Karagoz

First impression... got this in a triple feature Nishane fragrance haul from Fragrancebuy along with Hacivat and Wulong Cha and delivered by FedEx at 10:49AM this morning. Having Ani, B-612, and Fan Your Flames in my collection, I was really super stoked to get my nose on these. By 11AM, I had 2 sprays of Hacivat on my right wrist & forearm and 2 of Karagoz on my left. Wow. Okay, I get the grape soda vibe people talk about. It’s really prominent and smells of grape soda but slightly less sweet, and a tad more deep. Like if you mixed up grape soda with grape juice, maybe? And it almost feels like the pineapple gives it that zesty pop that adds a quality that makes it that fizzy grape scent a grape soda scent. Well done. So it’s gorgeous right? Yes. Yes, indeed, but... Not so quick. That slightly less sweet grape soda has a dark backdrop underlying it. That almost bo scent some mention? I get that vibe too. There’s this dark skankiness in the backside of this one. It’s like you initially smell it and it’s like woohoo young and carefree grape soda gulping. There’s this delicious, less sweet grape soda on the top that’s draped in the background by this funk, this skankiness. It’s not overwhelming. The patchouli and oud are done ever so right. Tweak that up a little more loudly and no way, no how. It’s like a funk that isn’t so nice of you’re surrounded by just that alone. But with the grape soda, it takes that negative funk and turns it into something that makes your head tilt to the side like a dog and think, “this is kinda bad, but in a good bad kind of way.” Oddly it’s not something that a year or two ago I would have liked, but something now that... I just can’t stop sniffing it. It’s lasted about 11.5-12 hours being able to pick it up now about 4 inches from skin. I got a 50 ml of each and so far I really regret not buying a 100 ml of Hacivat. This one I’m almost there, but I do wonder how often I’ll want to wear this. I mean, if it’s just me at home, absolutely. If life starts to get more normal with social engagements etc... I’m not sure I’d rock this, and definitely not heavily, around others. I love it and can’t stop sniffing it, yet I have this feeling most would be like “aye yo can you take a step or two back?”

Uhh, okay, wow. Wasn’t expecting much from this one, but it really kind of impressed me by how much I could wear it (I’m a teenager for context). Get that grape off rip, with another ripeness that could be identified as pineapple, but I kind of just round it all up to a juicy grape. Also get ambroxan, that I think really rounds out the top. Now, everybody says it’s medicinal, which to be fair, it is. I’m kind of shocked how much they kept this to a minimum with these two accords, although. I haven’t done much research into grape-smelling raw materials, but I know more about pineapple ones, and when in mixing them with another fruity kind of scent, I can imagine that smelling horridly medicinal. I’m not educated enough I suppose, but that’s my take. I do get a little creaminess like 30 minutes-1 hour in from the white floral, but the grape left its mark, and you can smell it through the remainder of the fragrance. Dry down is ambroxan with a darker woody base. Most people are Havivat people, some people really appreciate both, and in my experience online, very, very few people only like Karagoz. I am one of those people. There’s kind of a rebelliousness to this fragrance, where when compared to Hacivat just feels cookie-cutter imo. I went in with big expectations for Hacivat, and none for Karagoz, so maybe that’s why I like this one more. I stand by it though that this is a really well constructed fragrance that Nishane did well on.

This needs a few full wearing to understand what is it really about. I am completely agreed with some of the comments here bringing about this is bright and dark at the same time. That dark herbal woody oud (not skanky/funky at all), green grassy earthy vetiver, dark grape and ambery sweetness balanced out with this beautiful bright neroli, white floral and juicy tart pineapple. The neroli note play a big role in the dry down. Open out with this dark grape, wine like with tart juicy pineapple, then the dark herbal oud together with that green grassy earthy vetiver start to slowly emerged in the middle. On the dry down came this nice neroli together with white floral note. That fruity dark grape and tart pineapple remains throughout the lifetime of the fragrance in the background. Transition happens beautifully here. Might be polarizing scent by most, something to do with that green grassy earthy coupled with the herbal undertone quality. This does not get enough attention, a beautiful unique underhyped release by Nishane. My third Nishane acquisition after Sultan Vetiver and Hacivat. With Nishane, the price you paid and what you get together with it is really worth it in my humble opinion. The bottle presentation, the box, the beautiful postcard and the performance came with the juice. I love this.

I don't understand the rating (3.78) here. This thing deserves 4+! It's just amazing, how good the grape note is that goes along with the drydown.First it gets sweeter and then greener, woodier but still, the sweet and kind of dark grape is there at the front, dominating the scent. It's not overly sweet, just the right amount of sweetness all the way through. I don't think there is anything similar to this beautiful, high quality scent. Very masculine. It's not the typical niche profile, a bit of designer attributes can be found because it's a bit aromatic which is perceivable from the beginning. Still, it's very unique how it's blended. I got this for €100 and for this much money, you get a lot of value. It lasts forever, projects like a monster. I don't see anybody talking about this at all, this is like a hidden gem because Hacivat took the hype train and while it's also very good, Karagoz too deserves the recognition.

This perfume could be perfectly the Evil and more mature brother of aventus. Both share a strong presencié of the pinneaple in them and i can find log of similarities. But at the same time there are Also many differences. Aventus is fresher, brigter, more aquatic, is light suitable for an every day use. However karagoz is darker and much more dense and intense. Where aventus has vanilla or birch, karagoz has oud and vetiver. The green and creamy background of this perfume makes me think a lot if dries van noten by Frederic Malle. It is like this perfume but adding pinnaeple and oud Wood. Despite his dark character, karagoz is a perfume very easy to wear... Fruity and sweet, suitable for every genre or swason, but better for night time. The performance of the perfume is just what i would have expected to be un aventus according to the price. This is, summing Up, a darker aventus with a much better performance!