Genda Attar

Starts off bitter and woody as well as having what a typical 'Indian' smell would be, but in a good way. I would keep that in mind, the sort of faint spice musky vibe with burning wood. It becomes very sweet and floral vibe from the marigold (obviously) and becomes more tolerable within 30 mins. I think it's fantastic though, highly recommend.

Not being too familiar with genuine marigolds I can’t comment on how closely it resembles them—only on the scent itself. Like the other two Areej attars I have, Tuba and Champa, it’s both simple and complex at the same time. To me, the marigold here is actually rather tame when applied in spite of smelling strongly from the top of the bottle, with the sandalwood dominating the scent for the most part and increasingly so as it wears. On skin, the marigold is pleasantly herbal, musky and green, with some very interesting though very slight connotations of mango as Mr. Adam mentions, which isn’t bad at all, but from the top of the bottle, and to a lesser extent on fabric as well, it remains a blooming beauty, wickedly herbal and terpenic, actually reminding me quite a bit of some desirable cannabis. A little bit ammonia-like, but not too much to my nose, still being a few steps away from the brink of distaste. Being a big fan of phenolic, nearly skunky and almost sour scents, it appeals to me rather greatly. However, with the greater part of those aspects fading as soon as it’s applied to both skin and fabric, and the earthy, dusty, clay-like and buttery sandalwood coming right to the fore, I’m afraid it’s not one I’ll don over others very frequently. Not that the sandalwood isn’t quite enjoyable to me, but just because I slightly prefer how Tuba and Champa wear on skin, the sandalwood finding the most synergy in Tuba out of the three I’ve tried—see my review over there for thoughts. All that being said, the bottle of Genda will always remain a pleasure to take a few deep inhales of on rainy and sick days! Sillage intimate to moderate longevity good. At $75 for 3g, with awesome presentation as is always to be expected of ALD, can’t be considered too bad a deal at all. Bravo, good sir!