Kalahari

KALAHARI is an homage to one of Namibia’s greatest deserts, a sublime essence masterfully crafted by Aquãlis. The journey begins with a combination of raspberry and pronounced booze wrapped in a leathery saffron, incredibly unique and warm, giving a wide impression of golden dunes, but also fruity smoke reminiscent to a flavored persian hookah, and believe it or not, I also get the feeling of toasted caramelized coffee, so beautifully complex and capturing, it would make you yearn and desire, but it doesn’t end here. KALAHARI’s development is wild and dry like the desert, warm and wonderfully chromatic, revealing a heart that is transportive, where resins, woods and smoke envelope you, as if smelling the aroma of a campfire at sunset in the golden savannah. The kaleidoscopic and long lasting journey bottoms out to the cozy sweetness of amber and tonkabean, living you with an everlasting warm memory of exotic South African landscapes as it diffuses in the air.

Where is all the love for this perfume?! It's so wonderful, and unique. The only thing I've smelled that comes close to this is Adorem by Nez which, while I love that, pales in comparison to Kalahari. Not much more I can say other than try to get your nose on it if you like incensey, chocolatey, non-gourmand delights. It's also giving me coffee, of the really dark, dry variety. After hours (next day) I smell IBQ, then further on still I smell vanilla and raspberry. It's a real journey!

Kalahari by Aquãlis is a delightfully layered experience. It is like puffing on a shisha pipe around the campfire on a starry night in the African desert. Clouds of fruit-flavoured smoke billow from my mouth and spiral and swerve in a breeze around me. The smoke is silky smooth on the throat and intoxicating. The fruity aroma of raspberry is coupled with a soft leatheriness from the saffron. A wonderful green heart of smoky vetiver tinged with mint pervades the glowing campfire. Smouldering embers and the burning bouquet of native woods brings back a flood of fond memories. Traces of roses, pine needles and dried resins crackle in this enveloping incense that infuses my body. Almost as if drawing a perfumed boundary between the sacred and the profane realm. The rousing heart segues to the comforting base of sweet vanilla commingled with labdanum and amber for hours to linger into the night.