Karus Blu Spice

I was on a Spring vacation in Florida earlier this year and saw this at a beachfront Marshall’s for $30. I’d never heard of it and at the time there was no info for it here on Fragrantica. I like to buy a little fragrance treat to remember a trip so I bought it anyway. Once I cracked the seal and opened the box I was impressed by the packaging and the bottle. It’s a very solid feeling bottle of substantial weight and the bottle’s design and atomizer felt more expensive than what I spent. Sprayed it on me in the car and wasn’t very impressed. Finally found the notes and hoped it would improve with age like most scents from UAE seem to do. Tried it a few times over the summer and it never grew on me. It was coming off as a borderline fresh scent but the spice part was preventing it from feeling like a true “freshie”. Now that Fall is here I tried it again yesterday and it seemed like a very different scent. Clearly the maceration has finally kicked in and the crisp cool air made the bergamot and cinnamon really pop. Woke up this morning and I could still smell it on my skin. I really liked it. Wore it out again today and was stopped in the grocery store and asked about it with compliments. I have over 600 fragrances, mostly niche and high end, but that doesn’t happen to me very often so I was a little surprised by this. I don’t “LOVE” it but I do like it a lot now. It’s nothing like what you’d think a blue bottled scent labeled as “Blu” would be. I have not sampled the LV that others compare it to so I can’t speak on that but it definitely doesn’t smell like anything else I own. I have Scottish and Irish DNA so things often smell different on my skin than on others but I’m surprised to see so few recommend this for Fall and Winter use. It worked fine for Spring and Summer but cooler temps make the spicy cinnamon come alive without smelling like I’ve been baking all day. Highly recommend this one, especially if you see it discounted somewhere. Also, Guaiacwood is listed as a base note elsewhere but not here. It’s definitely in there. 👍🏻

#1566 in my "Tour de Fragrance" Got this as a 2ml sprayette for $4.50 from scentswithsense.com (Other decanters don't carry samples of lower priced fragrance like this. And same day shipping!). I've blind bought several full bottles of Khadlaj scents and ended up liking them, but now we have a source for try before we buy. As it happens, if I had blind bought this I'd have been perfectly happy. God knows I've blind bought multiple fragrance maker's attempts to clone or at least create something similar to Louis Vuitton "Imagination." Al Haramain "Amber Oud Aqua Dubai", Lattafa "Art of Arabia I", Zimaya "Mazaaj", Ard Al Zafaraan's "Saheb Intense", Rasasi "Hawas Kobra", Jo Milano's "Game of Spades Full House", Arabiyat Prestige "Marwa", Paris Corner "North Stag Impressions III", Armaf "Ventana Marine." Even the one's that weren't awful I haven't bothered to wear once since trying them out. But this one's a winner! And I will definitely get this for summer wear My primary complaint about Vuitton "Imagination", besides being the price of a BMW lease payment, has always been the citrus that smells like someone spilled their drink on the beachfront bar the night before. The bartender that closed didn't properly clean and sanitize, leaving it there for the dayshift bartender to cleanup. (as a one time bartender this remains a pet peeve of mine). This Khadlaj scent ups the bergamot to a bright and refreshing level the Louis Vuitton doesn't reach, and the tea note really sets it off for a lemon and Earl Grey tea fan like me. As with most citrics, you'll respray midday. You typically get four hours tops from any citric scent, but since this is $30-40 scent, who cares if you have to reapply at lunch? A definite buy for me. Versatile and inoffensive for any use, but I'd stick to summertime casual, daytime, beach wear. Good Luck and Good Hunting!

Really sparked my Imagination and made me want to get busy and then I thought I need to stock several bottles and start letting them marinate:) Picked this up at TJ Maxx and had never even heard of it, but I must say that I am so happy I added this freshie to my stack. Even during this time of the year I am going to find days to mix this in the rotation, really cool bottle too btw . An mind awakening sort of scent that smells lite fruity and lite sweet, aromatic and fresh and citrusy and not synthetic smelling to me at all. I sprayed alot into my palms and just inhaled it for a few minutes. It immediately moved up into my top 10 if not higher. I think this scent is going to blow up next spring and summer. Very alluring and mysterious even for a fragrance in this profile. One of my U.A.E frags that I just want to smell it when I need some mind stimulation, the other being Khadlaj Epoque Artistique.. the other houses dont have this wow factor that Khadlaj has on some of its scents. They have Heisenburg mixing some of these I think

if you put aside the mindset of "this is an imagination dupe" for a sec and wear this, this is absolute banger on it's own despite of being imagination dupes. comparing with "other dupes", i don't like mazaaj infused where it's punching my nose on initial spray, it smells good afterward, but it doesn't last long if you have a budget get alharamain aqua dubai instead. i don't wear a fragrance that disappear after i stepped out of the door. comparing with essence de blanc, in my nose karus blu spice is "essence de blanc" when it's smoother and didn't smell salty and have a slightly better dry down. as a clone? maybe not the best or closest. as a standalone fragrance? it's a motherfckng BANGER. this last 7hrs+ on my skin and 10hrs+ on my clothes. i'm on tropical country where it constanty hot in here.

I have both Karus Blu Spice and Aqua Dubai and they don't smell alike at all. People who find resemblance in those two fragrances probably never smelled both of them at once. In the opening Aqua is well as name suggest, very watery, soapy, delicate I would say. Only after some minutes you can feel the smell of the fragrance, which indeed keeps on this nature of being somewhat soapy. IT is a good fragrance nonetheless. But getting back to Karus. Blu Spice is way sharp in the opening, being somewhat more spicy and it ain't soapy at all. It always gives me the impression that it has a twist between Imagination and lattafa maahir legacy (probably because of the citrics, or because they use the same quality oils / ingredients). Overall they are both excelent fragrances, but both have it their own way.