Asad

I just took delivery of Asad yesterday along with another 2022 release by Lattafa called Musamam. They are both "clones" and my first reactions are that they are both incredibly good. I now own 11 Lattafa fragrances and these are in the top 5. Unfortunately, Musamam is not in the Fragrantica database yet so I'll stick a few words about it in this review. Asad is supposed to be a clone of Dior Sauvage Elixir according to the YouTube authorities. Gent's Scents actually dropped a review of Asad yesterday as my bottle was being delivered. I don't know about the Elixir clone thing as I've never smelled the Dior. But Asad does have the Sauvage DNA. However it is very cleaned up, dressed up, and polished compared to Sauvage EDT. I don't get a heavy blast of Ambroxan. It's well blended and pleasing from start to finish. Initial impressions are that this will be very versatile and easy to wear in anything but high heat. But on a cool summer evening, I can see myself wearing this. I wouldn't wear it to the gym or to run errands on a Saturday. But I'd definitely wear this in the office, out to dinner, to a house party, or in a bar. The smell is a little sweet but it's not overdone. There's that Lattafa spice with pepper and something else. But it's definitely NOT your typical Middle Eastern heavy handed spice blast. There are woods in the dry down but it's subtle, not in your face. This is more restrained and definitely feels more like a typical high end Western designer fragrance. Based on one wearing, performance is solid but not beast mode. And I think that is exactly on target for this type of fragrance. You want to be noticed, not clear the room. Initial impression is maybe 7 hours longevity with about 2 hours of good projection. I'm fine with that. Blind buy? I did. And I'm not regretting it at all. I LOVE Asad. Lattafa lists it for $80 so, it's one of their more mainstream offerings. I picked it up for $30 and I may go back for a backup bottle. OK, so the second bottled delivered yesterday was Musamam, a 2022 release. This one is a premium offering from Lattafa. It's an Eau De Parfum. Lattafa lists the price at $150 but I got it from a discounter for about $39. So don;t panic over the list price. So what is Musamam supposed to be cloning? The YouTuber consensus is that this is a clone of the discontinued YSL M7 Oud Absolu by none other than Jacques Cavallier. I have no idea how close it is to M7 Oud Absolu as I've never smelled it. But it smells incredible!!!!! The presentation is over the top. It comes in a large cylinder wrapped in a faux leather snakeskin. The box hinges open on the right side to reveal the bottle sitting in an indentation custom molded for it. The bottle is heavy round clear glass with a dark brown juice inside. The black cap has a gold snake wrapped around it with the head of the snake dropping down onto the glass bottle. The top of the cap is covered in faux snakeskin. Personally, I think the gold snake thing on the cap is a little tacky but at the same time, it's unique and fits the overall presentation they were going for. From a distance, the bottle is an attention grabber. I can see people looking at my collection and immediately asking "What's that". So what's it smell like? Well, I believe this is a copy of a Jacques Cavallier fragrance. It smells incredible!!!!! Very classy, upscale, and refined. Oud is not the star. In fact nothing really stands out as a key note. It's just really well blended into a mixture that keeps me coming back and wanting to smell more because I can't quite tell exactly what I'm smelling. Like the Asad, this has a definite Western high end designer vibe rather than a Middle Eastern oud vibe. It's more subtle and refined than something like Qaa'ed or Raghba wood intense. Don't get me wrong, I love those two scents but for different reasons. Performance is about the same as the Asad. Which makes this a super date night scent. It's actually a little strong for a date night option but definitely not obnoxiously strong. Just mind your number of sprays. People will smell it and it will draw them in. I haven't given it a full wear yet but I'm betting 7-8 hours with 2 hours of projection. This makes 11 Lattafa fragrances for me and as I said earlier, these are in the top 5 but I haven't found a dud yet.

As Dior Sauvage Elixer has become my signature fall and winter fragrance, I had to buy a bottle of asad. There are definitely similarities between the 2. I'd say the first 20 minutes they are super close, but after that there is a clear separation in the road each fragrance takes. Asad, is definitely worth wearing on its own. With elixer being as expensive as it is, asad is a great substitute for everyday wear. But it's not as bright as elixer, doesn't carry the depth that elixer does, and theres a dryness in asad that elixer doesn't have. This is what separates them both and makes elixer a superior fragrance. I have yet to try the Alexandria clone of elixer or the dua clone. And there are a couple more I believe out there. I will eventually try them all, in hopes of finding one that is in fact a 1for1 clone , and is much more inexpensive. But it's likely I will just end up continuing to buy elixer. For 30 bucks for a 3.4oz bottle, you can't go wrong with asad. And to the average person, they wouldn't be able to tell much of a difference. But I would know. I definitely recommend buying asad regardless of if you want a elixer clone or just looking for a good smelling fall/winter scent. Leans more mature, a little more mature than elixer. Longevity and silage are still above average in my opinion. Elixer I get 12+ hours and can smell it in my clothing days later. Asad, I get 9 to 10 hours, and I can still smell it on clothing at least the next day. though the smell is different from elixer. Great top 5 rotation on a budget for fall/winter 1. Asad (sauvage elixer clone) 2.insurrection wild ( pure havane clone) 3. Ajamal evoke gold (Prada l'homme clone) 4. Cremo spice and black vanilla (Viktor & Rolf spicebomb extreme clone) 5. Al haramain amber oud tobacco edition (Tom Ford tobacco vanilla clone) Bonus 2 6. Club de Nuit intense man/ any version (creed aventus clone) 7.bentley intense These are a great 7 fragrances that are great for a starter or cost cutter. All can be bought for 35 bucks or less with acception to the al haramain which runs 45ish bucks.

According to the general consensus, this is supposed to be a clone of Dior Sauvage Elixir. I haven’t smelt Sauvage elixir, though, so I’ll review this one as its own thing. From Lattafa’s website: Top Notes: Black pepper, Pineapple, Tobacco Middle Notes: Coffee, Patchouli, Iris Base Notes: Amber, Vanilla, Dry woods, Benzoin & Labdanum. I seriously don’t know how Lattafa supposedly cloned Sauvage Elixir with whole different and unrelated notes! Makes me think they lie a lot about their notes. I digress... Now, Lattafa Asad opens up with a warm spicy accord, some dose of sweetness and a great amount of lavender. As it begins to develop, it gets sweeter and sweeter. I get a slight feel of cinnamon in it. When it starts to dry down, that’s when I get a shadow of the Sauvage DNA—I feel there’s ambroxan in this fragrance. It’s pretty obvious. At a point, it’s asif the sweetness is toned down, and you’re left with a matured, unapologetic dark patchouli and a low dose of Vetiver, mixed with a noticeable woody note. But then again, it becomes sweet. There’s also something in this, that vaguely and briefly reminds me of the baccarat rouge dna(maybe it’s the ambergris/ambroxan?) On the deep dry down, it starts to mellow down into this kind of smokey and creamy sweetness with a very noticeable Amber accord. This fragrance transitions so well, from sweet-spicy to woody, back to sweet, with lavender anchoring the whole sequence. Lattafa Asad has quickly moved to being one of the tops on my list. It would comfortably make my ‘Top 5 fragrances in my collection’ list, currently. The scent is massively addictive. Longevity on Asad is superb. I got 8hrs on my first wearing. Subsequently, I started to get 10hrs+ with a great amount of projection/silage. No issues with longevity here. PS- To me, fragrance reviews are ‘fantasies’, as one can’t actually describe a smell to be fully understandable to the public. You’ll need to actually smell the fragrance to get the complete picture and grasp the ‘reality’ of the composition. Thanks for reading. 🙏🏽 Instagram: @wizprince__

Lattafa Asad quickly became a phenomenon in the world of equivalent perfumery, earning a reputation as the best "dupe" (cheap alternative) to Dior's Sauvage Elixir. Asad is a warm, spicy perfume with a masculine but largely unisex imprint, characterized by a complex evolution: The Opening (Energetic and Spicy): The black pepper immediately hits the senses, but is softened by a pineapple note which is not "tropical" in the classic sense, but rather serves to give a juicy boost to the dry tobacco. The Heart (Dark and Dusty): Patchouli and coffee create a dense, earthy texture. The iris doesn't make the scent "soapy" (Prada style), but adds a velvety softness that balances the strong spices. The Base (Sweet and Enveloping): The base is where the perfume shines for durability. Vanilla and amber create a sweet-resinous trail, while the dry wood maintains the virile character until the end of the olfactory experience. It has a strong character, ideal for not going unnoticed. Although they are very similar, Asad has some differences. Less "Licorice": Compared to Dior's Elixir, Asad is less pungent and doesn't have that strong licorice note. The Base (Sweet and Enveloping): The base is where the perfume shines for durability. Vanilla and amber create a sweet-resinous trail, while the dry wood maintains the virile character until the end of the olfactory experience. It has a strong character, ideal for not going unnoticed. Although they are very similar, Asad has some differences. Less "Licorice": Compared to Dior's Elixir, Asad is less pungent and doesn't have that strong licorice note. Sweeter: The presence of vanilla and pineapple makes it slightly friendlier and less "aggressive" than the original. Value for money: It's unbeatable. For a fraction of the price of Dior, you get a scent that is identical to the untrained nose.

I have worn both Sauvage Elixir and Asad, and I can say without hesitation that they are absurdly close. The second you smell Sauvage Elixir, Asad immediately comes to mind. The sharp spices, the dark masculine backbone, the rich slightly sweet smoky vibe, it is all there. I did not wear them side by side, but honestly, if two people walked past me wearing them, I would have absolutely no clue which one was which. Even if I awkwardly stopped them in public and leaned in like some sort of fragrance detective, I would still probably guess wrong. I genuinely cannot stress enough how close these are. Buying Sauvage Elixir at current Dior prices feels like willingly donating money to a luxury marketing department for the privilege of owning a magnetic cap and a fancy logo. And before the Dior defence force arrives with pitchforks, yes, technically Dior’s version is slightly better to my nose. It is blended a tiny bit smoother, a little less sweet and just slightly more refined. But we are talking microscopic differences here. Not “spend an extra £200” differences. More like “the chef added one extra grain of salt” differences 😂 Seriously, they are easily 95% similar in my opinion. At a certain point you have to stop and ask yourself whether the Dior badge is really worth the price of an entire second fragrance collection. So honestly, unless you are absolutely loaded, just buy Asad. It smells fantastic, performs brilliantly and you get basically the exact same experience without allowing Dior to conduct experimental financial warfare on your bank account. Frankly, I encourage people to buy Asad out of principle at this point, purely to teach Dior a lesson in economics and sensible pricing 😂