Island

#21 of My Fragrance Journey Khadlaj Island: The Perfect Staycation in a Bottle (sort of) I don’t even know why I bought Khadlaj Island. Maybe it was the weather - grey, endless rain, that heavy sky that just sits on you for days. Maybe it was me scrolling too late at night, reading people call this stuff a piña colada in a bottle or a “cheap holiday for thirty quid.” Whatever it was, I clicked buy. Didn’t even think twice. And yeah... blind buys are always a gamble. Half thrill, half regret. The first spray hits and - wow. It’s loud, like someone just shoved a fruit basket in your face. Grapefruit that bites, pineapple that’s so sweet it almost drips. Sharp, juicy, blindingly tropical. Not subtle at all. Part of me loved it instantly. Part of me thought, oh god, this could be too much. And honestly, depending on the day, I still swing between those two takes. As it calms down, though - ah. Mango, coconut, that creamy sun-warmed sweetness that makes you forget you’re staring at the drizzle outside your window. Not “cheap sunscreen coconut,” but the kind that feels like dessert served under palm trees. Then the flowers come in - tuberose, tiare - just enough to stop it from being pure fruit salad. By the drydown, it softens into something smoother, woodier, almost comforting. Tonka, sandalwood, a touch of warmth. Performance is... weird. On me, it’s fine. Six, seven, eight hours. A big push at the start, then it chills out. But I know loads of people say it dies after an hour. Maybe it’s nose fatigue. Coconut-ambroxan blends can do that. You stop smelling it, but it’s still there, just humming along. Would I recommend it? Depends. If you’re after something quiet, soft, “fresh out of the shower” - nope. This is bold, a little brash, unapologetically tropical. But if you want that holiday energy bottled up, if you like Tom Ford’s Soleil Blanc or LV’s Pacific Chill but don’t feel like spending your rent on them - then yeah, this is a fun one to have. For me, Khadlaj Island isn’t Bali in a bottle. But it will take the edge off a grey Tuesday morning, give you a little golden-hour glow when you need it most. Like a daydream you spray on and carry around. Staycation vibes, with a splash of regret, a splash of joy. Both at once. (Kind of like the day I missed my flight - long story - but I still remember the way Luc smiled, and somehow that made the whole thing worth it.)

Overall thoughts and scent profile: Honestly not an amazing scent profile, to me it just smells like a very slightly sweet but very creamy and "warm" coconut smell, it's very smooth and creamy which is detrimental to it being a fresh summer fragrance, to me it's nowhere near as sweet as everyone else makes it out to be, I honestly wish it was sweeter, for reference in terms of sweetness id rate other fragrances as follows: montale arabians tonka: 8.5/10, french avenue liquid brun: 9/10, lattafa khamrah: 8.8/10, afnan 9pm night out: 7.5/10. But for khadlaj island I'd give it maybe 4 or 4.5/10. It's not very sweet at all, not cloying at all even if I put my nose super close to my arm or clothes. Presentation and bottle quality: Incredible presentation, the bottle looks and feels very premium and super good looking, the pressurized atomizer is insanely high quality, easily the best atomizer on any fragrance in my collection (Significantly better than even rayhaan's premium pressurized atomizers). Performance: Mediocre performance, it unfortunately performs like a fresh fragrance while smelling more like a fall-winter fragrance, On skin get I around 1-2 hours of moderate projection, then around 10 hours of it being a skin scent. On fabrics I get around 1 hour of moderate projection, then around 10-12 hours of it being intimate. Blind buy factor: It's very inoffensive, but it doesn't smell amazing to me either so I'd say smell the original Le Beau Le Parfum first, if you like it then this will be a safe blind buy. Final rating: 7/10

Opening: strong burst of pineapple, quite sharp, wears out after like 2 mins - smells a little like montblanc explorers opening (7.5/10) Drydown: goes into a creamy and sweet vanilla coconut scent - somehow manages to present the sweet creamy coconut as fresh and light by adding undertones of pineapple - I don't even know how they pulled it off (9/10) Projection: pretty good, projects for like 3-4 feet with 5 sprays - very noticeable and present smell, but not at all offensive (9/10) Longevity: although you do experience some nose blinding, people can smell you for around 6-8 hours (8.5/10) Versatility: I think that the coconut and pineapple fruity fresh side of this fragrance makes it nice for spring and summer, but it is also sweet and creamy enough to wear in winter and fall (9.5/10) Uniqueness: few fragrances for men feature coconut, and the coconut note in this fragrance is the most prominent one - you will stand out, but not at all in a bad way, whilst also having a fresh fragrance, which typically aren't unique (9.5/10) Price value: for £29, this is an absolute must have - it smells like a £200 fragrance, is very versatile and unique (10/10) Bottle and atomiser: the atomiser is amazing and pressurised - ridiculously good for a £29 fragrance, and the cap and bottle are both weighted with a very high quality feel to them - the texture of the bottle is also very nice. (10/10) Overall score: 9.125

This is a blind buy, and I don't have LBLP. Out of the box this is strong, I got the 01/26 batch. Pineapple is the strongest note I can smell here, followed by a sort of chill but sweet ginger, and then a familiar mandarin orange like note that Armaf's Mandarin Sky has, but without the overly sweet profile. I also get a milky coconut note but it's under that super strong pineapple. The pineapple isn't too bright, but it is the frontman for at least 1 hour. It dries down to a chill ginger and tonka bean with still some fresh orange-y notes, and more woodier with hints of coconut and sandalwood. Lasts very long on both my skin and fabric, being able to get 8 hours of longevity. Projection wise though, this one is moderate. Maybe I feel like the max is around 2-3 meters. For now I like this a lot, but I will give it time to sit and mature first for some weeks so I can update my review later. I feel like maturing this will give it the best performance. Overall good so far! 1 MONTH UPDATE: I now get the coconut note, and that mandarin orange got superbly better. I also get a nice, not cloying pineapple note. It's fresh but playful at the same time, good for young adults and for casual/ daily occasions. I get nose blinded easily with this. It doesn't seem strong but it is. With the added maturing it adds a few additional inches of projection and an extra hour of longevity on my skin.

The opening is an airy tropical blend with a pineapple coconut water feel, lifted by a noticeable ginger freshness. It feels light and fresh with good lift, while a faint powdery iris sits in the background adding a soft texture without dominating. In the mid, the ginger fades and the scent becomes denser and more powdery, shifting into a fruity coconut core with a subtle woody backbone. As it develops, the density eases and the fragrance becomes more airy and blended, with the powderiness still present but less dominant. The drydown sees the iris fall back, allowing the fruit, coconut, and woods to stand out more clearly. A slight amber warmth emerges in the background, adding depth while the overall scent becomes lighter and more diffused. It lasts about 6 hours, finishing as a soft, airy fruity-coconut with light woods and subtle warmth. A great value dupe of LBLP. The bottle, smell, and presentation is all high quality. The only downside is the projection and longevity. I got this in a trade, so not sure about maceration, but as it stands now the performance is relatively poor. But as it stands, still an amazing value. Edit: sold. The opening was amazing but it quickly transitioned to a boring and bland powdery Drydown that I could not get on with. 6/10

Finally they added this. One of my first colognes, lets compare it to what its tryna dupe, le beau le parfum. Khadlaj island: Longevity 8-10 hours Projection: strong 6 foot 3 notes i smell most: pineapple, woody, tonka bean Le beau le parfum: Longevity: 7-8 hours Projection: about 4 feet 3 notes i smell the most: coconut, tonka bean, woody The only difference in terms of smell, le beau le parfum has little to no pineapple too it, while Khadlaj island is dominant in it. I prefer le beau le parfum cause i like coconut fragrance. In the air, my friends could not tell the difference that much. On skin you can tell Khadlaj island is trying to be le beau le parfum but more pineapple. Le beau le parfum is spring and summer, early fall, while Khadlaj is year round, besides insanely cold days id wear sum else, but this fragrance can still cut through the weather. Overall i personally prefer le beau le parfum in smell but Khadlaj island has a much better performance, it has like 40% oil concentration, making it an extrait de parfum. For 40 bucks this is probably the best summer fragrance you can get imo, strong, everyone loves the smell, and they should be able too smell it cause of the strong projection.

Is it the best of the best? No But for the price you are getting a lot. In my opinion its less dense and performance is really not there on par with Le Beau. But again, for the price you are getting a good deal. You can always respray it. I typically use this one as an "after shower scent" during summer and it works nicely for that purpose, giving you fresh and dry tropical vibes. For me, it has projection and sillage for the first 2h and then it starts tapering down to skin scent about 4h mark. (I'm not a real heavy sprayer, on average between 3-5). On clothes, the scent persists much longer and gives off very clean tropical laundry detergent smell - which surprisingly works really well for your shirts in office settings, and I urge you to try it out in that scenario. It will give off a faint clean/summery smell that won't offend anybody (if you're working in small quarters with sensitive people). PS: call me crazy but sometimes this can smell like if you made a perfume from one of those green stinkbugs, the combination of ingredients makes it feel vaguely similar (I'm not saying it's disgusting, it just sometimes reminds me of that smell)

Its a very good fragrance for the price its pretty darn close to JPG le beau le parfum. Its not 100% there though, it does have that sweet pineapple opening and the creamy coconut dry down. The only thing that it misses is the edible biscuit kind of sweetness that jpg fragrances have. It does need maturation though, same as with other arab fragrances. People who said that it smells synthetic probably got a fake from tiktok shop, you have to make sure you got a legit bottle before writing bad reviews. Also people on here spray the fragrance, wait half a second then sniff then proceed to hate. Longevity is moderate about 8 hours until its totally gone from skin, projection is okay around an hour or 2 depending on the weather (windy, cold or hot). Is it better that le beau le parfum? No. Is it a good alternative? Yes. Is it worth the price? Yes. Should you buy it? If you like the original you will like it but have the correct expectations, after all this fragrance costs a quarter of the original. Will an average person be able to tell a difference? Probably not. All in all a great buy

basically a boozier and a more cypress/green woods - forward version if the original le beau le parfum, this one doesnt perform as well but it for sure makes up for it in smell, my bottle is incredibly cypress heavy which i really enjoy, as its one of my favorite naturally occuring scents. its really really good smelling, wish i could say the same about performance. it isnt as strong as i would want it to be but - once again - the smell makes up for it, so its okay. its a thick, luxurious and tropical coconut with a warm base of vanilla/tonka and amber, these notes complement each other well, creating an incredibly addictive blend that will have you sniffing your wrist all day because of how good it is. it has quite the lasting power, reaching up to around 6-7 hours on skin with strong to moderate projection. obviously not the same performance as the original, but if thats the only flaw this one has then i dont even mind, i am yet to find another flaw, but so far, thats about it. amazing for spring and summertime wear. 9.2/10.

I’ve been obsessed with coconut lately and I love the look of the bottle and my sample so when I saw the bottle for a deal, I snagged it up. I’m female, this does lean masculine. I was trying to decide between this and Afnan Mystique. This won because of better longevity and lower price. Island is a woodsy, fresh coconut with a hint of pineapple. Perfect for summer. I’ve sampled lots of coconut perfumes including cheapies and more higher end. The cheapies usually disappoint and are too synthetic. My favorites are this, Khadlaj Fursan White, Kamrah Qawah, Valentino Donna Intense and Donna Extra Dose. Edit: Got my bottle and it’s even better than my sample. It’s stronger with more pineapple. The strong woods are what makes it lean masculine. Maybe my bottle is more macerated than the sample. This will go well with Lattafa Honor and Glory. There’s a similarity. If you’re a female and are looking for a unique tropical scent for this summer, this is for you. If you’re a guy, maybe not as unique.

Not disappointed whatsoever. I haven’t smelled JPG Le Beau... But from what I gather, this smells very similar, and if anything is a touch better. I can’t judge that. It’s citrusy with pineapple in the beginning and drys down more woody, with raw pineapple and musk in the dry down as hours go by. I can smell it coming off my clothing many hours later, so people have to be able to smell it. People who say the projection is poor are nose blind. I find Island Dunes similar in that it’s hard to get a good smell of it after spraying. But I find the scent increases as it dries. Kind of odd, but it’s 100% there and stronger than your nose tells you. Just ask your wife or smell your clothes 20-30mins after... Safe blind buy for sure and I love the DNA. Smells way higher quality than the price would suggest. Atomizer is amazing and pressurized just like Island Dunes too.

Many people don't like the scent of coconut, but I really like this scent, especially when mixed with pineapple which adds freshness to this perfume, I often wear this for outdoor events like going to the beach and climbing mountains, or just hanging out in the afternoon, In my opinion, not everyone will like the aroma of this perfume, only a few people can smell the tropical freshness of this perfume, In terms of durability, I think this perfume is very standard and moderate, not really bad but not really good, only about 5-6 hours on my skin, more than 3 hours is just skin scent and sillage is no longer there, For lovers of tropical freshness perfume, pineapple, coconut I can recommend this perfume, This perfume is very suitable for my country's tropical climate, But people in my country don't like coconut smelling perfume for some reason.

Khadlaj islands is a really good 8/10 This is not a spot on dupe of le beau le parfum, it's better. Le beau has a more synthetic coconut, which some might like more but personally, I prefer Islands due to the quality of the coconut. Pros: EXTREMELY real coconut. Very mass appealing but not like something you smell everywhere like invictus or hawas ice, no one will dislike this and most likely most people won't be wearing something similar. Decent compliment factor, not strong enough for lots of compliments. Cons: EXTREMELY real coconut (if you don't like photorealistic scents this is very bad). Longevity projection and sillage is not particularly strong, since the coconut is so realistic, there's no synthetic notes to stay for 8+ hours. Le Beau Le Parfum lasts a lot longer.

This fragrance smells fantastic, tropical yet not leaning feminine. Finely masculine but still reasonably unisex in my opinion. My bottle is from a fairly new batch. I seem to go somewhat noseblind to it, losing the ability to smell it on myself after about an hour unless leaning in close to where it was sprayed, however I am told it is still quite detectable from a reasonable person to person distance. Not sure how projection will improve as it matures, but it smells fantastic even early on. The scent really lingers on skin, able to smell traces of it still on my wrist up close, even after showering and applying a different fragrance. Lasts forever on clothes as well. Amazing if you want someone to be able to smell that goodness while snuggled up to you.

So, I opened this one today. Been wanting JPG LBLP for some time (I love that scent), so, I decided to blind buy this one. Honestly, my first impression was that this one seemed a bit sweeter than the original JPG I smelled in stores. Evidently, I can't compare it to the scent of the original in store, since there are so many different fragrances in the air inside a store that it's hard to tell certain notes in a single scent. I'd say that, currently, it's 95% similar to the original. I'll let it sit for a good while, see how it gets. Nonetheless, I'm very satisfied, and I recommend it. Scent: 9/10 Presentation + Atomizer: 10/10 Longevity: 8.5/10 Sillage: 9/10

If you have smelled the original you have smelled this one too, pretty much identical, Island has a slightly less prominent iris note both in terms of initial smell and overall longevity, but nonetheless the dry down, and what others around you smell is similar to the og. Now if you have never smelled the original this smells like a creamy coconut, accompanied with fruity pineapple, freshly cut ginger and iris at the start that quickly gets replaced to the woody and sweet aspects of Tonka, sandalwood with some hints of amber. This can definitely be worn all year round though I would personally prefer something more gourmand sweet for cold winter nights.

[Currently Testing] I have both le beau le parfum and Khadlaj Island, This fragrance is probably the best JPG le beau le parfum dupe, it smells 90% similar except in the opening it is fresher and less coconutty, which I prefer. Although the opening might be a bit different the dry down is almost identical, projection is pretty much the same as the normal one, longevity I will have to try out. In my opinion le beau le parfum opens up extremely sweet and coconutty and has a gone off coconut smell, but this goes away after 10 minutes. Khadlaj Island is truly worth its price, if it lasts long this has the potential to be one of the best dupes.

After maceration, this stuff is gorgeous. Before maceration, it's not great. When I got it, I used it for a week straight. It was harsh. It didn't too long or project well. It had a funky smell. I was worried. Then, I let it sit, only using it a few times a month for 3 months or so, and now it's phenomenal. My wife and kids didn't like it when I first got it, but now they love it. It pulls compliments from everyone, but I'd love it even if no one noticed bc to me it smells incredible. So, be patient with it. It gets much, much better. It lasts all day on my skin with 8 sprays and projects strongly for 5-6 hours for me.

If I had to describe this fragrance in one word, it would be "piña colada." It is essentially a 1:1 replica of Le Beau Le Parfum. The scent opens with a strong tropical sweetness of pineapple, then smoothly transitions into coconut with hints of tonka bean. After about 8 to 9 hours, it evolves into a rich, skin-like tonka scent. I find this fragrance to be a bit too sweet for extreme heat; it’s best suited for a summer beach night. Out of the box, the performance is underwhelming I could barely get 4 hours of wear. However, after allowing it to macerate, the notes deepen, and the performance improves significantly.

Already left a review of this one awhile back & I like it a lot. Put it on today for the first time in a while because the weather where I live has started getting really warm, and I must say that maturation has made this one even better. It's not a super realistic straight up pineapple scent like Lattafa Qaed Al Fursan but more of a generally fruity slightly coconutty scent with a nice ginger snappiness alongside in the opening. It's quite smooth and creamy but manages to balance the creaminess with freshness and woodiness. It's a fun and lovely warm weather scent that's gotten even better with age!