Teriaq

Wow such an attractive peculiar scent. I expected it to be dusty for awhile and it is by the pink pepper while the honey provides the warmth this scent radiates. The labdanum aids in that too but the honey note always offers a distinct solar syrupy-fluffy almost dusty and aromatic element. I don't get a peppery effect in the opening and early drydown. Its projection is instantly so beautiful, sweet and aromatic from the white flowers and apricot. It has a bit of a soapy vibe here and there, perhaps by the white flowers and rose even tho it's oriental and ambery. It's resinous, and jammy sweet from the caramel - apricot in a youthful way, very candy-like. It's super warm by the labdanum and honey right off the bat, so very solar and thick as in syrupy and dense, I really love that. The labdanum typically provides a resinous, deep, leathery, sun-heated aroma and that's what I'm getting here. It also definitely enhances the leather. It's leaning towards a floral suede feel, but leather is more animalic, smokier not as velvety/powdery soft as suede and I get that rich leather experience here. So it's very leathery, a bit rubbery at first(not obnoxiously tho) but very smooth, deep and animalic. I don't get any tart effect from the rhubarb in the opening, but only its green quality. I also get an almost minty leathery nuance especially at first- perhaps the rhubarb plays tricks with the leathery accords and vetiver. At the later drydown it becomes ambery sour by the rhubarb-musk with the balsamic leathery labdanum so it's an oriental musky, subtly sour, amber scent. This leather amber sour part is quite like La Belle with its vetiver, leather, amber, musk and sour pear, but Teriaq is more dimensional, solar and sweeter, less tart. Both have vanilla sweetness and a dewy floral aroma. La Belle with the bergamot-pear has more fresh, fizzy sour attributes. This is more leathery and bad-ass, almost a unisex flair from the sour ambery musk, yet it features the candied caramel apricot which La Belle lacks being more serious. It stays aromatic by the white flowers. The rose makes it slightly perfumey and heady but it's not dominant. It's also dusty by the pink pepper as I said, for the first 30 mins and that's more prominent when I smell my skin up close, almost like a perfume that's gone bad after years sitting in the sun yet it's so attractive. As far as the woody element, the vetiver is not the dusty kind here or the bright citrusy type - I can tell, otherwise the dusty effect would remain in the drydown. The vetiver is the dark, resinous balsamic type here. As it sits alongside the labdanum-leather, there's a smooth vanilla honeyed leathery woody and smoky effect when I smell my skin up close (not like a fireplace smoke tho). It's not a smoky leathery scent as in burnt tires (nothing like the ambrarome of Police Good Vibes, La Belle's dupe). The drydown is less dusty. The later drydown is all smooth - gradually the pink pepper's dustiness is completely gone, but there's a subtle peppery spice that appears which joins the leathery amber musky-bright scent. It's got a beautiful warm syrupy licorice type of scent to it throughout, especially prominent in the opening and early drydown, and it must stem from the blending of leather, honey, vetiver and the bitter almond. Vetiver can sometimes mimic the dark, earthy roots of black licorice or anise emulating licorice. It's so warm, licorice-like that it reminded me of the licorice note in Lolita Lempicka for a minute (there's vetiver there too). It's also therefore reminiscent of Scandal JPG with the syrupy, solar, dense honey and licorice notes (funny I had forgotten that Scandal has a licorice note), the leathery beeswax and the intense peach sweetness. It has some extra common notes with Scandal: the caramel white flowers and it's got peach instead of apricot, beeswax instead of leather and patchouli instead of the rhubarb here, so Scandal is heavier more pungent but both are in the same league to me - same and similar notes creating a similar type of scent. Teriaq to me is more candy-sweet than La Belle and Scandal. It's like a hybrid of the decadent Scandal and the oriental La Belle. La Belle is more dry ambery, while this stays resinous not as dry. The later drydown as I said is more musky sour with a very subtle bright spice, almost a unisex effect the way Khamrah starts off syrupy, but develops a sour character drenched in amber, but that one is more loud spicy with the fresh patch-like Akigalawood and it has no candy fruity sweetness or the feminine white florals of Teriaq. La Belle follows the same pattern with its ambery sour quality. It's the oriental flair of these scents. Can it be headache inducing as some reviews report? Its ambery sour part can be heady just like La Belle can be, but I love how syrupy sweet it is and so dimensional with depth and different facets unfolding from its heart. In its last stages the sour musky facets retreat allowing the smooth leathery aromatic sweetness to shine again. It's got a Scandal-like syrupy solar-honey thickness to it at the heart which La Belle is missing along with the beautiful licorice-like almond that La Belle lacks. La Belle is a burlesque, leather corset, Jessica Rabbit vibe to me. Teriaq is a sweet yet macho desert cowgirl - she loves snakes like I do. You'll likely find redeeming elements in Teriaq in case the ambery sour musky aspect is too much.

I recently reviewed Teriaq Intense /ترياق, and forgot to mention the bottle is undeniably beautiful, though the design leans bold and kitschy—rather outside my personal taste. This is admittedly my own prejudice: I’ve never been fond of reptiles, and the metal serpent coiled around the cap actively repels me. Still, given that the fragrance is called Antidote, the visual symbolism makes sense within the broader concept. Lattafa Teriaq is a sweet gourmand fragrance built around rich caramel, honey, and vanilla. Its opening, however, may prove challenging. The first fifteen minutes are distinctly disconcerting. Sharp, smoky, almost burnt facets rise immediately to the surface, with burnt caramel and bitter almond forming a slightly acrid, smoky impression. I struggle to detect the apricot listed in the opening—fruity notes often get swallowed by stronger accords, and here the caramelised bitterness dominates my experience. Pink pepper flickers in the background, adding a dry, spicy hum that those familiar with the note will recognise. This is not a straightforward sugar-sweet gourmand; it announces itself with edge and complexity. As the fragrance settles into its heart, an unexpected twist emerges that sets Teriaq apart from its sweeter counterparts. A sour rhubarb note cuts through the richness, introducing a tart, green sharpness that reins in the sweetness. White florals follow, lending a creamy, lightly powdery texture without turning overtly floral. Honey becomes more pronounced at this stage, thick and golden, yet never overwhelming. The peppery bitterness continues to thread through the composition, maintaining an intriguing tension between sweet and sharp. A soft rose note also appears, understated and restrained, adding depth rather than taking centre stage—this is decidedly not a rose-heavy oriental. The balance here is carefully judged, preventing the fragrance from becoming cloying or one-dimensional. The drydown softens further into vanilla, honey, and musk. The smoky, almond-tinged spiciness doesn’t disappear entirely but retreats into the background, now more subdued and rounded. Musk, leather, and labdanum provide quiet structure, tempering the sweetness with a subtle, resinous warmth. That burnt caramel and bitter almond opening gives Teriaq more bite than many sweet fragrances, though it may be off-putting to some during the first half hour. Once past that initial sharpness, the scent develops into something far more wearable and cohesive. Like many Lattafa releases, performance is above average: it lasts a full day on skin, projects confidently for the first few hours, and lingers for days on clothing. I tend to go nose-blind to it fairly quickly, though others continue to notice it long after application. I’ve worn Teriaq comfortably throughout autumn and expect it to work just as well in spring. For colder winter occasions, however, I reach for the Intense flanker—Teriaq itself feels best when its balance of sweetness and bite can breathe. This review is based on a bottle owned since October 2025.

NEW review after 6 months of maceration: From a dislike, to a like/borderline love!😳 Smells like Autumn 🍂 🍁 in a bottle! Uplifting!! You know, one of these cold autumnal sunny days, with the crispy cold breeze! It smells as if you hold an apricot-cinnamon-gingerbread cake while walking on yellow crispy ginko dried leaves going home to eat the cake with a pumpkin cinnamon latte. It's uplifting! It improves my mood instantly 😳🍁🍂🧡🧡🧡⛅ It's dry. Not too sweet, nor too sour, or creamy. Thanks God it's not boozy and it's not peppery anymore! Definitely I smell 0 leather here. (In another batch I smelled a little "soft leather", but it's very pleasant). It's juicy cold apricots with their skin and nectar and cinnamon, a touch of rhubarb, an implied honey 🍯 note for mild sweetness and somehow...cold breeze and sun 😆😂 ☀️ 🍑🍯🧡🍂🍁🧡🧡🧡 LOVE IT!!!! Got a full bottle! 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 I've ordered a TeriaQ Intense, to compare...(Ewww 🤢🤢🤢 the intense smells like an alcoholic grandpa drinking rum.It stinks!!!) P.S.: I don't know if it's reformulated. I've got the samples in Sept 2025 and the leather note is not listed, neither do I smell it. Notes listed in the box of samples: Top: Pink pepper, caramel, bitter almond, apricot Middle: White flowers, rose, rhubarb, honey Base: Vanilla, Musc, vetiver, labdanum No leather. OLD review (before maceration): From a sample. Opening: Hm! Pleasant. Apricots, honey and LOTS of cinnamon & other spices in a granny 'witch who bakes gingerbread' - way. It gets spicier and spicier. I get now the pink pepper, some almonds (not amaretto, neither marzipan; just almonds), a tiny bit of rhubarb (fleeting) and honey (persists and I love it). It gets more complicated. Now the flowers start to appear, but only in the background and they don't last. I still get cinnamon (that's not listed 😅). It's interesting, spicy, autumnal! 🍂🍂🍂 The vanilla and vetiver are in the far far background. On my skin this is a " *Very spicy* honeyed apricots for autumn + some gingerbread sweets" scent, BUT it's too sour for this notes combo. Something doesn't fit well. I'm not gonna buy it. Not for me.

I just received a second bottle of Teriaq. I gifted the first one to a friend because she liked it and it leaned very feminine on my skin—fruity, sweet, with almost no leather. This second bottle is so different that I’m honestly not sure which one, if either, was the odd one out. Was the first bottle a fake? Or is this simply the result of maceration, something that may happen to my new bottle as well? The first bottle wasn’t factory sealed. It had already been opened, with about 10 ml missing. But looked exactly like this one. This one, however, arrived completely new and still wrapped in foil. And what a surprise it is. I love it even more. It’s a creamy caramel, but also powdery-musky composition with beautiful animalic nuances coming from the honey and the leather, yet without becoming overly sweet. The honey doesn’t really bring sweetness; instead, it contributes that warm, slightly animalic facet—if you know what I mean. I can smell the skin of an apricot rather than the fruit itself, along with almond flour! and delicate blossoms. In fact, it feels more spucy-leathery than fruity. Everything is wrapped in a creamy (but not sweet) caramel, but also powdery-musky texture in which the leather is soft, slightly sweet, and incredibly well blended. I am truly impressed. To me, it is unmistakably unisex and perfectly suited to colder months or cool summer evenings. It may not be for everyone because of that subtle animalic character, but it unmistakably bears Quentin Biche’s signature. He creates fragrances with a very distinctive personality, and this is certainly one of them. Despite its origin, it carries absolutely no stereotypical Arabian touch. To my nose, this is a thoroughly European fragrance. Beautiful. Edit: the late dry-down, hours later, is a sweeter caramel with apricots and a vague fine suede leather. This is scent I knew and described below in another review. Now I can explain that probably through maceration process the scent loses the first leathery stage sooner after a few months. Still beautiful

Okay, I usually give a first impressions right away but this one took a bit for me to understand. So I got it out today after it sitting for a few weeks and gave it a test. Imagine this....you have a bowl that you've filled up with apricot, honey & caramel. You sprinkle a little pink pepper & rhubarb over those.....then a few pieces of almonds complete the pile. And lastly you place a swatch of soft leather over it all. The leather is the main and top thing you smell(and does lean a tiny bit masculine) while the scents peaking up from underneath are predominantly sweet & feminine. So you're getting a very unisex scent but overall it's leans slightly more feminine imo. It's very layered & I love it's uniqueness. It will be perfect for fall & spring I think. I'll be back in a few months with a final review after it's had time to develop more. So far, very happy I took a chance with this. :) Fair warning; if you don't like unisex, leather or animalic notes/accords this is probably not for you. Edited to add: Honestly, the longer this sits, the darker the juice gets, the more richly beautiful this fragrance is becoming. The apricot, honey & caramel are really amping up to compete with the leather. They're balancing each other out quite nicely now. But you still most definitely have to be a fan of leather scents. ;) Also want to add that this is very different from La Belle by JPG. They're both sweet but in very different ways. La Belle is pear dominant in a syrupy type of way and it's leather is not that noticeable compared to this one. Le Belle is also more a crowd pleaser and girly. And Teriaq is more unisex and niche like, a more acquired taste imo. I find Teriaq far more interesting.