Risala Special Blend

#1462 in my "Tour de Fragrance" I blind bought this and happy I did. Very much like the Nabeel scents, which mostly run $25-35, like "Al Bashiq", "Asateer", "Crown of Emirates", "Irth", "Maghateer", "Nader", "Ocean." A more familiar comparison would be Armaf's "Nomad the Wanderer" in the same price category. This is a "kitchen sink" fragrance where they've tossed in everything in the fragrance kitchen including the "kitchen sink." Spirit of Dubai's entire "First Generation" series, "Abraj","Ajyal", "Bahar", "Majalis", "Meydan", "Oud", "Rimal", "Roeya", "Turath", all do the same thing, but charge $150-$900 for scents that smell no better and offer no more longevity and sillage than this $16 scent, which has a strong opening, but moderate dry down. Whatever note you might want is in here. Floral, fruity, woody, ambery, it's got it all. Of course with these kitchen sink scents they all smell the same. Nobody could smell them side-by-side and tell you accurately what's different between Nabeel Al Bashiq and Asateer as once you pass fifteen notes it all smells nice, but without any distinction. But that's still worth $16 to most of us. Car pool, elevator, small office safe, unisex, more date wear for men, anyplace wear for women. Absolutely safe blind buy.

I picked this one out with my fiance recently and we both love it on them. They love gourmand fragrances but I kind of hate them and they often give me a headache. This one was a great medium. Sweet without being cloying, floral without being matronly. Totally unisex as well. It smells like we're having a date on a balcony overlooking a desert city. I'm drinking jasmine tea, my fiance is having a glass of horchata. There are fresh flowers on the table and somewhere below us, a woman is smoking a cigar.

I have an attar that says "Risala" and based on the notes, it must be that. On my skin I don't like it much, as it's very heavy and vintage carnation, cloves, thyme, woods... Not my thing. Sweet and very spicy. It's complicated. It doesn't smell bad or unpleasant, though. Update: It has oud 😖 invasive to my nose, and it's the only note in the drydown. I washed my hands 4 times and it's still there. I don't like it. Yes, it's an unpleasant classic oud.

How can it be compared to Safari Extreme, given its completely different notes? How is that possible?