Rituals — Auspicious Dragon
Essence
A 2023 limited-edition unisex EDP from the Dutch lifestyle/body-care brand Rituals, released as the fragrance centerpiece of “The Legend of the Dragon” collection (themed on Chinese imperial-dragon mythology and the Year of the Dragon). It’s a sweet-spicy oriental-woody built on a plum-tonka sweetness threaded with olibanum (frankincense) incense and grounded in cedar - cozy and comforting rather than dark or austere. Within Rituals’ typically soft, body-care-adjacent output, reviewers treat it as one of the more characterful, “grown-up” limited releases.
Scent Profile
wearer reports describe a warm, sweet, plummy incense-woody that’s notably mutable on skin. The brand framing (echoed by reviewers): a frankincense/tonka-spice opening warms into a sweet-spicy heart, jasmine adds a touch of luminosity, and cedar grounds the drydown. In practice, wearer reports noses report a fragrance that “presents different facets” day to day - “intensely sweet and plummy one day… totally licorice-like and occasionally just like incense.” Common perceptions: sweet plum and tonka up front (several read it as “fruity”), an incense/olibanum haze in the middle (“lighting a stick of incense and smelling your boyfriend’s cologne”), and a creamy-woody cedar-tonka base. Perceptible: plum, tonka, incense, cedar. More submerged/variable: the jasmine, which reads as a brightener rather than a distinct white floral. Leans slightly masculine to several reviewers despite the unisex billing. Signature accord: sweet plum-tonka over incense and cedar.
Performance
Performance is the consistent weak point, in line with Rituals’ reputation. Multiple documented reviewers flag it: “Sillage could be better, as always with Rituals,” “longevity is decent, not spectacular,” and one reviewer pins it at “lasts only 3-4 hours.” A vivid wearer reports description of the curve, verbatim: “After a few minutes the fragrance dials down to about 20% of its original power and lingers around for hours at a faint 10-20% before it disappears for good.” Several reviewers report it performs best sprayed on clothing, where it lingers longer. Practical takeaway: expect soft projection and short-to-moderate longevity (~3-4 hours on skin per the most specific report), and apply liberally / on fabric for staying power. One reviewer notes it’s best in cooler conditions (“wearable up to max. 23°C”).
Wearing Context
A cool-weather, autumn/winter and holiday scent - fitting, since Rituals folded it into its Christmas/Advent-calendar season offerings. Reviewers describe it as “warm and cozy,” “deeply comforting,” and well suited to relaxed evening or at-home wear rather than formal projection. Practical reading: its sweet-plummy-incense coziness and soft performance make it an intimate, personal-pleasure scent and a comforting daily warmer in cold months, leaning slightly masculine but genuinely wearable unisex. Not a hot-weather or high-impact statement fragrance.
Comparisons & DNA
Direct documented comparisons from the wearer reports: one reviewer calls it “a good dupe for Kenzo Jungle L’Elephant” (the spicy-sweet oriental), while noting weaker performance; another likens its woody-fruity swing to L’Occitane Eau des Baux. Within Rituals, reviewers note (often with disappointment) that the Auspicious Dragon EDP smells different from the matching shower gel/body line (“cedar and plum with hints of vanilla”), which is a recurring Rituals complaint. Broad DNA: sweet plum-incense oriental-woody - the plummy-balsamic-incense family. No designer “dupe-of” relationship is strongly established beyond the Kenzo Jungle and Eau des Baux nods; treat those as loose olfactory neighbors, not exact matches.
Reception
wearer reception is warm but measured. Praise: the cozy, comforting, plummy-incense character; the beautiful packaging and collection concept (frequently singled out); good value relative to its niche-adjacent vibe. Criticism: weak sillage/longevity (near-universal), and disappointment that the EDP diverges from the rest of the scented body line. reviewers generally find it pleasant and versatile but “not super exciting”; one calls it “a typical good Rituals scent.” Polarization is mild and mostly about performance expectations and the sweet-vs-incense balance (some get mostly sweet plum, others mostly incense). Blind-buy verdict (supported by tone): reasonable for fans of sweet, cozy incense-orientals who don’t prioritize projection - but as a discontinued limited edition, sampling first is harder, and buyers should temper performance expectations.
Versions & Reformulation
Released as a limited edition within “The Legend of the Dragon” collection (EDP, unisex), accompanied by matching home and body-care products (shower foam, body cream, home fragrance) and included in some Rituals Advent calendars. Now described as discontinued/sold-out (it was a seasonal limited run). No concentration variants or reformulations of the perfume itself are documented. Single composition, no known reformulations.
Acquisition Notes
As a discontinued 2023 limited edition, it’s now secondary-market dependent (eBay and resale), since Rituals limited collections rotate out. Rituals’ first-party pricing is mid-range/accessible, and the brand is sold direct through its own stores and site plus its Advent calendars, but this specific EDP is no longer in the regular lineup. No documented batch-decoding scheme or significant counterfeit problem is documented for Rituals fragrances. Decant availability is limited compared with mainstream designers. The practical caveat: confirm you’re buying the EDP rather than the similarly named body products, which smell different.
Notable Facts & Lore
- The collection is explicitly themed on Chinese mythology - the imperial dragon as a “bridge between heaven and earth” and a symbol of luck, prosperity and success - and was designed “around the notion that we all carry an invisible power,” timed to the cultural run-up to the Year of the Dragon.
- Per Rituals’ own account, the collection was inspired by a visit to the Rijksmuseum and developed in consultation with its Curator of Chinese Art, Ching-Ling Wang.
- It fits the brand’s established pattern of mythology/East-inspired limited collections (Rituals’ identity draws on “Eastern traditions”). wearer reports’s launch coverage came from Cannes (the brand showcased the collection there), and editors noted the striking dragon-motif packaging and predicted other brands would follow with similar dragon-themed releases.
- No controversy is attached to the fragrance specifically, beyond general enthusiast grumbling that Rituals prioritizes packaging over performance.