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RemiX.css – :
ahhh this smells like the desert. Love the notes. Not wanting to smell like this, but I love the smell.
aleksannik – :
This smells like an expensive way to be outdoors. Very outdoorsy, but also quite luxurious. Not like glamping tho. It smells like a very luxurious forrest. Natural smelling. Very relaxing and beautiful scent.
vitarx – :
This has similarities with Olympic rainforest but a dryer climate version. Its almost identical durring final drydown after 10hours.
I have a sample of the new Tucson version. I get much more than the above pyramid. There is a spicyness with cinnamon and clove overlad with pine and artemesia. Also shares a camphor element with Olympic Rainforest.
Starts to settle into amber and leather, brown sugar and spiced wood. Last drydown is like a warm cedarwood sauna. I dont get any floral. I prefer Rainforest, but if you dont like dank earthy smells this may be a better warm earthy option for you.
⛤⛤⛤⛤
Kardan – :
Valerieeburns:
Thank you so much! I was really puzzled – and disappointed – that this unique scent was no longer being made. I’m really happy that Ellen has resurrected it. I’m going to order some right away. Again, thanks!
plewestossy – :
davef33: Arizona has not been discontinued. Ellen Covey re-released it under the name ‘Tucson,’ so don’t despair! She’s also offering a special 20% off your purchase for a limited time by way of celebrating her new website and the seven-year anniversary of Olympic Orchids fragrances. Happy shopping!
MaSichkA – :
I love this scent! It’s a truly unique blend that always prompts the question: “What IS that aroma?” I guess now that it’s discontinued it will be even more unique.
Is there anyone out there who has a bottle of this and wants to sell it? I don;t know what I’ll do when the small amount I have left is gone. Failing that, does anyone know of anything that’s similar – earthy, piney, mellow?
If you have this, enjoy it!
ezs707Diobtetty – :
Out of OO’s all-star line-up, Arizona is truly exceptional! The middle notes hint to an acoustic version of Shalimar. Although zero notes are shared, Arizona feels like the botanical, natural scent structure of the Guerlain classic. I love this.
Dry down takes me back to the Danish teak Mid-Century Modern furniture at my parents’ home. Spicy-teak woodsiness at its best. There’s similarities with another favorite– Diptyque’s Benjoin Bohème, with its angelica-patchouli-sandalwood-benzoin. Gorgeously blended labdanum in the ending.
There’s a 5 second opening of eucalyptus-pine sharpness, a part of the house DNA I’ve also seen in Seattle Chocolate x Olympic Rainforest, but this is a a briefly passing phase.
I was born in Phoenix, and was hoping to like this. OO made this easy to do. Takes me home to dry heat, unique flora & fauna, on a tranquil dusk-to-evening desert-scape.
ajajaj – :
I was rebelling against my own self-imposed no-blind buy rule and purchased Arizona. I was propelled by an email newsletter from Olympic Orchids announcing the discontinuation of the fragrance. I went over to the online store, read the description, and clicked the checkout button. It was the description, not the notice of discontinuation, which prompted me to make that blind purchase.
Expectation: (Bear with me. This will be long-winded but I swear I’m setting this up for a reason.) My paternal grandparents lived in a small mountain town in Southern California’s High Desert. One of my fondest childhood memories was of spending weekends walking with my Grandpa and his two Black Labs through the town. We’d walk among the trees and along the wash flowing with the winter’s melted snow. His dogs would fruitlessly chase small wild animals and I’d go chasing after the dogs. Even then I was entranced by the smell of the tall trees, the budding wildflowers, the frosty air, the whole environment. My grandparents and their dogs are no longer with us but those memories will live forever. I could go visit that little town, which has grown to a quasi-tourist ski resort. There are more cars, more people, more traffic, and fewer animals but there is no way to get back to my childhood in the 1980s. For that reason I thought those scents were lost forever. Arizona seemed to be a way to travel back to a simpler time and a serene mountainous oasis.
Reality: Had I not read all the previous reviews I’d be so put off by the opening! I was reminded of my Grandma and her requests to have muscle relaxant cream rubbed on her left shoulder. I loved my Grandma and I love my memories of her but I really could have done without the medicinal opening. I remained patient and was given back those memories of mountain hikes with my Grandpa and his dogs. Pine needles underfoot, cold air, spring flowers just beginning to bud—I could smell it all. I got a little emotional once the fragrance got to this point. However, before I could clearly recall the way the sun looked in the early morning hours of our hikes the scent is gone. From my skin alone I got about two hours, max.
Much like a kid who eagerly gets back in line to ride their favorite amusement park ride, I resprayed myself to have the experience again. I became a little less emotional and more discerning with each wearing. There’s the off-putting opening of medicinal muscle rub, the picture-perfect encapsulation of cold fragrant mountain air in the heart, and the vanishing of it all in the drydown. I do love this scent the more I wear it but I wish it lasted longer. I’m puzzled, though, because longevity is not an issue with other OO scents I’ve tried, namely Olympic Amber and Blackbird. Oh well. I’ve learned to spray my shirts and carry a decant spray in my purse.
It’s a pity that this is being discontinued. I guess I’ll enjoy my bottled memories while they last.
Yago – :
Arizona has a very sharp and coniferous opening. It smells like aromatic turpentine. Not an especially pleasant “hello”, but the heart and the drydown is thankfully a lot easier on the nose.
The coniferous smell lingers towards the drydown, it smells very realistic and refreshing. Very dry in a warm way and piney. This is the scent of hiking in the wild.
But it is the drydown that really gets my attention. The pine needles and juniper berries are completely gone. The scent has developed into this incredibly smouldering, slightly salty and buttery, amber-labdanum smelling creature. It reminds me a lot of Ambre Nue by Atelier Cologne, a scent I love. It’s so gorgeous, and unexpected!
I may not be a huge fan of aromatic, piney, green scents to begin with, but if I ever should feel like adding a perfume from that olfactive group to my collection this would probably be it.
Sillage is medium, and longevity is 10-12 hours on my skin.
garriguddini – :
I don’t know why but find it to be quite spicy, definitely not just woods and flowers here; I detect some cumin, pepper, and caraway-like spices.
I like this quite a lot; to me it’s better than her popular Blackbird and Woodcut
kers – :
Well, I’m no bloke and I love it. Its fresh and zingy yet there is a sweetness underlying it. I love evergreen aromas. The sillage is moderate and it even reaches moderate on longevity if applied over vaseline. Dont be frightened to try it ladies.
vas7963 – :
After wearing this about 5x over the past year I must that I agree with Roge. The way it starts out you would think it would have Slumberhouse like performance but after 3 hours tops it’s gone. Very green and dark but no substance. The usage of wildflowers should have been amped up a bit more to give it better longevity as well as the sweetness from black locust. This could have been a huge hit but it fails IMO.
gavr – :
Because of a bunch of sinus trouble, I was unable to wear any but natural perfumes for four months. I only had five natural perfumes in my collection to choose from and this was easily the most pleasant. In fact after a number of wearings I’ve grown to like it very much and I’m glad that circumstances forced me to spend more time with a fragrance I would normally have passed over without a second sniff.
I grew up in Arizona and this fragrance does remind me of it. The scents of acacia and sagebrush are particularly apt. The dry down is gorgeous and creamy and for some reason has me thinking of sandalwood. Normally I don’t care for piney scents on me preferring to leave them to the males of the species but because of the sweet, creamy dry down I think this one can go either way.
The sillage is impressive in the beginning and the longevity is good for a natural at up to six hours.
mrkondor1 – :
Arizona reminds me of the dry California chaparral. At first the perfume is more green and plant-like, but as time goes on it becomes linear like the smell of cut logs. Personally, I like it, it’s a very tree-hugger, natural scent, not nearly as piney as Rainforest. I live in Northern Cailfornia, and I love to hike. Arizona reminds me of the many times I encounter fallen logs that had been cut by park rangers. The logs bake under the hot sun, and the heat releases the volatile oils.
I think this would be a tough perfume for a lot of people to wear because it might seem more like a room spray or the scent of a log cabin rather than perfume. I guess you’d have to really LOVE that smell. I do!
This perfume reminds me of a totally stripped-down version of L’Air du Desert Marocain. Take away pretty much everything–the spices, the amber, the florals and the citrus, and voila! You have Arizona.
It doesn’t last very long (2 hours) and stays ever-so-close to the skin, but I like it anyway.
Update: I owned it for two years, then it turned, and I had to throw it away. It’s on my Want List now. I still adore it.
LaphElatPleap – :
I have never been to Arizona but that is how I imagine the desert smells. Cacti, rocks, sagebrush… I wonder how I know the cactus scent, if I never grew them. But I am absolutely sure I smell it here. This fragrance is so dry that I barely recognize evergreens here. I think it captures the scent of desert perfectly.
tagir90 – :
Sublime! For a midwesterner, feeling bathed in bright sunshine without any heat or sweat is an uncommon experience. Arizona captures this wonderfully, I get an open blue sky, a cool breeze, and dry scrub plants and herbs. The sage is strong in this one. Some women here find this too masculine but I am certainly not one of them. Would absolutely wear this.
On a second wearing, I definitely picked up incense as well.
ffcnzjycmhh – :
Starts off heady and coniferous with a surprising pepper note that gains volume for the first few minutes. But this doesn’t last long as the scent abdicates itself to the realm of scented candle. The peppery opening, it seems, was its one interesting trick. Overall, this is less of a pine forest story and more about the scent of blue/green desert sagebrush with a touch of lavender added for soapy nuance. Even though it seems to be capturing its namesake’s natural surroundings accordingly, as a coniferous fragrance, it pales in comparison to a number of others already available. By no means is it bad, but it just doesn’t assert itself within its bloated genre.
ice888 – :
Grrr! Rugged manly wood! I dont get any pepper or lavender, it’s has just a hint of wildflowers, but is mainly cedar, juniper and pine. The acacia fills out the middle with a very light nectar like scent. Don’t be fooled, this is a drier, woodier more aromatic cousin of Olympic rainforest. But I like it. It’s fresh and true to itself. The artemesia adds just a titch of bitter green herbalness to simulate all the surrounding dryland vegetation. And they do a marvelous job at it. I only get a very slight anisey in the start and it quickly fades. A good subtle scent! well crafted and true to Arizona!
BLUETUZ – :
I come to the conclusion that all the Olympic Orchid scents has that love or hate vibe to them. You really have to know what you’re getting into in order to properly critique the scent of Arizona. I received this as a sample so therefore i didn’t know what I was in for. Im not too sure how to disect this one. All that i can say is that it starts out very strong and ends with a clay-like drydown. Does it smell good? Well…eh..it’s alright. It takes a trained niche nose to say otherwise. The longevity and sillage are both below average. You have to wear this scent with a purpose in mind and that’s mainly because it will wear off in about 2 hours and 30 minutes.
ankpro1 – :
My new favorite. Smells profoundly masculine on me. Sillage is excellent. Smells like the woods, and cut wood in the sun, maybe some cedar, juniper, and pineyness. For me, it has minute hints of eucalyptus and incense, and also a faint pepper that goes away. A sort of lavender thing pops up and then disappears, and then a powder and a little bit of flower, and then after about 30 minutes the whole thing gives way to a very woody, resiny, slightly tingly vetivery feeling, that is so well blended that it shifts around between those but feels completely whole.
Ruriourifremy – :
Lovely fresh pine fragrance, probably most suited to men, but women could easily wear this. It opens with bright fresh pine and a strong anise accord, that settles fairly quickly into a mostly pine fragrance, thats fresh, aromatic and green. There is a slight peppery note that I attribute to the Juniper in the opening, but like the anise it fades rather quickly to become unnoticeable. Very late in the drydown a gentle floral appears, though it remains largely a pine dominant scent. Sillage is low, longevity around 2hrs.
king kong – :
I’ve been vaguely aware of Olympic Orchid perfumes for some time, but never checked out their frags because I was under the mistaken impression that they only produced orchid soliflores…Doh! As a result, I’ve been missing out on their scents of place, which are vividly evocative of various bucolic environments.
Arizona aims for southwestern high country thick with mountain evergreens, shrubs and flowers, all dappled by the sun. I can’t put it on without recalling trail rides on horseback with pine needles under foot and waves of heat rising in the dry air.
I’m finding this line of frags to be a great source of scent memories with a healthy dose of aromatic stress relief, and am looking forward to exploring more of it, especially Carolina and Rainforest. Thanks to Fragrantica for another cool sample.
lyw707speagoessenda – :
It opens with a sharp crushed pine needles and juniper berries smell. I actually love this part because it takes me back to hiking through the pine woods with my uncle as a kid. However, as it dries the real and natural outdoorsy quality fades away and it becomes something that just smells like a man’s cologne. It never gets bad smelling, but the uplifting, happy aspect is gone then.
sirius52 – :
I wish I had the words to do this perfume justice.
On application, I thought of warming cherry mentholated sweets – with the comforting and refreshing honeyed qualities they provide. There is a flowery scent there too, one I can’t pin down, and subtle spiciness.
If this scrumptious scent is representative of Carolina, then I understand why James Taylor sang that he was going to Carolina in his mind!