romantic, very cute and innocent. Unlike The One by D&G, this one is really shy, quiet and girly. D&G is a bit too aggressive as compared to the Black Amber. The One has far more floral ingredients mixed with more fruits, however the base has also musk and vetiver in addition to amber and vanilla. I consider the Black Amber a simpler, softer and easily wearable alternative.

I would definitely recommend you try both on different wrists and compare them.
I am sure you will also find similarities between these two.
Until then, enjoy whatever you people are doing! xx