Hamdani

This one is such an underrated gem. And I am glad to have found out about it. This one has nothing to do with the aesthetics of the house, it's original, not mass-appealing, very complex, bold, and unapologetic. I find it to be utterly seductive and alluring but I can see why many find this repulsive. First of all, there are no animalic musks or synthetic oud accords in here. However, there are two phases of this perfume that could be challenging for many. This one is a very complex perfume that changes a lot after application, so, do test it on the skin, and do wait for it to transform. The first part, is a weird combination of very dry woods, a powerful clove punch(very mentholated), gummy resins, and a hint of honey. This first part almost has like an antiseptic or shoe-polish vibe from the cloves, and it can be offputting. It's not my favorite part, but I find it to be very intriguing. Soon after this assaulting opening, the leather accord and the incense accord start to creep in and slowly assert themselves as the main players. The cloves dial down, and you start to get this beautiful brown leather, quite rugged, almost baked in the sun, that also has a buttery and salty quality to it. It feels alive and does smell of horses and stables. To that, you add a beautiful incense accord, creating this dirty and smoky leather feel. In the base, the styrax adds a hint of dirtiness, sweetness, and oriental mysticism. As I said, very complex perfume. This one does pay tribute to the two beautiful stallions on the front of the bottle, as it does smell like being around these beautiful and majestic creatures. I would say, if you are a fan of the house, stay away from this. If, however, you like to explore and expand your horizons, and you are into smoky-dirty leathers, orientals, and animalic perfumes, and you find the house laughable, boring, and commercial, then this one is not to be missed. It's quite unique, I can't compare it to anything else, but it is in the same league as Tauer's L'Oudh, Afrika Olifant, Tom ford's London, Dior's Leather Oud (OG). A gorgeous perfume.

Today I acquired a full 125ml bottle of Hamdani. To be honest I never thought I will force myself to put a penny on Hamdani. Those who know this frag know exactly how it smells. It has to be said that Hamdani may be considered as controversial frag and I understand this statement. I was told that niche fragrances evoke images and memories and this quote may be the best association with Hamdani. The first time I smelled it I was actually shocked! I saw a horse stable, stinky, humid, and some kind of strange horse skin smell. Pure magic. Sadly it was discontinued but I'm not sure when but I can presume why. This is not for everyone. It is not a crowd-pleaser nor a freshie. This is PURE sophistication. I bought it because I find it to be very unique and specific. I love it and hate it at the same time. Chapeau bas for this magnificent creation. + funny story today (17.07.2021). My father got me Hamdani instead (i got it already but he doesn't know) of Habdan xD He was so shocked when I told him he made a mistake cause he knows how Hamdani smells xD I always told him HABDAN, not HAMDANI Haha! He is so lovely! I don't want him to get disappointed, this fantastic mistake was great! I love my dad! <3 + if You wish to know the story, please head up to my review of Habdan.

My husband calls this one “Barnyard Ruckus” It took me awhile to make up my mind about Hamdani. It’s a jet-black, inky and dry scent of leather and vetiver with a stearn face, zero sweetness like black coffee. I had to get used to the papyrus note which, when mixed with vetiver and leather, creates an ominous, poisonous scent that reminds me of the peaty notes in Scottish Whiskey or Profumum Roma’s Fumidus. There is also a soft animalic, barnyard kind of vibe in here that is very apropos with the leather. It creates a picture of a man checking in on the horses in the stable, early evening in his Stubbs&Wootton slippers. It’s definitely a masculine-leaning scent but it’s strange enough to work on the right woman. If you try Hamdani and anything about it leaves you curious, keep trying it and you just may wind up really loving it. It has pieces of other perfumes (Mona DiOrio Cuir, Nishane Afrika Olifant..etc.) but as a whole there is nothing else like it. After wearing it ten to twenty times, I finally fell in love. Dry, sexy, complex leather, vetiver and “oud” (or what smells like an oud accord).

Wow. The beginning is almost like Patchouli from Santa Maria Di Novella, but then after about an hour converts to almost identical scent that has Soul Of The Forest from Maison Martin Margiela. Clearly, no one would guess that just by the ingredients. It is a mystery, but that is also a game-changer for accepting the fragrance as much more approachable and likable. Of course, since it evolves like this this fast, you are here in for a surprise, and it definitely creates a deception. In fact, where it works best is in between the sheets. The initial earthiness, smokiness and harshness gives a way to a more sweet and fruity drydown, but no oversweet bubblegum or sap association. The longevity is for about 6 hours. The applicability has been questioned on several fora and I have to agree. It has a limited use, but in a different sense. For anything dirty, this will suit it well. You can't forget that the perfume is quite addictive and in this way sets the mood. This leaves out almost every everyday situation, yet for the right occasion, it works perfectly.

I love niche houses and have just about every PdM scent and quite a few from Amouage. Throw in the right type and amount of incense and I could see this being made in Oman, although when Pellegrin designed Sunshine Man for Amouage it is much brighter than this frag. IMHO, PDM's frags are either niche designed for mass appeal and we love them (Layton, Herod), or they are pure niche and not for everyone (Kalan)--and the latter IS Hamdani. Took me a couple of times wearing it before it grew on me and I really started liking it, this is how complex oriental fragrances roll. Unabashedly Masculine, strong, and unforgettable--oftentimes with enough animalic that it can nip. If you are the type infatuated with pineapple, 'blue', and just stepped out of the shower smells...turn around, you are in the wrong neighborhood. Definitely a cooler weather frag, would Not typically see guys under thirty-five wearing this. Nothing unisex about this, pure male. Giddyap.

I'm not understanding all the hate for this one. The opening is rough. Real rough. Camphor nightmare. As it dries, though, it's a wonderful leathery wood experience. Light cloves and honey in the background. I occasionally get a whiff of a medicinal tea I've had before (couldn't tell you when or what it was called) but it's comforting. Does this smell like a horse? I dunno. Horses scare me lol. If it does, maybe I should go smell horses and see how we get on. I seriously doubt this is what horses smell like though. Long story short, opening is a big no. mentholated, camphoric horror story. Luckily, on me, this didn't last long and developed into something that really is hard to describe. The other people who liked this did a much better job of describing it. I'm a fan. Now to wear it around people and see what their faces look like when they catch a sniff. Nothing off-putting about the dry down to me. Glad I got it.

I was very curious about this fragrance, because of the reviews. I do like challenging compositions.. and actually it isn’t as challenging as I expected. The opening is pretty heavy and medicinal. I can imagine people don’t like it. I don’t like the opening either. But after a few minutes the sharpness disappears and the honey comes through. At this point it reminds me very much of Mugler pure leather.. can’t believe nobody mentioned that one. This fragrance is elegant, leathery, woody, high quality and interesting! The honey and leather combination does remind me of a horse saddle that has been waxed with a sweet leather wax. I don’t think I am going to wear this a lot, but I definitely going to enjoy it while wearing this. Underrated imo.

I love it warmly, deeply, desperately. Go out of your way to find it, but beware, out of the bottle it's senseless. Let it sit on your skin for at least half a day and discover what a true masterpiece can do for you: it not only changes the way you smell, it changes the way you feel about your own smell. It gets inside of you and lifts you up, takes you places you had forgotten about. And as far as seduction goes, this is not perfume anymore, it's an assault weapon. ;-)

I do not understand all the negative reviews. I just bought an entire bottle of Hamdani today, and I am so happy I did. It is not versatile, no, but definitely wearable. It smells like an old house in the woods and an open fire... all in the best way possible. Quite honestly one of my favourite PDMs. And I tried them all. Fantastic

Last week I had a try on Hamdani and this is the results. Hamdani is a Balsamic and Woody fragrance with a lot of Smoky and leather scent. The Longevity is awesome and the projection is moderate. This perfume is suitable for Fall and Winter at night and in the evening.

Ahhh so leathery, so dry and so NOT sweet. Really good for PDM’s standard, ofcourse this a older release, they would never do something close to this nowadays. A lot of olibanum and leather is what I’m getting mostly. I am not expecting anyone under 30 to love this.

I can smell fresh soil, old antiques, and well worn leather. So earthy and masculine. Smells like a hard day at the farm, then retiring to your old Chesterfield couch with a cigarette. This is absolutely gorgeous. It's going right into my top ten.

Interesting fragrance. First impression - smells like a horse. Literally You get a smell of a horse ! Don't You believe me ? Go smell a horse and come back to Hamdani. Still, a 10/10 fragrance but not my cup of tea.

Once again it took me so long to buy this hidden gem because of the false narrative painted...this is the definition of niche, such a provocative, beautiful scent. I can’t wait to give this a full wearing

I believe it can be very challenging leather fragrance for some people, but for anyone who loves the real leather smell, this will be great perfume. Very animalic manly dark leather scent. I love it

The smell of real aged Cambodian oud 10/10

Immediately reminiscent of Imaginary Authors' A City on Fire to due its main spicy and smoky notes, Hamdani combines the strong incense pair of myrrh and frankincense with leather and smoke to create a dark, masculine creation that is much less sweet than any of the other Parfums de Marly men's fragrances that I've tried previously. It becomes less acidic after the opening, as is generally the case, but apart from that, I don't observe much evolution. When compared to the other frankincense/myrrh-noted fragrance that I tried yesterday (Habdan), Hamdani is a little weaker with respect to projection and longevity but overall still decent for an EDP. Still, I'd be remiss to point out that a very similar fragrance in IA's A City on Fire (that is even more sharply spicy) is stronger and less expensive ($85 for 60ml, contra PDM's stamdard $275 for 100ml), so I'd certainly recommend opting for that in lieu of Hamdani, though there may be some merit in trying both. A useful entry for PDM, but nothing overly special in the realm of spicy/smoky since A City on Fire came out the year following Hamdani (2014 vs. 2013). 6 out of 10

Leather, dry wood from the guaiac and papyrus, a soil/earthiness from the styrax, benzoin and myrrh. Hamdani has an almost medicinal quality from the cloves. I get Vicks Vapo Rub at the opening. Benzoin gives it an incense vibe. Dries down to a smokey wood and leather. To my nose this smells like something old; as Fausto74 said: a vine cellar, medieval abbey, catacombs. Sillage and projection seem good but it only lasted about four hours before becoming soft. Mature, "masculine" and for cooler weather. I would be simultaneously intimidated by and attracted to a woman wearing this. More formal though I'm not sure what occasion this would be good for. It's not traditionally sexy and might smell a little weird to your coworkers. This fragrance is very interesting to me. Ingredient quality is there but it should perform a little better at this price. Hamdani might be a little difficult to wear but sometimes I like smelling difficult to others. Very nice!

Very pungent animalic smell not really what I thought it would be for sure off of the notes. That opening is seriously powerful and pungent I kinda do feel like it smells like a horse not that I really remember how one smells but it takes a little getting used to. The dry down is a much better and tamer leather/ Cambodian oud for sure but heavy on the papyrus that stays close to you it probably won’t offend others unless you go crazy but I feel like at around hour 4 this stuff just disappears at least on me. This is a tough one to wear and appreciate but I feel like Hamdani is definitely one that grows over time on you as you go through it’s nuances at first it’s definitely a turn off but has a charm to it that makes it intriguing. It’s not bottle worthy to me but if you want a middle eastern horse smell this is it, really stands out among PDM.

An approximation of leather rather than super realism; dry woods; a balsamic incense, myrrh element. I smell medicinal cloves and more in the opening an almost menthol, Vick's VapoRub. Something in this scent gives me a tobacco vibe though it's not listed; like when you smell a fresh pack of cigarettes. This is some weird stuff. Masculine, mature and for cooler weather. Your coworkers will think you smell strange. Your sweetie won't find it sexy. Applied from a dauber vial (not the best application method) performance was a little quiet. Lasted fours hours before becoming soft. A very interesting, high quality scent; wear this for yourself. I would be interested to test it's performance from the bottle to decide if the price is fair. Definitely try before you buy but a good scent.