Parfums de Marly Oajan Eau de Parfum

What It Smells Like

Parfums de Marly Oajan is a honey and cinnamon amber fragrance. Where most of the house's sweet scents lean on vanilla, this one leans on resin: it smells like spiced honey poured over warm amber, dense and glowing.

Cinnamon and honey lead from the first second, with osmanthus adding an apricot-like, slightly leathery fruitiness. The honey here is the thick, dark kind, a little animalic, and the cinnamon is closer to the bark than to the candy.

The heart is a classic amber accord. Benzoin gives a vanilla-like sweetness, labdanum a leathery depth, and ambergris a salty, skin-like warmth, while artemisia, a bitter aromatic herb, stops the whole thing from becoming sticky. Vanilla, tonka bean, musk and patchouli round out the base.

Fragrantica's community ranks warm spicy and amber almost level as the leading accords, followed by vanilla, cinnamon and honey. It is rated 4.41 out of 5 from more than 7,000 votes.

Who Made It

Parfumo credits Oajan to Shyamala Maisondieu; Fragrantica does not list a perfumer for it.

Shyamala Maisondieu is a perfumer at Givaudan, known for warm, textured ambers and woods.

Who It's For

Oajan is for lovers of amber and honey who want richness without smoke. Fragrantica lists it for women and men, and it wears equally well on both.

If you like the idea of Herod but not the tobacco, this is the closest relative: just as warm, more honeyed, with resin in place of leaf. If you find honey notes too heavy, Layton is the lighter choice. It is among the densest fragrances the house makes, so it rewards a light hand.

When to Wear It

Winter and fall dominate the Fragrantica votes, and night scores more than twice as high as day. This is a fragrance for cold air, wool coats and evenings.

Wear it to dinner, on a date, or at a holiday gathering. Parfumo's community rates both projection and longevity as above average, so one or two sprays are enough. A light application on a scarf is a good way to wear it, since honey and resin sit well on fabric. It is too rich for a hot day or a crowded office.

About the House

Parfums de Marly was founded in Paris in 2009 by Julien Sprecher. The house takes its name and its imagery from the royal château of Marly and from the perfumed court of Louis XV, an era when fragrance was worn lavishly and horse racing was a royal passion. That is why every bottle carries a crest of two rearing horses, and why several of the fragrances, Herod, Godolphin and Darley among them, are named after celebrated horses.

The style is generous and easy to like: rich, long-wearing compositions, each built around one clear idea and usually signed by a well-known perfumer. Parfums de Marly is a boutique-only house at Redolia. It is sold at our perfumery at 92 West Main Street in Somerville, New Jersey, and not through the website. Read how our boutique-only houses work, then come in and try it on skin before you decide.