Any one who’s got this please should I blind buy it? I want a summer perfume, I don’t own any lataffa perfume’s but I very much dislike unisex aftershave oud smells there’s something in them that faintly smells like body Oder
Anyway, is this a safe blind buy
I like feminie floral sweet scents I own
prada paradox intense,
my way intense,
l’interdit,
original Jimmy choo

So I decided to give this a try a couple of months back and normally I don't blind buy and if I were to do it I would go through the notes and reviews on reddit and then make a decision ,and man was it worth it! This has a fresh and soapy smell with notes of Citrus and also a bit powdery but I did not get an aquatic or ozionic notes from it but then its purely subjective. So I live in a tropical area but I do work indoors with A/C and my opinion is purely based on the Performance indoors and I would not recommend this for warm nights outside as it could get too sweet and heavy a bit like how it would be to wear Khamrah on a warm summer night.

This had very impressive performance it would last around 5-6 hours indoors and then remain a skin scent throughout the day until I went home. This also has solid projection, if you were to pass a person from maybe a couple of feet away they would definitely be able to smell it as well.

DO NOT OVERSPRAY ON CLOTHES! it will stay on the clothes the next day (Machine washed the clothes and dried it out in the sun and I still get whiffs of it on the clothes) 3 sprays would really do it.

Absolutely LOVE Hawas Tropical. Smells damn near identical to Paradise Garden, just cranked up a hair and the coconut note smells a lot more prominent/refined. I actually like this one a LOT more than the original, as you can tell by my dent. 😭😭 I used like a third of the bottle in a couple weeks last year after I got it. I was one of the first people to have this bad boy.

If you ever wonder whether or not you want this bad boy, JUST SEND IT. Makes me want more from Rasasi, and unlike everybody else.. I'm all for even more releases from them!! Hell, give us a hundred more!! I love that they found something that works for them. I'm biased though, I love their bottles too 😂💚 And question to anybody who read this far.. do I shoot for Verde or Kobra next? I REALLY want Kobra because it'd be my first Imagination clone and I think it had the sexiest bottle in the lineup, but I smelled Torino 21 a few months ago on a birthday trip and absolutely fell in love with it on my skin, so I'd LOVE the Hawas. Which would y'all get first?? Either way, they're both coming. 🤣

First time after trying reflection and as a person who has tried Symphony a couple of times. This is symphony without the ginger note, reflection missed on that ginger note and stays linear with zesty grapefruit though this smells amazing for the price it comes at. This type of scent profile is very suitable for indian summers as a person who has khadlaj island dreams also this one smells a tad better as ginger is heavy in island dreams which is not my liking can vary person to person

Versatility- Can be wore in hot summer afternoon or current humid weather as for me i enjoy wearing it in gym , lasts like a full session and projects well in AC environment, to be noted that i dont sweat much so performance of almost all perfumes are better on me.

I bought this one at a certain higher price point but wont buy there other releases though i genuinely wanna try them until there prices reduce

Well guys, got it so you don't have to. And you really dont have to.

Its just another aventus, closer to aventus absolu but with a lot less of the leathery Sauvage Elixir vibe.

If you already have an aventus type fragrance you really don't need this or at least not for prices its going for right now online.

With all that being said it IS very good. The fruits in here remind me of 9pm rebel and there is none of the cdni funk/lemon pledge vibes.

Also performance has been absolutely ridiculous so far, the security guy at work said he smelled it all the way down the hallway when he came in for his shift and thats right out the box. I was able to get it for $45 bucks which I think if you can get it for that price then its great. Enjoying it a lot so far, I'm sure it will get better. Solid 8/10 as an aventus absolu type fragrance. Nothing new though.

When i first smelled angels share i thought it was nice but nothing too amazing, and then the same with paradis, but when i smelled on the rocks it completely blew me away. At the time obsidian was the only clone available and i tried a decant which i loved. right as i was about to purchase it i started seeing buzz about this fragrance being way better, so I decided to do a leap of faith and blind buy Riiffs Veloce.

Note: this was bottled in May so it is about as fresh off the press as you can get, this is an early impression after 3 days of wear.

On the opening, this smells much smoother and less sour than obsidian. I can confidently say it is extremely close to OTR, in fact it is almost indistinguishable. The only difference is the boozy note is a bit lighter in Veloce, and maybe its a tiny bit less sweet with a bit more orange. I thought Obsidian was high quality when i smelled it but Veloce compared to it seems even better somehow. Only when smelling them side by side do I notice a synthetic sour orange extract smell in obsidian which is absent from Veloce. After about an hour the warm boozy apple pie core of the Angels Share dna starts to appear, blending incredibly well with the citrus. As it becomes a skin scent it retains that orange top note all the way to the very end, with a mostly similar dry down to OTR.

For performance this already lasts 8 hours on me in 20c heat and I can see it getting even better as it matures. Definitely suitable for the summer but with the warm base notes you can probably rock this year round. Maybe go light on the sprays for the office because the projection is strong and it could end up cloying, but definitely way more wearable than OG Angels Share.

My final scores:

Smell: 9 - My only complaint is i wish the boozy cognac note was a bit stronger, otherwise incredible dupe. I would give Obsidian an 8 compared to this.

Longevity: 8 - could easily mature to a 9-10

Projection: 9 - strong 2 ft bubble and lasting sillage

Price: 10 - paid 50 CAD after taxes which is a fraction of the price of OTR and also a good bit cheaper than Obsidian.

Bottle: 9 - decent design, solid clicky cap and pressurized atomizer

Versatility: 9 - Anywhere, anytime, just maybe not very formal events, it's a bit too playful. (Don't think i would wear this to a funeral)

Overall: 9 - a certified banger from Riiffs, these guys are dropping some major heat lately, not to mention their stuff under Nusuk. Going to keep my eye out on them as they are kind of an underdog taking over the clone space. If you want an OTR dupe, forget obsidian and get this.

I love Azlan Bleu Oud Edition but the box is freaking massive. It takes up a whole shelf. Afnan Tribute Blue is also ridiculously huge.

What's some other frags that have big ass boxes?

Marwa often gets described as nailing the drydown of LV Imagination, while also being a bit linear and leaning heavily into the tea and soapy notes.

That was exactly my experience when I first got the bottle. There was some citrus and ginger in the opening, but it disappeared within minutes and all I got was tea and soap. And that's actually a beautiful scent by itself.

Now, about six weeks later, it's a completely different fragrance. The citrus and ginger stick around for much longer and make the whole scent feel brighter and more alive. It's still recognizably Marwa, but it has a lot more depth than it did at first.

For me, it went from "that's really nice" to "wow, this is exceptional."

If your bottle is brand new and you hear Marwa is linear and soapy, just give it time...

I've been eyeing out blind buying Amouage Outlands (Crazy, I know). But there are no available decants where I live and I have been told it is not that challenging of a fragrance especially compared to Amouage's other stuff.

So as always, I resort to dupes to get the most slightest hint of what I should expect. I understand the quality is nowhere near what the real thing is, and I understand that it can be misleading to judge the real thing by the dupe, but I trust my nose and I know the quality of Omani Frankincense and I know Terra has been dialed down in the opening .. So what I'm trying to say is that I trust my nose.

First things first, I was surprised by how strikingly similar this thing smells to Boss Bottled Absolu! Especially past the first 5 minutes where the spices are going rabid in the opening, nothing too crazy, though.

Terra smells miles ahead of Lattafa Asad Elixir and has a very addicting airy-ambery dry down. The spices take a way out in the back-backseat and the amber comes out as a base alongside some vanilla, not much of it.

It's very reminiscent of the vibe of Boss Bottled Absolu but with a lot less leather (because maybe there is none? lol). The oud note is very subtle and it's not funky at all. Think of PdM Haltane/Oud For Greatness kind of oud.

Performance is really good for a freshly opened ME bottle. I got around 6 hours of good presence with a very loud first hour. I went immediately half nose blind to it, though, as people were telling me the smell is very powerful while I can barely detect it from a distance.

Smelling it up close and sticking my nose into my hand makes it really seem cumin-y and very spicy.. But it smells a whole lot different in the air, kinda like Nishane Ani in terms of how it's much more pleasant in the air than skin sniffing.

Overall very pleasantly surprised, though I do not know if I will be proceeding with Outlands once this runs out or if I end up selling it.

----- Al Majed Oud -----

Hi All,

This is my 7th review write-up, and from here on, I will be reviewing the ME niche houses. This doesn't mean that these fragrances are not inspired by anything else, but that these brands are, in most cases, really old and well established brands primarily known for their fragrances and oud chips/oils.

The first brand I will cover is Al Majed Oud, and since I don't have many from each brand, these will thankfully be much smaller review posts.

I will cover the houses of Arabian Oud, Reef, Ayaam, Abdul Samad Al Qurashi (these 4 combined in one post), Gissah, Sedra, Assaf, IBRAQ (Already done), and the main one, Amouage.

As ever, the same important caveats are below:

• I don’t think I have a great nose, so there will definitely be people who will disagree with my assessments. Performance, fragrance similarities, and overall fragrance appeal are really really subjective, so I do completely understand if you disagree with my opinion. Apologies in advance. 
• I have kept these reviews as loooongg posts intentionally to serve as consolidated reviews. Apologies if these are tough reads.

Below are my thoughts on the fragrances I have, in no particular order.

Serious

• Similar to: Bois Imperial, Armani Eau de Cedre, Imagination, Half Moon IBRAQ, Attacks Assaf, Hersh Lahab, AAM Ghaf, Atyab Al Sheikh Charisma,
• Weather: 0 to 35c 
• Thoughts: This is basically Bois Imperial with a black tea note. A very metallic, abstract, and cold scent. It is fresh, woody, green, earthy, and cooling. Opens up with a burst of fresh spices and tea with a cooling tulsi type of accord. Transitions into a mineral-woody scent that has some smooth sweetness. Genuinely a fantastic smell. This is a small addition to the scent profile but makes it stand out amongst the herd. And I dont normally care for this, but the bottle is so high quality, with a strong and satisfying magnetic cap, it is shocking to me this is sold for around $35. 
• Vibes/Occasion: Signature scent 
• Longevity and Sillage: 6-8 Hours and a few feet 
• Rating: 9.5/10 (Even with all the ME houses cloning Bois Imperial, this is the best in terms of scent profile)

Prestige Ruby

• Similar to: LV Stellar times, Pink Diamond Sakura IBRAQ, Reef Summer Pink etc 
• Weather: 0 to 28c 
• Thoughts: A very hard scent to explain. It is floral and light but also ambery and dense/musky. Smells like something that would disappear in a flash when it starts off but lasts a really long time. Leans feminine however.
• Vibes/Occasion: Office/Daily Wear 
• Longevity and Sillage: 12+ Hours and 6+ feet 
• Rating: 10/10 (Love Prestige Ruby and this stuff lasts for weeks on clothes and I have tested this fact, the wife has made this her signature)

Ice

• Similar to: Musk Therapy, In the same space as Erba Pura/Erba Gold, Blue Talisman, Invictus, Sedra Blanco, Amouage Existence etc 
• Weather: 0 to 28c 
• Thoughts: A musky tropical juicy fruit bubble gum, where the fruits are ripe and fleshy. I would call this an Invictusified version of Erba Pura or basically very similar to musk therapy. BTW, the bubble gum feel comes from the note of tuberose, so the more you know. 
• Vibes/Occasion: Casual wear. Cant see this being worn in a setting where you are trying to come off serious. 
• Longevity and Sillage: 7-8 hours and a few feet 
• Rating: 8/10

Elbrince

• Similar to: In the space of Arabian Oud Sultani, Amiri, Diwan, etc
• Weather: 0 to 28c, low humidity
• Thoughts: A musky, fresh, cardamomy, woody, sweet, frangipane scent. Imagine something like Sultani, but make it sweeter and fruitier. This is unique smell, but I would say the cardamom, musk, and sweetness can remind you of a milky Chai (i.e. without the tea)
• Vibes/Occasion: Daily wear
• Longevity and Sillage: 6-8 hours and a few feet
• Rating: 8.5/10

Boisee

• Similar to: Similar (to my nose) to Arabian Oud Musk Mubakhar or a fresh leather
• Weather: 15c and below
• Thoughts: An incensy, woody, smoky, and animalic leather scent. I get straight up freshly made animal leather. It smells like the leather drying shack had been doused in incense and slightly smoked by burning some woods. This is challenging, as the leather can be very animalic/funky. 
• Vibes/Occasion: Social occasions
• Longevity and Sillage: 6-7 hours on me and a few feet
• Rating: 7.5/10 (lower score as it does not last all that long on me)

Noir

• Similar to: AAM Black Fume, Orto Parisi Terroni, and somewhat like Maison Crivelli Oud Stallion, and Nasomatto Black Afghano. 
• Weather: 15c and below 
• Thoughts:  A very sweet fruity (Raspberry), leathery, smoky, and woody smell. This scent is wonderfully unique. Imagine the smell of your hands covered in the ashy remains of a campfire, after you handled a fresh animalic leather covered in cooked raspberries/raspberry coulis. This, to me, is the OG version of AAM Black Fume, if you wanted to try that scent out but couldn't, now you can with this. 
• Vibes/Occasion: Nights Out in the cold
• Longevity and Sillage: 8-10 Hours and 6 feet 
• Rating: 9/10

Cuir

• Similar to: Al Majed Noir, AAM Black Fume Orto Parisi Ternoni, and somewhat like Maison Crivelli Oud Stalion, and Nasamato Black Afghano. etc.
• Weather: 20c and below
• Thoughts: Very similar to Noir, but replace the raspberry opening with a fresh woody pineapple/burnt fruits opening. The opening will come across very dry/woody, and burnt. Kinda unpleasant to me at first, but once you expect this, it becomes more pleasant. The mid and dry down is the same as Noir to my nose. 
• Vibes/Occasion: Special Occasion
• Longevity and Sillage: 8-10 Hours and 6 feet 
• Rating: 8.5/10

Mistral

• Similar to: YSL MYSLF EDP, Chanel Bleu de Chanel, Dior Sauvage 
• Weather: 15 to 35c 
• Thoughts: A citrusy fresh, aromatic, and white floral fabric softener smell. This is mix of MYSLF and a blue fragrance. Especially in the opening, the aromatic freshness mixed with the white florals feels like a perfect 50/50 mix of any bleu scent and MYSLF. But this is predominantly a MYSLF inspiration.
• Vibes/Occasion: Office wear 
• Longevity and Sillage: 6 Hours and arms length 
• Rating: 8/10

P.S. It was a nice change of pace to write a smaller post, but hopefully this is useful to a few people. I am yet to buy some more Al Majed Oud fragrances, maybe Wood Brown, and Wood Black, but I find the DNA to be very common.

I really do hope you guys find this helpful 😃. 

Today I had a great time wearing this fragrance. I have about 4-5 reviews backed up, but I wanted to make the time to share my experience with Banadir's 14.

First off the quality is amazing. I've been getting REALLY good results from these Banadirs lately. I haven't tried that many. We only own 5. But so far I've had the chance to wear Banadir 34 [SMW], Banadir 26 [L'Immeniste], and now Banadir 14 [Greenley].

So far I have nothing but good things to say about this house, and I look forward to trying out more fragrances. If you guys have any good ones your interested in let me know so I can add them.

My experience:

I sprayed this bad boy at 10:30. 7 sprays (two on my back, one on my shoulder, two on each forearm and one on my chest). Right away I could tell these are good quality ingredients. Nothing synthetic or off putting about it at all.

Threw me off a little when I first put it on. I have no idea what note is it, that makes it so sour. Perhaps the bergamot. But I know from my experience with fragrances that this tends to smoothen out into something great. My guess is the green apple mixed with the musk they use.

It's very fresh, almost piney. It has a interesting blend between being fresh, musky, and woody at the same time. However it is balanced and just works. I was able to wear this EASILY in 90 degree weather.

The added moss smell in this creates something damn near perfect.

This fragrance is not linear, after about 30 minutes that sour smell went away and it began to become a very aromatic fresh green, slightly fruity fragrance. The dry down is amazing honestly.

• Top notes: Green Apple, Calabrian bergamot and Mandarin Orange
• Middle notes: Petitgrain, Cedar, Cashmeran, Pomarose and Violet
• Base notes: Oakmoss, Musk, Amberwood and Patchouli

The performance:

Sprayed at 10:30. At 12pm it wasn't quite projecting the way I wanted to, so I applied 1 more spray to my forearm, and a last spray to my shoulder. After this I smelled the fragrance in the air for the next 3 hours! Now this scent profile is not a loud one, so don't expect monstrous projection. In fact after 1 hour nobody around me could barely smell the fragrance in the air.

However the OG is very similar, I sprayed it on myself 2 weeks prior to wearing this fragrance today and honestly I may have liked it less then the Banadir I wore today.

It's 11pm now, it's been over 12 hours and I can still smell the fragrance on my shirt. Well above average.

My rating:

Subjective scent score: 9/10
Performance 7.5/10

Overall: 8.7/10

Conclusion:

This fragrance really works for me because of my extremely hot climate. I do wish this DNA had more projection. Because as much as I love the fragrance I really did not smell it as much as I would have liked to.

But because it does smell so good, and seems to last a long time as a scent bubble I did give it a really generous rating.

I want to make sure I mention buying the OG PDM Greenley to me is NOT worth it.

I recommend people try a sample of this Banadir because to me it is the perfect replacement.

Curious to hear which lines are most trusted by the clone community. Every brand has different lines within them ie. Club De Nuit or Odyssey in Armaf, Hawas or La Yuqawam within Rasasi. Is there one in which almost always seems to hit for you?

For me it's what I would consider an obscure line that doesnt get that much talk about it. The Nayel line by Arabiyat Prestige. There are only 4. That I know of, so the odds of having a miss are pretty minimal. For me, these are all hits. This particular line is cloning YSL. I have only smelled 3 of the inspirations briefly in the store and own 1 of them, but I have smelled or own multiple interpretations of the 2 more popular profiles.

Nayel Queen - Babycat. A warm, leather, vanilla. 100% unisex imo. I am not the biggest leather fan and I love this stuff, so don't let that scare you if you are not into leather. This did take a couple of months to really smooth out. Mine is almost 2 years old now and is one of the smoothest well blended vanillas I own. Great for cooler weather. Especially like wearing this on cold nights. Moderate projection for several hours, leaves a great scent trail. 8 hours before this dies down to a light skin scent.

Nayel Oud - Tuxedo. My favorite out of this line. Its a vanilla Patchouli bomb. This is my go to fragrance for any formal event in cooler weather. Not a huge projector, but a few feet scent bubble for like 5 - 6 hours at least. Decent skin scent for 10+. This is one I highly suggest getting your nose on. Especially for Riffaqat fans. This is so much better. Imo. Leans heavily masculine.

Nayel Her Majesty - Black Opium. I have the original, and I actually prefer this one by quite a bit. Its lighter, and a bit sweeter. This one does not have the longevity that the other 2 have, but performs well while it lasts. Around 8 hours total. This leans on the feminine side, but a man could definitely pull this off.

Nayel King - Supreme Bouquet. I held off on getting this one for a long time just because of the name of what it was cloning. Supreme Bouquet just sounds like the most floral thing you could imagine. Man was I wrong, sort of. It is definitely very floral, but it is also fruity, sweet, vanilla with a little bit of spice. This stuff is so good. It leans feminine, but this is not something I would be afraid to wear. Loudest projecting in this line, people will smell you. Decent longevity as well, at least 8 hours as of now. I have only had this one maybe 2 months.

To me I think this will be best in the spring transitioning into summer time.

Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings. What are your favorite lines, and have you tried any of these? What are your thoughts on them?

So I’ve recently been getting into fragrances, I only really used gifts before this but I’m 3 months into it and loving it. The best to worst right to left (personal preference)

Afnan Supremacy not only intense

- By far my best frag, most complimented and also the only one random strangers will compliment. I love this profile, it’s a hacivat dupe but the best way to describe it is if you take the creed aventus profile and add moss and oak, and swap the citrus for some apple and add a very slight sweet twist to the opening you get this. Random buy from Tk Maxx, couldn’t be happier with it. 10/10 after macerating for a few weeks. Beast performance, beast longevity.

Afnan Odyssey Mega

- I LOVE ysl y edp. I went to a department store tried out a load of frags and it was my favorite of the day. I came home to look online where I could get it cheapest and after seeing it was around £80 for 100ml I though why not try the dupe at £18. No harm in the gamble. I was SHOCKED, it’s so close it was hard to tell the difference between them. The performance is great but longevity on my skin wasn’t. On clothes it’s beast but from what I’ve heard that’s the case with the OG too. I absolutely love it, in my daily rotation in summer/spring.

Dior Sauvage EDP

- What can I say that hasn’t been said? I got it for Christmas a couple years ago and I only ever put it on for special occasions as I wasn’t into frags back then. People hate on it but let’s be honest it smells amazing, that’s why everyone loves it and wears it. It’s what got me into frags so it will always hold a special place in my collection. It’s almost finished but I rarely ever wear it so even the small amount left will last me a while. When it’s done, I will replace with another Dior, probably not Sauvage.

Zimaya Mazaaj infused

- This is my go to gym frag. Obviously it’s an imagination inspiration but tbh it has no tea or ginger really, it’s really just a clean soapy basic profile which is perfect for the gym. Non offensive, and doesn’t last that long which again for gym use is perfect. I also wear it in the office from time to time because it won’t offend. Loved it when I first got it, still like it a lot. Great value.

Afnan 9PM Night Out

- Where to start with this one? So I got all the social media hype on this for months, everyone was glazing it. I thought about getting it but wasn’t too bothered. Fast forward a month or two and I’m in TK Maxx and see it in the display case for less than £30. I thought why not? After all I got SNOI here and it’s my favorite frag! Man was I disappointed at first. I don’t know what it was but it just reminded me of that “cheap aftershave” profile right off the bat so I hated it. Then I came back after a couple weeks and thought I’d give it another shot. Put on a generous amount and went out, I was pleasantly surprised, on dry down if you give it some time it gets better, the ambrofix calms down a lot and you get the chocolatey vanilla more. It moves up the ranks but I don’t wear it often.

Arabiyat Prestige Marwa

- Another social media glaze fest that turned sour. Everyone glazed it, I got it, I didn’t like it. Too much ginger makes the scent profile become almost muddy which is crazy for a fresh imagination clone. The dry down is okay but only for about an hour because after that it just disappears. The Mazaaj has better performance and longevity than this. I’m a D1 hater of this frag, save your money.

Club De Nuit intense man

- This one I just don’t like at all. I’ve had it for months so it’s had plenty of time to macerate. It’s just lemon toilet cleaner on crack. Yes it calms down on the dry down but even after it’s still very lemon dominant. I just never wear it. Even the Marwa I wear in the gym sometimes, but this I literally cannot stand on me. Maybe it’ll get better with time, but I’d much rather have any other aventus clone than this.

Joop! Homme

- This was a gift, I still question whether this person that gave it to me even likes me or not. Why would you gift this? Are you trying to make sure I never get laid again? Do you want my bloodline to die with me? What did I even do to you to deserve this? It’s not even worth using as an air freshener after taking a dump. It will find its way into the bin as I run out of room.

What’s next?

- Afnan supremacy in heaven is ordered and on the way.

- Prada L’Homme for the office

- I’d like to try Mykonos Inception to scratch that imagination itch as my Mazaaj is low and Marwa lasts about 5 mins

- Liquid Brun has always been on my list

- Armani Stronger with you intensely

After that I think it’s time to stop, enjoy them and save for a niche frag.

Thank you for listening to my ted talk.

Found this on Vinted, is it a clone of Hawas Ice ?!

So I picked up my Club de Nuit Intense Man Pure Parfum back in late February this year, and it’s now been a solid 4 months of letting it sit and mature. Problem is, it’s still just not showing up the way I expected. Projection is weak, longevity is nowhere close to what people rave about, and at this point I’m genuinely unsure if it needs even more time or if I just got an off batch.

I love this DNA so much that I honestly couldn’t keep waiting around disappointed every time I sprayed it. So instead of losing more time, I went ahead and picked up the Limited Edition version to actually enjoy the scent I love while the PP keeps resting in the back of my collection to (hopefully) mature further.

Figured this way I’m not wasting the fragrance by spraying it before it’s ready, and I still get to enjoy the CDNIM line properly in the meantime with the LE.

Has anyone else had a PP take longer than 4 months to actually open up? Did it eventually turn a corner for you, or should I be worried I got a bad batch? Would love to hear from people who’ve dealt with this.

I tend to enjoy clean fragrances that are fresh and easy to wear but still have enough character to stand out. This is what I came up with this summer. I also enjoy going for hidden gems, they always surprise me in a good way (these were all successful blind buys).

Vibrant Vetiver Delight

Bright citrusy fresh green fragrance with a touch of sweetness and a smooth woody/earthy feel to it. Shares similarities to Byredo Bal D’Afrique. Smells like a lemon sorbet surrounded by a blooming garden of fresh flowers and a faint earthy vetiver breeze. (8.5/10)

Jean Lowe Immortel

A dominant ginger, citrusy, fresh spicy opening that gets smoother as it dries down. The dry down has a slightly soapy, smooth amber and musk base. This shares more similarities with Bvlgari Tygar than LV L’immensité (imo). It makes you smell masculine, rich, clean, and confident. It’s my most complimented summer fragrance. (8.5/10).

Lattafa Breeze

Uplifting citrusy fresh and slightly spicy opening, mid and dry down you get lots of florals and a woody musky base. It also has a creamy smell to it that I like. This does not smell good on my skin but luckily it lives up to its name Breeze as it does smell like the breeze of fresh laundry in the summer so I spray it on my clothes and it lasts for days. It’s nice enough to be worn alone but I like to layer it. (8/10)

Saheb Intense

This is a really good Louis Vuitton imagination clone. It has that clean soapy tea combo that I’m sure everyone on this subreddit is familiar with at this point. I knew this fragrance was good the moment I sniffed it and was hit with a pleasant citrus blast opening that was quite realistic and not overly synthetic or off putting. This fragrance smells a lot more expensive than it is, the smoothness of the notes give it a high quality feel. The tea is more detectable than most of the other clones which I like. The dry down smells like your brewing a dove soap bar in your tea lol. Very smooth, well blended, and good performance. (9/10)

S.A.L.T by Fragranceworld

It came in the mail today, and I gave it a full day of wear. It’s honestly hard to describe, but overall it’s a fresh aquatic scent with salty ocean air, a touch of fruity freshness, fig sweetness, and a creamy base. The opening is that familiar aquatic shower gel type of scent, but as it dries down the salt and fig balance out the freshness and it develops into something softer, slightly sweet, and creamy. The salt and mineral notes also give it that ocean air feel.
I’m new to this scent profile, and I’m weirdly intrigued by it. I seem to really like it because I keep sniffing my wrist. It’s not your typical freshie, and that’s what I like about it (salt, fig, milk mousse). I’m still trying to understand it and excited to see how this fragrance will develop or change to my nose overtime. It’s an inoffensive and versatile scent but not a safe blind buy. (8/10)

Independence Day sales got the best of me lol. All of these came in this week. It's a lot of fragrances so I'm going to give shorter reviews so I can get through them. It is 7/5/26 and the current time is 6:03am. Let's see when I finish.

I also got in French Avenue Aether. After I had already ordered it, I ended up smelling my Lattafa Sherif again and realized I don't think I care too much for the Greenley DNA, and I think Rayhaan's Jungle Vibe is a better smelling green scent. On top of that, Aether is known to have performance issues, right? I haven't opened it yet because I'm probably gonna return it.

1. 🌊Lattafa Atlas -

I've realized one thing; I'm a performance over smell person. Hearing a fragrance smells great doesn't excite me as much as hearing about it's performance. With that being said, I've always heard Lattafa Atlas was a clone of Megamere and that they both were nuclear. I've never smelled Megamere so I had no clue what Atlas smelled like. Then people always say this shit smells like salt water/the ocean/being out on a boat. Honestly, I have no effing clue what any of that means. I don't have the smell of salt water stored in my head and I don't remember it just smelling good.

Anyway, I've always been interested because of performance reviews, but I never knew what I was getting myself into. Price ended up dropping to the low $20's so I bought a bottle. Without dragging this out, I sprayed the back of my hand and said "Nomad", as in French Avenue's Nomad. These smell similar. Atlas smells good, Nomad smells better. I can't describe Atlas because I'm not familiar with the notes. Sorry😔. Like I said earlier, everyone else says it smells like the ocean and being on a boat. Hopefully that helps🤷🏽‍♂️. I recommend it to fans of Megamere I guess lol. If you already have Nomad, this might be a bit redundant plus, Nomad smells better.

One thing I want to comment on is performance. As of now, it seems to be as nuclear as everyone says. When my bottle came in, I sprayed one spray on the back of my hand, then I went to hop in the shower. It was still there after the shower. Once I got dressed, I came downstairs and filled up my decant. I ended up getting some on my fingers. I then left out to make a run. I could smell Atlas the whole time I was driving. The crazy part is the next day I got in my car and I could still smell it. Come to find out, it was on my steering wheel. The lil' bit I got on my finger tips while filling up a decant made its way to my steering wheel and lasted like 24hrs. Use that as a measuring stick for performance. This most likely doesn't need maturation, but I'm gonna tuck it away for at least a month simply because it's what I do.

2. 🔵Armaf The Pride Of Armaf Admiral -

I cannot seem to STFU with talking so much lol. I said I was going to make these shorter and I typed 3 paragraphs for the first review🤦🏽‍♂️. Ok, I'm gonna try again starting now.

This is a clone of Invictus Victory Elixir. I never even heard of this until Gent Scents reviewed it the other day. His review made me research it. I liked what I read so I searched for it, found it for $20 something bucks, and bought it. It's been a year plus since I smelled Victory Elixir so I can't say how close this is to that, however, this does smell very similar to Odyssey Mandarin Elixir. SPECIFICALLY THE ELIXIR, NOT THE ORIGINAL!!! This is mainly vanilla, Odyssey Mandarin Elixir is mainly vanilla AND citrus. Also, Odyssey Mandarin Elixir is fairly strong, and this one seems to be going down that same path. This is cool for under $30. Me personally, I can't recommend this over Mandarin Sky Elixir.

3. 🟤French Avenue 8th Wonder -

I ended up having to grab this from Burlington because it was cheaper there then any of my online sites. Scratch that, Frag Flex was the cheapest, but I had to spend $99 for free shipping and I wasn't trying to spend that much. Anyway, I just opened this up right before I took these pictures. I'm gonna have to sit with this one for a sec. It doesn't smell bad, but it also smells like French Avenue Grow that I bought last month. At least that's how my memory is reading it. I also only smelled Grow 1X before I boxed it back up and tucked it away for maturation. But 8th Wonder is really strong. Not gonna lie, I can't identify a single note. That's not saying anything bad about the fragrance, my nose just isn't that refined. I can say it's a real earthy scent and it's definitely for fall/winter. I like what I'm smelling so far, I just don't know what I'm smelling lol. Worst review ever. Sorry😅. I'll do better once I pull it out of maturation. Oh yea, not blind buy safe at all.

4. ⚪Dumont Nitro White Intensely -

When I was first getting into clones, I really liked Nitro White. What ended up happening is the more fragrances I got, the less I re-visited it. As of now, I don't think I've worn Nitro White in at least a year.

I ended up catching a PerfumeBox fire sale and I got the new White Intensely for like $31 after tax (plus another 10ml Nitro 8pc discovery set). Very first time I sprayed it, I said out loud "Musaman Black." That's what it reminded me of right off the bat, however, that is NOT what this is at all, not even close to it. How do I describe this? Hmmm...I feel like this is a grown up, more adult Nitro White. I get some booziness in it, it's not as sweet, and I smell vanilla and something else. Not sure what that something else is, but there's something strong going along with that vanilla. Performance on this is really good. I sprayed this on my inner wrist the day it came in and it projected STRONG for at least 3hrs. Without me doing much, it would find it's way to my nose over and over again. I ended up hopping in the shower before it died down, so I can't tell you how long it lasts. This will 100% be getting worn this fall/winter and based off this first impression, I can actually recommend it and say that it's blind buy safe.

Sorta off topic, but this is another testament to how far clones are coming along, and how fast. I spoke on this in the past, but where clones were 2-3 years ago and where they are today is damn near night and day. These ME companies are now buying higher quality oils to make their fragrances with. I can literally smell the quality difference between this and regular Nitro White, same way I can between Nitro Red and Nitro Red Intensely.

5. 🍊Armaf Odyssey Mandarin Sky Vintage -

So I've been wanting this since it released. I was a big fan of the original Odyssey Mandarin, and an even bigger fan of Odyssey Mandarin Elixir. With that being said, I wasn't willing to pay $45+ for this. I kept hoping to catch it for $30 or less, but that opportunity never came. I ended up getting this one as a gift for doing a small favor for someone. That's my form of payment these days, give me fragrances lol.

So the first Mandarin Sky was mainly citrus and caramel. It was also screechy as hell. Mandarin Sky Elixir replaced the caramel with vanilla, and lots of it. It was also a LOT smoother. Mandarin Sky Vintage here removed the HEAVY vanilla presence and added something that I don't know what it is. I'm on the Armaf website and I have no clue what these notes are. WTF does Honeysuckle, Egyptian Jasmine, Tuberose, and Orris smell like 😅😅? Anyway, those are the official notes. The orange citrus is still there, but even it seems to be dialed back a bit. Long story short, this smells like an even more mature/less playful Mandarin Sky. Right now, it smells boring. It's not bad, I just don't see me getting the same attention that I've gotten while wearing the Elixir. I also feel like this is a fall/winter DNA. I'm actually gonna pull this out of maturation to wear on some of the cooler summer days because it has my interest, and I don't think it's a heavy winter fragrance. I'll have a better update at the 2 month mark.

6. 💰Armaf Old Money -

I bought into the hype 🤦🏽‍♂️ lol. Armaf's IG page had a picture of a guy wearing a suit while holding this, and I felt like the ad was talking to me specifically lol. I'm 40 and sometimes I step out wearing suits, but I always dress really dapper. I felt like they were saying this is a fragrance for a distinguished gentleman. That ad put the fragrance on my radar, however, the price kept me away. I regularly saw it for $45-$50. I ended up catching it last week for $29.48 [after taxes] on one of those Independence Day sales.

Right off the bat, this one is going back because my atomizer is messed up. Will I exchange it for a new bottle or just say eff it is the question. Well, we'll see. When I first fixed the atomizer enough to actually spray it, gotdamn was this shit weak as hell😑😑. I was so happy the atomizer was messed up and I could send this shit back. Projection and longevity were trash but most importantly, I barely smelled anything. Like nothing at all. Fast forward a few days and I tried it again and finally something started to come through, something pleasant, actually. I just sprayed a tester strip 15min ago and yes, it's getting stronger. It's a clean smelling scent. There isn't a single note that just stands out to me. I'd have to go read the notes and this fragrance isn't important enough for me to do all of that, not with another 6 more interesting fragrances to go. I have 30 days to return this so I'm gonna keep an eye on it. If it continues to get better, I'll exchange it. If this is its peak, I'll get a refund. One thing for sure, this is definitely NOT worth anything more than $30. I woulda been on FIRE🤬 if I woulda paid $45+ for this.

7. 🏖️Riiffs Seasons Drift -

My first Riiffs purchase was Seasons Rise and it is absolutely fantastic. My next Riiffs purchase was Freeze and it's ASSSSSSS!!! I'm still on the fence about Riiffs. I never thought about getting Seasons Drift because I originally didn't really care about the BDC Exclusif DNA. Then once I got Nocturno Elixir and it turned out to be fantastic for me, I really didn't need this. So this was NEVER on my radar, until last weeks sales hit and I snagged it for $28.04 after tax. Based solely off of Seasons Rise, I went on ahead and grabbed this. Besides, I read a lot of good reviews about it in the past.

Here comes another shitty review 😅. I don't know how close this is to the real thing, but it's not too far off from Nocturno Elixir. It's very redundant to have both. With that being said, DNA wise, this smells cool. As I keep smelling this tester strip in front of me, it's actually giving me a bit of a headache for some reason. Doesn't smell as heavy as Nocturno Elixir either. Like, this smells lighter and fresher. I can't say too much more without actually wearing it. When I first smelled Nocturno Elixir, I fell in love. This one is "ok". I don't have anything bad to say about it, but there's nothing right now that'll make me choose this over Nocturno Elixir either.

8. 🟣Rasasi Hawas Reina -

Random, not including Venom, there have been 29 Hawas fragrances that have released/scheduled to release so far. Reina is my 24th Hawas. The remaining 5 have not yet released (Rouge, Sapphire, Gold Digger, La Mer, and Majestic). I'll be getting those as well. Personally, I hope Hawas gets to 50+, and I'm gonna get them all. I like Hawas', end of story.

Anyway, Reina is a women's fragrance, it's a collaboration with Daniel Rene, and it's a clone of Rabanne Olympéa Absolu. I've never heard of that fragrance let alone smelled it. Whatever the case, I like this one a LOT. It's a fruity vanilla fragrance. When it first came in, I took it to my girl and sprayed her arm and mine. Her eyes lit up and she said "Oh yea, I love this one." I brought it back home with me and and have been holding it hostage until I could get this here review done lol. She has asked me about it twice now lol. But yea, when I sprayed it on my arm, it projected strong for at least the first 2 hours, but it never went away. Really good performance and smells really good. Out of the 6 women's Hawas' that have released, #1 is a toss up between this, Eclat, and Pink. Yes I recommend it, however, not for the prices I've been seeing it at🤮. I caught a sale and paid $54.02 after tax. That's about right for a new Hawas. All that $65+ crap I've been seeing, nah, eff that.

9. ⚫French Avenue Enigma Une -

So, this is under the radar as hell lol. Once again, I was watching Gent Scents and he reviewed it. I never even heard of this up until his video. Once I heard about it, I did my own research. It got a decent amount of positive reviews so I started my hunt. I caught another ID4 sale for $33.10 after taxes. This is a clone of Sauvage Elixir. At some point, I'm gonna do a clone wars post between my 4 or 5 Sauvage Elixir clones. I also own a bottle of the real Sauvage Elixir so this should be fun.

When this came in, I sprayed it into the air and immediately acknowledged that it smelled just like the real thing. It smelled a lot closer than my ASAD, and performance was really good. It projected heavily and lasted for awhile. I'm gonna fast forward to right now. I sprayed this on my tester strip like 2hrs ago and it vanished before I could get to the review. I just sprayed it on my arm right now and this isn't how I remember it from day 1. It's still Sauvage Elixir, I just felt it was closer and stronger on day 1. This smells like Diet Sauvage Elixir, like there's something missing. And it's weaker than what I remember for some reason. I'm also spraying it out of a decant if that matters🤷🏽‍♂️. Whatever the case, today's drop off makes it hard to recommend. Maybe I'm having nose fatigue from smelling and reviewing so many scents in a row? I don't know. I'll give a better review in a couple weeks when I do the clone wars post.

10. 💛Lattafa Mishlah -

Someone in here recommended this to me awhile ago and I'ma be honest, I wasn't expecting much. I've come to realize that I only care about Lattafa's Pride line. Lattafa's official TikTok page had sales going on last week, and I ended up paying $20 something for this. First time I smelled this, I couldn't believe it! Smells absolutely fantastic! Supposedly a hybrid of Spice Bomb and Castley. I can't speak on that because I'm not familiar with that Spice Bomb DNA, but this smells really, really good. Nice summer time fragrance. It's spicy, clean, and I can smell iris. Just a really good scent for cheap. No clue about how performance is. I'll be using it periodically during maturation. In fact, I'll most likely wear it to work this week. Based off scent and not performance, I recommend it. If performance turns out to be decent, then it'll jump to highly recommended.

11. 🩶Lattafa Ra'ed Intensely -

In that same sale with Mishlah, I got both Ra'ed Intensely and Absolu for like $15 each. At that price, it was a no brainer. I opened Intensely first and holy hell does this smell absolutely magnificent! It's a clone of Prada Paradigme, which I've never smelled. This starts off with a citrus opening and then dries down to vanilla. For the price I paid, I was fully expecting this to be garbage. Just the opposite, it's better than I ever coulda imagined. No clue about longevity just yet, but if I can get 5hrs out of it then it'll be money well spent. I'll be wearing this to work this week as well. I love successful blind buys!

12. 🟡Lattafa Ra'ed Absolu -

For those NBA fans here, remember Vince Carter in the 2000 dunk competition? Remember his first dunk was the legendary Reverse 360° Windmill? Had the crowd going CRAZY. After him was Jerry Stackhouse and once he dunked, there were crickets lol. That's what this Ra'ed Absolu is to me. I made the mistake of smelling Intensely first and loved that so much that I may be unfairly judging Absolu. That was my day 1 mistake, and I just did the same thing again😬.

So supposedly Ra'ed Absolu is a clone of Polo 67. I smelled that when it first released and haven't smelled it since so I can't speak on it. With this, I smell vanilla. I'm gonna be honest, I don't care about this one. I guess it smells good, I don't know. Wait, that's not fair. It's not a bad fragrance, but it's such a drop off from Intensely that I just don't care to try and find words for it. And honestly, I'm fatigued from writing all of these reviews. I might pull this one out this week, I don't know. I'm less excited about this one than I am about Ra'ed Intensely and Mishlah. I owe y'all a better review for this one later on. I just want to be done writing lol.

Done. The time is 3:09 PM ET😑😑😑. I took a nap from like 6:30am - 10:00am. Everything else has been me writing😮‍💨.

Biggest winners here were Mishlah, Ra'ed Intensely, and Nitro White Intensely. The loser here is Armaf Old Money lol.

Also, I'm slowing down on my purchases for a bit. Not that there's anything really wrong per-se, I'm just out of storage room to maturate them (look at last pic). I have like 35-40 fragrances tucked away with no room to add these 12 as is. I'm not completely stopping, I just won't be buying in bulk as much until I clear some of these from maturation, especially the ones with the huge boxes. But I've already ordered CDNI Overdose and Hawas Sapphire. I'll also be getting each of the remaining/future Hawas' that releases, CDNIM Absolu, the new Marwa Extrait, French Avenue Eau De Brun, etc. I'm still actively buying, I just won't be going as crazy (unless I catch some super good deals). Good thing about buying in groups is that 5-10 should be coming out of maturation at the same time and that'll free up a lot of space.

Sorry this is so long. Hope y'all appreciate it💪🏽💯.

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I've been hunting for versatile, year round fragrances that open with bright citrus or woods and dry down into a solid leather(literally on Scircle.ai looking for something like these two yesterday and decided to wait) These two absolutely nailed it. Both project really well and give off a classy but modern vibe. They also smell way above their price point. Very high quality and not synthetic at all, at least to me.

Banana Republic Midnight Hour

Opens with a really fresh mango and ginger kick before settling into a rich leather and oud base. Super versatile and an easy grab for hitting a taproom or catching a live show, which I do often, yet clean enough and non offensive for me at work also

Salvatore Ferragamo Intense Leather

The mandarin orange opening is fantastic and it drying down into a solid earthy, high quality Italian sports car leather and oakmoss. Feels super solid and well thought out and is perfect for overcast PNW days, but still fresh enough for the office.

I honestly would wear both even in high heat of summer without question. Highly recommend for other leatherheads.

One of my favourites

Owning blu by ahmad from 1.5 years using regrously and now giving handson bdc edp from two weeks

Just wanna say blu by ahmad is just in steroids and better the better smell the better projection sillage and lonegvity everythung in bdc is week as compare to blu by ahmad

But the citrus and lower down spicyness in bdc is very premium and sophisticated just little bit unisex

Kindly ask me anything more