Africana

Dark, syrupy cherry-flavored novelty wax lips slowly melting on a shelf in a smoky African tent city located somewhere below the Tropic of Cancer. The tents are surrounded by jarred fruits honeybees and small birds,a Berber wedding next door has been carrying on since last evening showing no signs of stopping. The musk of 20 camels subtly floats in the breeze along with date syrups drizzled on fresh-baked sahara pastries each filled with exotic jams. A small oasis garden growing all sorts of purple flowers blossom in the heated, smoky haze of twilight. Africana is similar to golden sand in style; it’s almost comically gourmand and linear with its dominant note, a mixture of synthetic cherry teas, melon, and mandarins in heavy syrup that eventually turns into a beautiful dark, sweet, boozy, powdery, sharp, musky frankincense amber. It is described perfectly in most reviews on this site, but the magic is in the subtle breakdown of notes, which takes about 12 hours and could last for days thats right days. To my nose, cherry is the maestro, and as the middle and base settle, hints of purple flowers, medicinal ouds, and bitter green floral musky sugars play their notes. Think of opening a 10,000-year-old wooden cask of overproof blackberry mead, found in the sarcophagus of some forgotten mummy’s tomb. Bouquets of ancient flowers and resins still permeate the pyramid’s cavern, the leathery, tannic, musky scent of the mummy’s flesh and bandages slowly seeping into the air. As this happens, someone’s great-grandmother applies a cheap cherry-flavored chapstick to her parched lips—she pulled the chapstick out of an old pocketbook filled with assorted fruit candy found at your local drugstore—you will arrive at Africana. Probably the most cherry-forward scent I have ever tried, and it works. Unisex, Gothic, Dark Yet Light, Ancient Yet Youthful, Sacred Yet Irresistible—the subtle unyielding power of Africana could easily become a olfactory nightmare for those who are not prepared for what it offers... Like golden sand, Africana can be layered with other fragrances to add dimension and complexity. There’s a beautiful oud and iris note that really brings this fragrance to another level. The florals in this resemble the African bush at night—dark, sticky, smoky resinous air with hints of animal musk blending with poison plants and tropical fruits—making this one of Al-Rehab’s most paradoxical yet complex masterpieces. I own over 20 different fragrances from this house, and Africana is the most enigmatic. It will make people talk, and those who you thought wouldn’t like it will love it—a must-have for those who enjoy cloyingly sweet gourmand sorcery or vintage androgynous aldehyde bombs from yesteryear. This scent invokes memories in people. It’s one of Al-Rehab’s greatest creations in terms of originality through complex simplicity. You will either love it or hate it, but once it crosses your path, you will never forget it.

Truly a difficult scent to review. In a good way. :) There is so much here, and it all smells searingly sweet, fruity, and very appealing. That is odd thing for me to say, as I do not like fruity scent in general. However, Africana is quite unique! Here we have a sweet fruit and floral vibe that is not one fruit or flower so much as a wonderful melange. (I persist in feeling there are some fruits here that I've yet to see in any supermarket!) It's heady and overwhelming at this point, and I am now getting hints of YEAST??? But so it is. Therefore, I'm not a bit surprised at people's mention of the scent smelling of beer! Thankfully, no brewery on me, but fresh baked rolls mixed into the fruit and flowers and greenery. So far it resembles the smell of a fantastic tropical green house with an outdoor market nearby? The fruity greenness juxtaposed against the yeast is also that of lush growing plants. You can see why descriptions fail me at this point.... Looking at the notes, I should have immediately guessed the orange, but never in a million years would have guessed pink pepper. NO! I seldom ever get on with this note in perfumery, and here not only do I not smell pink pepper, but it behaves perfectly on my skin. Yay. Another lovely surprise is that one of the flowers I'm smelling turns out to be IRIS. Oh, Iris, how I love thee! Once I saw the note listed here I could readily begin to smell and associate some of the floral aspect of Africana with this heady flower. I have a happy history with IRIS. For me, Iris goes a long way to explaining how something this exotic could at once feel so familiar and beloved! To sum up, this is one of the few Al Rehabs I fell in love with almost instantaneously, and also one of their power houses. I feel like I'm wearing a playful, super-concentrated Niche without the high price tag. Not a safe blind buy, obviously. Only the adventuresome need apply. Be prepared to be blown away by your own sillage trail! Five Star <3

I'm working my way through the Al Rehab roll-on line. The majority are good and wearable, better than your average drugstore brew. A few not so much for various reasons. Maybe a sixth though, are excellent, which is a very high success rate for a budget line. Africana is one of the excellent ones, albeit a bit polarising. This will definitely not a fragrance everyone will love and it's not subtle. It's a bit like that friend you have that always says EXACTLY the wrong thing at the wrong moment but is kind and tonnes of fun, so you forgive her. Africana is loud, impolite and bit artless but fabulous. It reminds me a LOT of fruit incense from my youth but in the best way. This scent isn't trying to be Western or too familiar and personally I think that's when Al Rehab does its best work. It opens with a big, dirty fruit musk, similar to the musk in Al Rehab Elena. Elena is a thing of the twilight; Africana is bright sunlight. It's also fresher than Elena though, has fizzy citrus aldehydes and incense. As it develops on the skin, a whiff of dirty jasmine passes through and, over time, a powderiness from the iris develops. The dry down features a surprisingly, different and lovely vanilla note. The longevity is exceptional. If you like Lush Karma or Al Rehab Elena, this is for you.

I have a tiny bottle of this perfume oil and it ́s literally so, so good. Very yummy. Let me tell you something... this smells exactly like some candies from my childhood, or something like that. And I am sure it will smell like that to you, too, no matter in which part of the world you grew up... it ́s one of those familiar scents of life... The comments below mentioning bananas, syntetic strawberry scent, grapes, etc. are all right. This has a little bit of everything candy-like, gummy-bear style, sweet soda style. Sadly, I can ́t describe the scent better than that... but, once you smell it, you will know. :) I am about to test it ́s longevity and sillage but I can smell it very well even after shower and I had only a drop on my arm like three hours ago. Also, I want to mention this has tropical vibe to it, so I can imagine this will be great for summer (and by the way, normally I am not that fond of tropical perfumes, but this is perfect). However, I am going to wear it in the winter days, too. :)

This is a memory. It is a hot one, and that is how I associate this scent with the name. I've been to Africa, but this is not pulling me there. It is pulling me to the sweltering hot of Caribbean island interiors. This is the smell of wandering around a hot island to a local standup pub made of a few boards. There they make only one drink, some kind of tropical punch with a goofy name, but it is always like drinking straight out of the warm concentrate can, as there is no ice to be found. It is hyper sweet fruity and syrupy, and has dripped all over the ground, soaking into the wooden floor, and disappearing into the packed dirt outside. The heavy fruit floats in the humid air and you can almost taste it. The sun is setting and the fairy lights flick on. It is hot and we are thankful for the small breeze the sunset brings as we worked up a good sweat just finding this place. You can't stay too late or it can get dangerous. Here's to Smurfs Cafe and every other place like it.