Al Quds

First thing: rest this for at least a week. I tried it too early and had a bracingly unpleasant experience involving über bitumen and blue cheese. Rest it a week and you get the most amazing dirty leather scent, very masculine but still wearable by a woman. It reminds me —n the nicest possible way—of a used motorcycle jacket, lots of leather, hints of motor oil. I am a big fan of this house. They make great scents. They compose like Mozart. This one is no exception. They use black musk to sub in for other ingredients used in leather accords. It is sheer genius. Al Quds opens with rich plum, quickly followed by a hit of blue cheese oudh. I mean quick. Under a minute . Then it settles into the smokey bitumen leather with something green lurking in the back. Magnificent and long lasting but without unpleasantly huge sillage. Superb.

One note is not listed for this one : Indian Oud. The most fecal, unexpected indian oud, blended with wood smoke, saffron-ish leather and a slight touch of sweetness from the rose and amber. Al Quds is surprising in many ways, but it's still a very classic arabic composition. A real beast. (Don't know if I like it yet) (15 minute later) The oud and black musk are calming slowly after a few minutes, letting the rose and amber shine through. A nice one from Al Faransi indeed.

@EritErit Anthony used a portion of the well known Musk Aswad. Btw. Al Quds, the holly one, is a magnificent, bold creation which has been discontinued a couple months ago. Yet difficult to be worn on a daily basis asked for so little but gave so very much ;(

I love this one! It opens with an unapologetic-yet-tolerable oud-like leather with black musk but then gets down to dark amber-like sweetness from something. A wonderful, dark, complex scent! One of my favorite AKAF's!

Another one they discontinued for some reason. Very frustrating.