Areej

My western sense of smell often can’t handle Middle Eastern inspired rose/oud based scents. But this seems to be the perfect quality mix. To my nose, the Oud is still strong and remarkably higher on the note pyramid than how it’s voted on this page. Areej is also equal part sweet caramel, and equal part rose. The result is that Areej is easy to wear, but importantly, you’ll need to be a fan of nature-made Oud. I like wearing my 18 drop dauber sample, but I not sure if I’ll pull the trigger on the expensive, but manageable 15ml size. My sample is from Lucky scent, and the juice is thick with an oily sheen. Performance and projection are superb.

Warm, chocolatey (I suspect from the caramel) with fruity bergamot backed up by a lovely rose and woody elements. Areej is the most unique of 6 stars and the only one worthy of a full bottle, much better than the others and a change from the traditional attar smell. No Indian oud was noticeable which is known for its skankiness.

This is so similar to attar al kaaba which has is 1/3 of its price. This imo is sweeter and has less rosy scent than the attar. But all in all still a very good interpretation for middle eastern attar. It brings me right to that hot dessert.

This opens with a sour note (not fruity) that’s rather unappealing. After a half hour it almost disappears but not ever completely. The florals are muted and I don’t get much bergamot or vanilla. I do get a touch of caramel but this is not a sweet fragrance. The Oud is the most prominent to me and after the sourness settles down it becomes a pleasant fairly dry oud. The caramel keeps it from being too animatic. If it weren’t for the opening I would say this is a pleasant masculine scent but overall it’s a no for me.

This is their New York 5th avenue, with Indian Oud added which gives it a touch of woody skank. I'm not into gourmand fragrances at all. But oud and gourmand works really well together. That subtle skank from the oud just prevents sweet scents to become too cloying and overly sweet. If you've tried Fort and Manle Bojnokopff, this is the same type of gourmand with that subtle skank from the oud.