Alahine

I don't know what led others to fall down the "rabbit-hole of frangrance/antica, but one perfume did it for me: Vallee des Rois by Mira Takla (NOT listed in Fragrantica). It is now in the Osmothèque. I have a few bottles and it is fantastic. It is my "10," my perfect fragrance. I interview for a job? I wear it. I'm crushing on that special someone? I wear it. It's my rabbit-foot, my go-to. It's the one perfume that literally stops people in their tracks, eyes rolled back when they smell it. Longevity is...OMG...three days if you don't bathe, I kid you not. Sillage is not in the "poison realm" but it's present, teasing, whispering, trailing. I threw all my bottles away of other perfume after two weeks of wearing it. That was not a good move in retrospect. But I did. When it was discontinued I found it. But, by the time I had hoarded some of it, I was already trying to reclaim my old loves and find my lost love in new places. Alahine is not a dupe of VDR, but it reminds me of it. It's not exact--not my one true love, but it's awrsome. I found Frgrantica through a member who shared my love, "knit_at_nite" and who directed me to "Chergui" produced by Serge Lutens. I had never heard of the brand, and now I have tested and tried the whole line (I'm an SL fan), and Chergui too comes close in some way. Alahine has many of the juxtaposing elements of floral-citrus lightness with the bergamot (but there is a strange & unpleasant 1 minute "burn off" initially)--and warm woods, musk and resin. It balances beautifully between floral/rose/jasmine and even turberose, and amber, incense spicy qualities (though less incense and spice than VDR). It shares the resinous "honey-floral" sweetness of SL Chergui. Other elements that I pick up NOT in VDR are patch. I had a few whiffs of cumin drift past my nose which puzzled me until I realized the patch used was probably turning that way on my skin. I like patch, and here it is low and quite fine, but again, missing in the VDR. It is an occasional whiff, so for patch/cumin haters, do not be deterred. I do not get as much Ylang as other members. The dry down is considerably more simple than VDR (which is fairly linear actually, maintaining its exact loveliness for hours). It "mainly" results in a low, humming amber /benzoin, musk-vanilla and sandalwood smoothness; that is what wafts up to my nose. But if I smell my wrist, then I get the heart of VDR all flooding back to me again, perhaps ever so slightly less floral. I don't usually score, but I had to considering what the perfume is "up against." Overall: Perfume score: a 9.0--9.5 (out of VDR 10) Longevity: 8.5 Silage: 7.5 A definite try from Teo! Bought an FB and it may be reformulated since it does not smell the same as the sample, which was from PP.

Alahine is my favorite oriental of all time. It is absolutely STUNNING. I have worn Alahine for about 12+ years now and I've never been able to write a review here on Fragrantica. I'm afraid. I can't bear to read other reviews beneath this one in case they are negative. Alahine feels personal to me. She is so gorgeous and perfect in every way. I will probably come back and write something more specific about the notes. For now, I'll say that Alahine isn't really describable in terms of specific notes. The house of Teo Cabanel does a phenomenal work weaving fragrances together that become a living entity, a smell that exists and is a thing of it's own. Due to this it's very difficult to describe Alahine in such a specific manner, such as "this one has amber and labdanum and ylang..." Alahine is a classic floral ambery oriental in the same sort of genre as Coco Chanel. Not similar to Coco, but the same type of Oriental family. Alahine is a warm, shimmering, slightly mentholated, camphorous, savory and balsamic aroma. Alahine is not strictly floral on me and not particularly sweet. Alahine is golden, like molten lava. Alahine smolders. And yet I don't find Alahine heavy. She sashays a dry, airy, oriental spicy dance. She is not sweet, virtually at all. But Alahine is warm, warm, warm golden opulence. I love to say Alahine all drawn out, like Alahiiiiiiiine, in a whisper. :-) Please protect Alahine. PS: I have not tried the newest packaging (with the colorful florals over the gold bottle). I don’t know if this latest packaging is a reformulation. I’m quite nervous. Also the description of Alahine relating to Mexico on the Teo Cabanel website is perplexing to say the least. I’ve been to Mexico numerous times (real Mexico not tourist) and this just doesn’t connect.

I’m beginning to think Jean-Francois Latty has never made a clumsy perfume in his life. This is a seamless, beautiful, amber floral. I don’t like amber florals - usually. Usually they’re clumsy - sweet Amber fighting against the high aromatics of the florals and both losing. Alahine... so smooth. The beautiful, spicy, delicately sweet amber - cherry touched. The cherry makes the jam of the rose smolder, the bare whispers of jasmine and orange flowers lift the edges of the rose into aromatic, exquisite. I’m reminded of Latty’s “Julia.” The same perfect balance of high pitched florals hovering over darker edges, all matched, no screech or rough edges. This is gorgeous. And enough with age-ist coughs at “old lady” or “...classic.” Fragrance has no age. What was All That, the ‘It Girl’ of years ago comes back and is All That again. The point is the fragrance, not the stupid, age-ist, sexist advertising puff flapping around it. Look at the rise and fall of smoky, the bombasts of the rose queen, the Moebius curve of Fruity Floral (in and out, in and out at the same time, never quite out), incense as a river that comes back down as rain. We love what we love when we live it, how it shows itself. Sometimes we move on, sometimes we come back, sometimes a note becomes unwearable, sometimes a scent picks up unbearable associations and is unwearable. Think if the scent you wore when you got roaringly, vomitously drunk over a lost person, of how you can’t stand that smell anymore. There is nothing inherently unacceptable about the scent - it existed before you knew about it and will go on whether you like it or not. The only thing that’s changed is you - it is unacceptable to you but that changes nothing inherent in the scent.

This review is for the edp in gold bottle with blue, fuchsia and orange enamel flowers. First test, into my hot sweaty elbow on a very hot humid day, did not go well. The perfume went very quickly to a sour rose note which stuck around dominating heavily while I waited desperately for the promised drydown. The drydown was pretty powdery amber, but quite faint. I tested again on a cooler evening across my whole forearm and now am in love. The ylang, orange blossom and jasmine are much more prominent, the rose a background note and not sour. The sandalwood effect is very good: in fact, this deeply reminds me of the late lamented original formulation of Samsara. It is not a particularly amber fragrance on me until the late drydown, and in this respect it is a disappointment (I blind bought in hopes of a complex amber scent to fill the amber-shaped space in my wardrobe where I’ve run out of Ambre Sultan). However, now that I’ve forgiven it for what it is not, I am finding Alahine a gorgeous, complex, beautifully blended perfume that is possibly going to fill the Samsara-shaped hole in my heart instead, and in a way that the current Samsara reformulation is unable to do!

Such a beauty, a full-bodied, perfectly-balanced, classic oriental. It is so rare that a perfume impresses me these days. Modern perfumes are frequently so thin and vapid. First my skin was delicately kissed by a melange of tropical flowers, surruptitiously interwoven with the scent of powdered honey. Next, the velvety texture of rose, spice, and benzoin wrapped me up in its arms and made me love it. Alahine lasted +12 most enjoyable hours on me. While I am not on the hunt for a perfume of this sort, I can't resist its charms. I am definitely swooning. What I like about Alahine is that it is not so distinctly Middle Eastern in scent. It is the love child of a classic French perfume and any number of perfumes by Montale. The scent seems very mature (for lack of better words), but there is something in it that is bright and brings vigor. This is not a perfume for clubbing or coffee dates with girlfriends. This is a perfume for a confident and elegant woman who changes with the times and doesn't dwell on yesterday. For young ladies with refined taste for their age, or the perfect gift for one's mother or grandmother.