Haze

I've been wearing this sample from Akro's Discovery Kit from Lucky Scent the last two days and I was surprised by the similarities between Haze and my favourite summer fragrance, Beso Beach Beso Feliz [the entire line was unfortunately discontinued earlier this year]. Both Haze and Feliz explore the same green, herbal territory, though each approaches it with a different personality. Haze opens with a very distinctive cool blast of mint, eucalyptus, and absinthe, settling into clary sage and an earthy patchouli-leather base that is reminiscent of the vintage 70's perfumes I've smelled over the years. It feels like stepping into a smoky café filled with herbal haze with its fresh, slightly bitter, and tinged with an almost cannabis-like character, though surprisingly no cannabis note is listed. Feliz, on the other hand, makes the cannabis connection explicit. It pairs that accord with blackcurrant, pink pepper, and rhubarb, creating a brighter, more playful opening. For me the heart brings in this decomposing rose, sage, hay, and black pepper, while the base leans on patchouli, vetiver, and musk. Beso is uplifting and free-spirited, evoking open-air beaches and sunlit gatherings rather than smoky rooms. For me the two perfumes overlap in a meaningful way with the same herbal-aromatic DNA and I will likely buy a full bottle of Haze once I use my backup of Beso. I wonder if Akro named Haze, well Haze, because it reminded them of cannabis without including an actual cannabis note? Check out my past review of Beso Beach Beso Feliz to read how much I enjoy wearing Feliz around my hometown. 🤤💫 Postscript: I totally agree with the reviewers below that say it smells like a mojito.

At its core, Haze is just... “green”. The mint is bold and fresh, the absinthe comes through sharp and bitter, there’s a bit of a limey-ness to the scent that keeps it fresh. I absolutely smell like a refreshing mojito, but a mojito made with gin instead of rum. Any other notes were muddled enough that they didn’t come through independently and I didn’t get any leather or woody notes. As for the cannabis smell that people mention; I’ve never been around the growing plants so maybe there is a similarity there, but this has zero relation to any cannabis by-products. There’s nothing skunky or funky about this scent, thank god. I’m obsessed with this scent – its definitely going to be my go-to green fragrance for this spring. On my skin Haze performs fairly linearly. I didn’t get much evolution or change from first spray to dry down to 8 hours of wear later. But, the fact that this lasted for over 8 hours on my skin and didn’t lose any projection is phenomenal to me. I genuinely can’t imagine what happened to those who said the performance of Haze is weak. Regardless, it works for me, and I’ll absolutely be getting a full bottle.

Nothing in common with marijuana and for the good of it. This became more than a skin scent for me, I sprayed my car interior, my accomodation, perhaps people around me occasionally. Not the pets though, always keep their sensitive noses off the olfactory attacks, please. Expertly done, comfortable, fresh, dark green, icy just enough, intoxicating by playing that one trick on your brain that makes you fall in love with a perfume. No, there’s no sophistication on the dry down, but it doesn’t come across as cheap or mass market. Gentle spraying won’t do it justice, I feel you must cocoon yourself in that eucalyptus to reach the effect this packs. This is a rare perfume to invigorate you through sports yet to calmly focus you after. It’s a very positive scent, optimistic, non confrontational, therapeutic. For as long as I’ve been questing myself to find my signature green-fresh-type of easy eau de cologne that makes sense to me as such, heaven knows how happy I was to stumble upon Haze. A no brainer, a true partner in crime of a perfume.

Love at first sniff. This perfume carries an inmense sentimental value for me because it smells exactly like my grandma's homemade herbal tea mix. When she was still alive, she used to walk around the fields and meadows near our village and hand pick all sorts of herbs and flowers. She would then lay them out to dry on clean bed linen in the spare north-facing bedroom and when ready, mix them in an air-tight jar. And I would get to sleep in that scented bed linen - a treat I could hardly appreciate as a child but terribly miss now, almost 30 years later. Haze brings those memories back. Somehow it is sweet yet dry at the same time. Crisp yet subtle. The mint is present but it doesn't scream for attention. It is honeyed, toned down and blended beautifuly with the sage. The longevity is moderate and it sits closer to the skin, but I don't mind at all. It is not intended as a statement piece and I only want to share this treasue with people closest to me.

I LOVE this fragrance. It's my go-to everyday wear. When I first sprayed it in store, I thought "wow it smells like freaking weed yo," but as it dried down it became this smooth absinthe leathery minty green. I'm a person who's skin turns every fragrance I wear super sweet (nasty curdle sweet sometimes), so I have to be super careful about what I wear. This is so stunning on me, super smooth, not vertical-up-your-nose, but horizontal early morning fresh. It keeps it's freshness through my sweat. I'm also a lady. I wish I had more to say about this because I've pretty much been wearing it for a year now. One thing that I do have a problem with is that this fragrance doesn't last as long as I'd like it to. I do have to respray it throughout the day. I carry a small sample bottle. If you love leather and mint, I'd suggest this. Wonderful fragrance.