Alibaba

Alibaba is interesting. When I first sampled it at Mazzolari, the first thing that caught my attention was that it was similar to Ombre Leather edp by Tom Ford, but the cardamom in it was much more pronounced compared to Ombre Leather. I like citrus scents and Ombre Leather, so I decided to get a bottle. After using it, Alibaba is less citrusy and more floral; hell, I can barely smell the cardamom anymore, so maybe my first impression was just a fluke. Rather, it is more floral compared to Ombre Leather, despite the two having nearly identical notes, with the exception being the use of musk as a base in Alibaba, while Ombre Leather features moss. The floral quality to it makes the scent more playful, and this is added to it by the leather note being "sweeter" compared to the leather note used in Ombre Leather edp, and it took me some time to get used to. The projection is strong but not overbearing, and it lasts for about 8-12 hours on my skin. A gripe with this fragrance is that the bottle is pretty cheap, and Mazzolari can do better presentation-wise. It features a pressurized atomizer, which is nice to see, but the cap is made of cheap plastic and doesn't click into place, making it very easy to pull off. If you get a bottle, don't pick it up by the cap. Overall, it's a good scent that, while nothing ground-breaking in my view, does an interesting twist on strong leather fragrances.