Royal Saffron

Stark, almost stinging, stripes of SERIOUS saffron - the real, sour, pungent, almost-bitter smell of the spice - laid over a perfectly-good rose-and-woods backdrop. Most perfumes with 'saffron' in the name wimp out and try to blur the almost-medicinal edge of real saffron (and blunt its hideous expense) by burying it in heaps of spice and rose petals instead. Not here. Saffron really and truly is at the very heart of it all, in vivid tones of rich deep yellow-to-orange-to-red - if you've ever cooked with saffron, it'll jump right out at you from this bottle right here: the tantalising, luxurious, nearly earthy smell of a genuine paella or saffron rice. Surprisingly dark oud at the bottom end but it's not overpowering everything else; and the saffron is still so dominant it leaves even often-bossy violet leaf and leather and patchouli well in the shade, not dominating the picture, but just deepening the backdrop. This is the first Bella Bellissima I've tried and I love its uncompromising, almost stony resolve, as well as its very strong performance (pretty solid arms-length sillage which keeps it punchy for at least 6-7h). Seems to tend very very slightly feminine to me - the rose is certainly blowsy and sweet - but then the saffron's so assertive, nearly astringent, it could do the job for men as well. It says something when this has a stronger saffron identity than even Zegna's ginormous Persian Saffron Essenze - which is far sweeter overall even though it's supposedly a male scent. If you want to smell real saffron, this Royal Saffron blows most other attempts out of the water, I think. Really, really impressive. Bravo!

a clean, sweet and slightly spicy saffron. lasts well and VERY good for the price. amazing buy.

I bought this hoping for more saffron than oud, on first spray I thought oh no oud, oud, oud......but once it settled I got my saffron :) this is a good quality oud as Muznabutt mentioned below, it's not westernised oud its the real stuff and quite beautiful alone but once that saffron kicked in it complemented it beautifully.

This is a lovely quality perfume, it reminds me of velvet tender aoud, because of the rose and aoud, but this one is (ofcourse) more with a saffron touch. Also the velvet tender aoud is with a almond topnote.To me they are like brother and sister. I already have the velvet tender aoud and that's why I will not buy this one. Otherwise I would! It's very high quality, not synthetic or screecy. Worth sniffing this new brand! p.s.some reviewers compare perfumes, I find this helpfull, it gives me a idea of the position of a perfume. Somethimes i will do this too, to be helpfull. because it's not possible sometimes to smell a perfume where you live

Just got this and Black Ebony from Bellisima too. This is quite a strong oud perfume. I thought i could smell strong amber notes to begin with, but it is a very traditional yet sophisticated arabic type perfume. Im in love with it, it appears to be a real oud perfume, rather than the synthetic stuff you get in alot of western perfumes, and the balance of oud and other ingredients is beautiful.