Asrar was created for Amouage's 25th anniversary in 2008 and means "Secrets" in Arabic. Asrar is described as an oriental garden nestled between Dream and Reality. A touch of saffron, a handful of spices, four drops of amber, musk, and then a puff of a distillate of oudh, the bark of an infusion of exotic wood and sandalwood. The full notes in Asrar, as compiled from various sources on the Internet include: oud, oudh distillate, rose, amber, frankincense, musk, saffron, orange blossom, sandalwood oil and moss.

The following is an excerpt from a review from Kafkaesque:

Asrar opens on my skin with a powerful blast of fiery saffron that is so rich, it feels almost buttered. Moments later, other elements appear. Equally light and muted are the flickers of rose and frankincense which lurk below. The main, primary focus, however, is that strong blast of saffron. It differs from the note in Al Mas where it is wholly gourmand in feel, because, here, the saffron is a little bit smoky, a touch woody, and infused with a burnt element.

There is also something oddly chilly about the bouquet, a flicker of something almost mentholated that perplexes me. It’s hard to explain, but there is a surprising, subtle coolness to Asrar that sharply counters the hot butteriness of the saffron. The rose dominates the first hour of Asrar on my skin. It makes its debut about five minutes in, and it’s another syrupy, sweet, slightly jammy rose that feels a little bit fruited in its richness. 

Thirty minutes in, the chilly nuance vanishes, and is replaced on the sidelines by a hint of smoke that has a slightly burnt undertone. At times, the smokiness smells like burnt woods, but, at other times, it resembles the pungent, acrid sharpness that you’d get from blackened caramel. At the 90-minute mark, the note coalesces and takes shape as noticeable, distinct oud. It adds a more concrete woodiness to the scent, but it retains its slightly smoky undercurrents as well, perhaps from what Amouage terms of “oudh distillate.”

The agarwood and its smoke slowly become more and more prominent, taking over the buttery heaviness of the saffron and cutting it with dryness. Around 2.75 hours into Asrar’s development, the fragrance is primarily smoky oud with saffron. The rose has retreated a little to the periphery, and there is the start of a slightly medicinal edge to the wood notes. By the end of the fourth hour and the start of the fifth, Asrar is primarily an oud scent that is simultaneously dry, a little smoky, and a little medicinal. There are quiet undercurrents of saffron underlying it, and the whole thing sits right on the skin.