Mashaer

#1581 in my "Tour de Fragrance" I went looking for something similar to a discontinued Aramis scent I loved and found this. I've enjoyed almost every Aramis scent I've encountered, but I gave up on EDCs and EDTs several years ago being frustrated with their less than half-the-day performance. But back in 2012 Aramis launched one of its very few eau de parfums, "Perfume Calligraphy" and two flankers, "Perfume Calligraphy Saffron" and "Perfume Calligraphy Rose." I never got to experience the flankers, but the original "Perfume Calligraphy" was IMO the pinnacle of perfumery at Aramis. So of course they discontinued it (The only Aramis EDP you still see out there is "Intuition"). The memory of Calligraphy, that I loved it, stuck with me, and when I saw a decant recently I ordered it, mostly out of curiosity to see if I would still find it amazing more than a decade later. Indeed I did. Perfume Calligraphy was a unisex oriental floral fragrance that I found perfectly suitable for men, with top notes of cardamom, cinnamon, lemon; mids of saffron, myrrh, rose; base of patchouli, agarwood, amber and musk. Exactly like this Hamidi. You can still find "Perfume Calligraphy" being sold by an occasional eBay scalper, but I didn't love that scent to the tune of $250-$350. Qurashi "Safari Homme" is also identical in notes, but it goes for $170, though I might have gone for it had I not found this Hamidi at $38 on Amazon and bought the last bottle. So what's my verdict? Is this is a dupe of "Perfume Calligraphy?" At first I would just have said not at all. I wasn't getting much of anything even though there's enough perfume oil in this to stain clothing. That's because the concentration is more extrait than EDP. Initially it reminded me of Armaf "Shades Wood," a very "wooden storage basket" sort of scent. But in a couple of hours of dry down it was more Armani "Stronger with You" EDT with a hint of Calligraphy if you sniff skin. But no, this isn't really a Calligraphy dupe. Oh well. $38 isn't a tragedy. And I can think of some things to layer this with. I'm on the lookout for a decant of the Qurashi "Safari Homme" for comparison, but so far only finding "Safari Extreme" which is not at all similar. If anyone has a line on Qurashi "Safari Homme" samples or decants, please drop me a PM. Good Luck and Good Hunting!