Khanjar

I own an oud business. This doesn’t strike me as a high quality oud whatsoever. In the entire winter season I’ve owned this I’ve reached for it once maybe. Extremely animalic while you feel the animalics are synthetic. To me this smells like a synthetic amber woody leather saffron bomb. If I was shopping for an “Authentic Oud” perfume I would veer away from this brand tbh. I would consider Ameenah’s higher end range for pure oud oils. Way better than any Bortnikoff et all that I’ve tried. Other stand out candidates would be Oud Seven, Jabal Nour by Arabian Oud, The Night, Alhambra Oud by Monegal, Xerjoff Gao which is pretty close to this but very appealing, Maelsia which is an excellent sweet oud, Sheikh A by Hind Al Oud, Nebulous by BTV and if ur on a budget UAE Oud by Taif Al Emarat. If u like Khanjar’s “style” of oud I would recommend u look for a beautiful Indian Assam, if you like the intensity but want less animalic ferocity South Thailand is a beautiful region to source from and if you prefer a sweeter friendlier Oud Malaysian especially from Subah region or Thai Trat if ur on a budget. This is definitely not for connoisseurs of oud in my opinion. Trying to objective I would say even if u like this it shouldn’t exceed $150-$160. Packaging is nice though. Within the brand Royal Incense formerly known as as Samahram would probably be a top ten incense or even top five much more natural smelling and heads and shoulders above everything else they have released thus far. For those who insist on quantifying perfume: Scent 4/10 can be easily repulsive even here in the middle east. Projection 8-9/10 Packaging 10/10 Value for money $150-160

It starts w strong Indian agarwood note which smells little barnyardy for few minutes, then it mellows down but in between it does surface but the oud is very much prominent during its entire duration. Since the oud is so potent that I do not get any top notes. I do get sometimes nose blind but people around me can smell it. They say its very strong so its not office friendly so spray less This scent is layered so various layers would open according to the weather and skin chemistry. After giving 2 wearing I thought it is very linear oud based perfume but when I went outside in sunny afternoon, the smoky facets started appearing. I could smell the beautiful resins Longevity is amazing especially on clothes because sometimes I dont get any smell when I apply it on my skin I had applied it on my napkin to test it, one day later when I sniffed it, I got very woody slightly smoky smell and I was liking it. I could even smell it on the 2nd day and this time I got very sexy luxurious woody smell, I could get also some green herbal notes along w musk and maybe I guess sandalwood in the background. These supporting notes made it very pleasant. Projection is monstrous, people would smell you before you greet them during the initial 5 hours. This is strictly for those who appreciate agarwood and have some expeience w it. I dont think many people would like it especially women so dont expect compliments.

I’m sad to inform that Khanjar moves aside when winter arrives, because my skin isn’t warm enough for it when the weather is cold. Fortunately, my husband has found it in my collection and whenever the opportunity arises (I don’t see him sneaking up to the bottles 😂 )he wears it, and I can continue to smell Khanjar on his skin throughout the winter. Beloved Khanjar is one of the most beautiful truly dark Ouds in my collection with spicy, resinous, leathery and animalic nuances without being Rose Oud. I love the dry down when Musk, Ambergris, Tonka and Vanilla arise the sensuality and sweetness and I really think it smells attractive and addictive. It’s smoothly blended and it melts on my skin which is not the case with all stronger Oud scents. The floral heart is quite hidden but brings a perfect amount of sophistication and a hint of femininity to the blend. This is not for the faint hearted and I don’t know how many women out there wears it but I adore it regardless. I have a question for you all: What do you think if your other half would wear this kind of scent? Do you prefer to wear it yourself? Or you don’t like it at all? The in-depth review is coming later. Thank you for reading, I hope my review was helpful. I would appreciate a lot if you want to follow me on IG and/or YouTube (English subtitles): @ninamariahperfumes It gives me a lot of motivation to write more.

TLDR: Dark, Mysterious & Masculine with a hint of sweetness Let me start out with the packaging: Very elegantly designed, beatufiul bottle with golden inscription of the perfume name. One of the best atomizers I've sprayed from. The atomizer is pressurized and makes it satisfying on every press. Now the scent: Masterfully blended. It is very hard to pick-out base notes apart from oud,leather & wood. On the initial spray, Khanjar is very Oud forward. Opens wood heavy along with a slight spiciness. After a few minutes, Khanjar starts to dry down to a very complex leather - woody aromatic scent with oud complements. The leather note is very well done where it is very much present but just like the other notes, it isn't overpowering in any way. The darkness of the scent (from oud & wood) is contrasted perfectly with ambers, rose & vanilla that shine in the background, uplifting the scent. When the scent eventually drys down after a very long time, it settles into a woody - warm spicy note. Khanjar is a complex and evolving scent all the way through its life cycle and made with very high quality ingredients! This was the first Niche that was liked by almost everyone I showed it to. The opening might be challenging for a few but it goes away relatively quickly. I would definitely recommend trying out a sample of Khanjar.

Honestly, never loved animalic oud until I met Khanjar, but I can't comment on it much because I'm not a barnyard oud connoisseur. I don't mean to compare them by similarities, although I easily much prefer this one over Oud Ispahan (and I even complained about how funky it got in the drydown). I feel Oud Ispahan, for example, is more structured and sharper, less sweet, while Khanjar is more complex, exciting, and more Middle Eastern oriented. It's quite a complex scent, made into perfection, less about rose, and contains no IsoE junk (no, I'm not bashing Promise), so this is very naturalistic at best while having a thick brick sillage rather than audacious projection. It transforms into a few phases: opens with faecal funky oud, very animalic yet without gross texture (like some others). The unsweetened rose+geranium come into play later. I get some resins, some sweetness (that I don't think is from floral), and spices here and there. Dries down smooth animalic leather and faecal oud which lasts incredibly long. Definitely a bottle worthy.