Oud Stars : Alexandria
Xerjoff (2012)

Revolving with floral, wood, fruit, spice and resinous accords in a strong way. Alexandria (2012) starts out quite heavy, with lavender giving this a decidedly herbal bite. After many hours, Alexandria eases back to a laid back, resinous powdery quality that lingers gently for several hours more.

A well-made scent with a more perceptible oud presence versus Alexandria II. A bit hard to find, as I believe this one was discontinued.

Note: this review is for the current version which goes under the name of Alexandria II, not the 2012 release which was a limited edition.

Putting the bomb into bombast, Alexandria II's opening is so loud and diffusive it will make you want to sit down and rest your punched hooter. Here are hugely diffusive musked-up florals – soapy rose amplified to a flood of suds and fresh lavender of a solar brightness –, a storm cloud of cinnamon, a stream of treacly amber, all backed by smooth, powdery woods. While other Oud Star offerings have a similar will to power – any more than one spray of Gao and you're harming the environment – this has a decked-out, blinged-up, look at me character to it which is frank, OTT and not for snobs.
Alexandria's smile reveals two rows of gold caps and wafts a month's supply of mouth freshener. The essence of this perfume in its first few hours is its turbo-charged lavender played off against an almost toxic dose of cinnamon, a battle royale conducted under layers and layers of transparent laundry musks so thick, they are panes of ice.
However, once this phase is passed, Alexandria goes the way of Atlantis – major subsidence. The whole thing deflates, projection drops and now what emerges is a dry and spicy take on oud that one can encounter in almost every budget-friendly Arabic or Middle East-oriented house's offerings. Not special – we wuz robbed.

This is a projection monster!!! With the scent I am reminded of Amouage Epic Man. 3 hours in and still very strong. It fills the entire room with 2 sprays. It also was a blind buy I'm but very happy I did. As previously stated there is al ot going on with this and it is all at the same time. On initial application it was sensory overload, berry, oud, pepper, floral, cinnamon. It doesn't list pink pepper as part of it but that is what I get during it. Much later on it dulls down to a softer incense/vanilla/oud base. This is an 8+ hour scent and on me it was over 12 hours by the time I got home from work.

well ok, 1st impressions... on application everything is exploding, before finding a resting place... you can smell the sweetness, the florals, the woodiness(?) nothing appears to dominate... it reminds my wife of toffee apples... it settles to become not overly sweet or floral, due to the oud giving it a certain 'darkness' and depth, which at times has that Gao feel to it.... for those that feel the notes suggest a more 'feminine' fragrance can rest at ease, because as it progresses, it becomes an entirely different beast....the lavender when it appears, gives it a burnt 'feel', which adds a very unexpected edge....All of this within the 1st hour.... this is one of those fragrances which will reveal more and more with each wearing..... so all can say is that so far, this is my kind of fragrance.... it has plenty going on, and delights me with its journey... a risky blind buy, some might say, but for me .... I'm loving it!!