Omnia
Bulgari (2003)

Reposting some of my old reviews from Fr*******ca:

A quiet, herbal/spicy, woody oriental, not overpowering or gourmandy at all, despite the notes.

There's a fleeting flash of mandarin at the top, and the mid notes are fennel flower* and cardamom, with a hint of pepper and saffron. The base is lactonic sandalwood, very creamy and soft.

Omnia doesn't really smell like chai, rather than an abstract concept of chai, and the white chocolate is also stylized rather than realistic. Since I'm not a big fan of gourmands, I like the conceptual versions better than realistic ones, but YMMV.

If Omnia agrees with your skin chemistry, it's an easily wearable and comforting daytime fragrance. It doesn't smell particularily "feminine" or "masculine", so I'd imagine people of all genders could wear this comfortably.

I have two minor complaints:

Even though my skin usually amps up perfume, Omnia's sillage is soft and the longevity is only moderate (4-6 hours, instead of the usual 8-12+). If your skin eats up fragrance, be warned that on you Omnia could disappear in a flash.

Also, the bottle is terrible. It's just ugly, clunky, the spray mechanism is unreliable and unpredictable (sometimes it drizzles, sometimes it sprays), and hard to aim. It has no cap so I'm afraid the perfume will oxidize or evaporate.


Despite the abovementioned, for me this is a solid like, bordering on love.
4/5 stars.

*I know fennel is not in the official description, but the note is unmistakable... and quite lovely.

This perfume was my gateway to perfume. I received a sample of this and absolutely loved it. Some people have anosmia to some or all the notes. On me it was rich, warm, and spicy and lasted all day in a humid climate. I just finished my full bottle and I'm sad that I can't get more! The flankers are not nearly as good in my opinion, though I like Omnia Crystalline as well for a lighter pistachio version.

An unisex good mix of everything, with actually nothing in it.

I enjoy this fragrance, but it's missing something. On me, it feels like a watered down version of what it should be. I can smell watered down chai tea spices (cardamom, ginger, cinnamon), a sweet saffron and a faint floral note. This is a "your skin but better" scent.

It stays close to the body and doesn't last too long (about 3 hours on normal skin in a moderately dry climate).

It's still a nice fragrance, it just seems slightly watered down and unfinished.

Genre: Oriental

Omnia starts out with a very bright citrus note, black tea, and sweet spices, all of which remind me of Bigelow's “Constant Comment” tea blend. These are soon joined by an oddly flat, milky-sweet accord which could very well be an attempt (misguided?) at “white chocolate,” but that comes off more like cocoa butter pudding.

As long as the opening gesture prevails, Omnia is a pleasantly transparent, effervescent, and well balanced spicy citrus oriental. The spice blend includes cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and black pepper, and I believe it's this last, in combination with the citrus, that offsets the flabby pudding accord and lends Omnia its distinctive sparkling texture.

Omnia is a relatively low-key fragrance from start to finish, with only modest sillage and projection. It troubles me only in its drydown, where the fading citrus leaves the black pepper alone to combat the milky blandness of the cocoa butter. That Omnia dissipates entirely before the pudding declares victory is all to its benefit.

When I wear Omnia, I can't help but think that it narrowly misses being a much more exciting scent than it actually is. It is extremely appealing, and it's structure shows some originality; yet there's just something bland about it, too. I suppose the name does say it all – everything, to everybody. Omnia is comfortable, safe, and easy, but it's not compelling.

Walking in woodland brushing wet cardamom leaves, subtle hint of ginger being crushed underfoot. Earthy woody and mossy not bitter and not sweet. A very close to the skin scent. A very private treasure. Hints of cardamom and ginger and spices having been closed in an old wooden box. Sadly as well as having no trail, this does not last on my skin and thus the neutral review. Maybe that's why I didn't ever get to smell chocolate or the other notes, it didn't have time to develop. But it's a problem I have with every Bvlgari - they have no lasting power.