Fatena

(Extrait/Nektar version) The 1st time I sampled this I only applied a drop or 2 and was greeted with a lot of saffron, patch, and olibanum; spicy, a bit rough edged in the smokiness, and reminiscent of the style of some Boadicea's I've tried. The 2nd time (with 2 sprays) more of the notes bloomed. This time lots of the same 3 big ingredients but lots of an oilier leather too. This is much manlier than I had hoped, at LEAST unisex if not quite masculine. The oud was 2ndary, a tangy dry hot woody kind of oud. Re: scorpiosheep's comment, it's more the saffron than the oud that may function to 'zap' the nose at 1st. You really have to wait a few mins before inhaling too deeply before it all settles in. Once it settles (15mins?) the oud comes forward more, a dry woody natural sour/tangy oud. Very nice but you definitely have to be into that spicy Arabic style of scent (lots of saffron, that is). Interestingly, it also has almost an inky note to it, as I smelled in their Burqua. Like a freshly penned page of still-drying black ink. Intriguing but I feel it's a bit heavy for me in the spice department.