Sinbad

Lubin Sinbad is part of the Aristia Collection of 6 releases from 2019 and is definitely among my favorites of the collection, alongside Galaor, a spicy/smooth fragrance of a similar ilk. Sinbad achieves with pepper what Galaor does without: a semi-spicy, semi-sweet, resinous blend that, while having some sharp accents, is a really smooth and highly enjoyable. The key notes are pink pepper, cinnamon, incense, rose, vanilla, benzoin, and sandalwood, with fresher accents of tangerine, bergamot, and orange blossom toward the opening. It feels elegant and classy, a clearly cool-weather-leaning creation that nonetheless could possibly work in some borderline situations, like summer nights, but for me, wholly feels like something I’d mostly enjoy indoors or when it’s cool out. I made a reference to Viktor & Rolf Spicebomb in my review of Galaor and the analogy partly holds true with Sinbad, as well, as they’re all in a similar space of spice and resins, somewhat provocative but overall pretty smooth and uncontroversial, with sweet hints. Overall, Sinbad performs very well and like Galaor, is excellent, and a standout of the line for me. The entire collection is priced at $290 for 100ml, parfum concentration, sold only at select boutiques, including Perfumology, for which all six fragrances are listed as sold out online but should be available if you e-mail the shop. 8 out of 10

The most beautiful perfume I've smelt in the first half of 2025 & I don't think anything is going to top it. Well blended with a slightly citrus opening mixed with the warm spices. After the citruses goes away, you are left with what I can only describe as if you've just came out of a bakery & all the smells of the pastries, bread and coffee have mixed. It smells 'brown', if that's a good way to put it. But not kaka brown, more like sweet chocolatey, with spice from the cinnamon & sandalwood. Performance is great too on my skin. Great sillage and projection. I sprayed it on the back of my hand, went about my day, took 2 showers & I can still smell it slightly. Probably because of the ambroxan as ambroxan lasts forever on my skin, even after everything else is gone, I can sometimes smell only ambroxan, like Vanilla Powder (which was my favourite last year)

Very citrusy, super powdery dusty amber, vanilla and cinnamon jump right at you, but the complexity here is unmatched, its superbly blended. Like a fancy cousin of Akkad!

I was all set to buy a bottle when some sanity kicked in and I purchased a 5 ml decant instead. I’m glad I did!! As it happened, I didn’t enjoy how Sinbad began as there was a note that I just didn’t enjoy and ultimately didn’t love the way it ended, abruptly with not a trace! Regardless of the ambergris that I believe to be the offending note, there was a brief period that Sinbad smelled warm, sweet and spicy... just the way I had imagined it!! Sadly, that joy was fleeting. Of course, I’ll give Sinbad several chances but I know it wasn’t what I had hoped for. I may be disappointed but my pocketbook is sighing with relief ....for a change.

Beautiful oriental fragrance balanced between spicy-floral and balsamic, with delicate orange blossom and rose water notes in the center. A tad sweet, but very successful!