Anbar

I recently found four of these ( Misq Begum, Misqaal, Anbar, & Masha ) in Harvey Nicholls for less than half-price. It seems people had just been saying "what's these!?" & not been buying them. And they didn't have testers. So - what do I do in that circumstance? Look them up on here - obviously!. I read between the lines, clock the credentials of the writers, note the variety of reviews (including two from a incorrigable joker who loves to leave it ambiguous whether he actually likes the fragrance under consideration), and find that these have made quite a stir! The reviews for these fragrances make a very different shape from those of say Boss fragrances, the reviews for which seem to be almost entirely people figuring to themselves that they have just broken even, despite having paid very much less than the nominal price for the stuff. No the reviews for these are interesting , to say the least. And that is a good sign on here - so I get all four of them completely blind. And, quite frankly, it's a direct hit! These are four gems. The parts of the reviews I agree with least are those in which some reservation is expressed. At first I thought "not original particularly, though"; but even that idea has been dispelled as I have worn them and distinctions have begun to emerge. And there is the matter of the apparantly very large number of notes in all but one of them ... but doesn't Clive Christian boast that some of theirs contain over two hundred? Basically a stout smokey amber. A fairly typical amber, but one with sufficient distinction that unfolds over time with the wearing. And the smokiness of it is not too prominent - but certainly unmistakable right from the outset.

This is My absolute favourite perfume. Sweet, warm and truly well crafted. I often get compliments with this One. It's sillage is moderate. Longevity not enough. But I like them very strong usually and this is more subtle.

This is a warm, very sweet and sweaty amber for a long time, fermented with tons of fruit and a giant plum in the opening. Sweet and sticky with strong doses of tonka, cinnamon, amber, musk, vanilla. The dry is less acute, more comfortable but my blood sugar is now skyrocketing.

.......when playing a friendly game of "Mr. Me Too" goes wrong. More on that later... When you sniff Anbar, the first thing you'll say is, "This smells like something that I already have." That notion is correct if you're the owner of Farah, Helium or Ambre Narguile. Speaking of Ambre Narguile, this is the "alcohol beverage free" dupe of the Hermessence Juggernaut. It opens with the familiar warm spices(notably cinnamon)atop of tub size amber smoked proportionally for an authentic Arabian sensation. Needless to say, but you WILL crack a smile...several at that. At this particular moment, I feel like I'm getting jumped by a slew of gourmandy things. Luckily for me, I'm a foody scent guy therefore, I don't mind the assault of sweet notes. To a certain degree, this has a powdery accord that I'm liking very much that's closely related to sandalwood(not in the pyramid) as opposed to the listed powdery orris roots. If you like smokey labdanum or smokey balsams in general, you'll definitely appreciate it in this unisex creation. Oddly enough, this is devoid of about 4 of the listed notes(patchouli, carnation, jasmine and cedar). There's an Extrait and Parfum version, maybe there's a difference in notes???? Anyway, where there's a Mr. Me Too, there's suicide profitability. The said fragrances are cheaper in price and offer twice the amount of juice. That's gonna be a competitive hurdle for Mr. Me Too. So while duplicating the scents of success may seem like a good idea, the timely manner of when it was presented to the masses can be problematic. If this was on the market 10yrs ago, this would no doubt be the groundbreaking amber scent for all to imitate. Instead, this will always be viewed as little brother and/or dare I say, 2nd rate to the aforementioned popular scents hence why I think the value of owning Anbar, lies strictly with collecting the entire Tola line. Owning this fragrance alone will qualify your legitimacy as a niche collector. The entire line of Tola fragrances are relatively unknown(for some reason).

I came across Tola on Elements show NYC, very interesting arabian smells in euro style perfumes. Too bad Tola came to the perfume show without samples. Now I cant remember which one I liked.