Black Secret

This is one of the 2 souvenirs I got from an event in Riyadh back in February 2024. My business partner tried his, declared it “way too sweet and girly,” and gave it to his 21-year-old daughter. That’s probably why I left my bottle sealed until recently — I didn’t have high hopes. A few weeks ago, I needed something sweet to soften a very patchouli-forward vintage. I thought of this one, cracked it open, and sprayed a bit on the upper part of my inner arm. And it did NOT smell like what I’d been told!! Surprise: it’s sweet but not cloying, with a nice, easy complexity — not the heavy, textured style some Middle Eastern scents have in heat. I’m picky about vanilla (it often turns tart on my skin); this one doesn’t. I ended up wearing it solo, and it totally worked. The caramel is quite pronounced. If you’re like me and try to avoid gourmand accords, don’t be afraid of this one. The caramel smells more like caramelized sugar in the air than a gooey dessert — emphasis on the caramelized, not the sugar. I also got a fresh floral lift before checking the notes; later, I saw gardenia listed at its heart. I have real gardenias where I am, so while it’s not photorealistic, it does the job — a gardenia-ish freshness that brightens the caramel/vanilla. After about two hours (depending on temperature and humidity), it dries down with a hint of animalic woody amber — completely unexpected. I didn’t expect something that opens so bright and sweet to dry down so handsome and affirming (a bit masculine). For the first two hours, my thought was “this is really not bad,” but after that, it became “awesome.” In summary, it’s an interesting perfume I completely overlooked and didn’t do justice to at first. Performance? It’s a Saudi brand... so yes. I’m a light sprayer; 2 spritzes on the back of my neck lasted all day, and my shirt held the scent until laundry. (I usually spray in my nightgown, let it dry on skin, finish my makeup, then change — so the scent my shirt picks up is from my skin, not the sprayer.) Also, I will never spray this on garments — on testing paper, it left an oil stain. On the other hand, that explains the longevity. I don’t think it’s pricey. If you’re ever in KSA and see it, it’s worth a sniff.

A typical Middle Eastern-style fragrance—unisex, but it leans slightly more masculine. I picked it up at a 50% discount from the Riyadh showroom, which made it even more worthwhile. Performance is fantastic, with solid longevity and noticeable sillage that holds up well throughout the day. It works especially well in winter and also shines during summer evenings. Overall, it’s a compliment getter and a reliable, well-rounded fragrance that performs consistently.

This one is very fresh. It's not heavy at all. I would use it in autumn or spring, but I'd tend more to use it on cold days. It's unisex and elegant and as the previous commenter said it is a compliment getter. It smells like a expensive perfume althoguht it isn't. A very classy perfume.

This used to be my favorite fragrance when i first started getting into fragrances

the way God works will never not awe me, subhanAllah. my mum had gotten me 2 jars of mukhamriat(cream based perfume or perfume with lotion like consistency; its the bomb) and one i found meh, and the other was an absolute winner. it was also around the time id began to tryst with gourmands(and i say tryst bc im an infamous gourmand hater), so it hit the itch juusstt right. vanilla..burnt sugar..white flowers...so pretty. every time i used it, i prayed "oh Allah please give me more of exactly this mukhamriat or a perfume or a body spray version". one day i greet my mom after shes home from work...and she smells of my mukhamriat?? So i joke abt her looting me and shes like "no i didn't use it i swear, its literally the perfume my colleagues gifted me a few months ago, remember that tall black bottle?". i did. and i knew he had an insane sillage and projection - probably the strongest id experienced myself - but i forgot what he really smelled like. so i open her drawer and smell it again and...there it is : literally the perfume version of my favourite mukhamriat. i pray im able to invest some day in both a bottle of my own and the candle version. Onto the perfume itself : yummy and very pretty, and not extremely unique but somehow also not a dna you'd smell commonly at all. as mentioned before, sillage and longevity are unbeatable; it's one of those you have to go with a light hand or you'll get headaches. the price is also shockingly affordable especially for what it offers. the bottle isnt a beauty per se (as you can see here), but sturdy. the 150ml one is really tall fr lmao. One thing that bothers me is in the opening or up close you get some alcohol or what is it called you know the "perfume base" smell? Yeah. maybe he just need some even more maturation. I'd never advocate for blind buys, but if ur into smarter ones(as in not recklessly breaking the bank over some designer frag you never even bothered to smell in person once and then just as impulsively resell bc you hated it lmfao like sorry but #deserved), then this is def a very safe blind buy. fem leaning. again, a non cloying and flowery, pretty gourmand.