Granada

This starts off with a nice kick from the Pepper, Juniper and I sense a burst of Lavender even though it's not listed, but it subsides quite quickly and a mint accord takes over, and it transitions into a tight performance between what feels to me like Akigalawood that is in Purpose by Amouage, and the Aromatic mint. I t reminds me of Purpose very much, _but_ it's so much more balanced out and rounded. The notes stay tight, similar to the soundstage of New York, but obviously completely different fragrance, it just has that powerful tight feeling of an aura that surrounds you. I like that very much about Widian, how it doesn't kill a room upon entering, but the aura surrounding you remains very potent, but not overwhelming or cloying. This to me is very different from any other Widian I smelled, which again I love about this house, because to me the signature of the house or it's DNA so to say is that very tight, potent soundstage. I say soundstage because it reminds me of a very strong tight orchestra of notes playing, except olfactory rather than auditory, if that makes any sense at all? :) The price point of Widian is pretty high, but its signature DNA kinda justifies the price for me. It has the potency that you'd expect from Amougae, but without burning your nostrils out and you can rely on you having that Aurau or bubble of fragrance, rather than a trail of Sillage, for a good few hours, it's so nice, I don’t get that aura from many other hours/fragrances. I really like this, as I liked New York, the way Middle Eastern Houses akin to Widian, Oman Luxury and Anfas are able to play with notes and accords in a very clever and artistic way, that I feel is very different, not from an olfactory point of view, but more from a perception, mood or feeling. A strong offering from the house. It might not appeal to all, and I rarely say it, but it's more than likely not a safe blind buy, I blind buy all my fragrances, and I'm pretty happy with the outcome. It's not a love, but a strong like, that might over time stray into a love. And like I say it's one of those fragrances that you can rely on, so it's power comes from being slightly unique as well, but I feel Purpose and this share some commonality.

So it opens minty, spicy, juniper and oakmoss. Rose is nowhere to be found, and the cinnamon is not that prevalent to be a standalone note, it’s a backbone, like structure. It does remind me of Geranium Pour Monsieur or Enclave but Granada is way more juniper/oakmoss while both Geranium, and Enclave smell of a grandpa soap or toothpaste which Granada, thankfully, somehow missed. I bet you I do get violet leaf and my bet is they don’t mention it to skip the Fahrenheit comparisons. To all the people saying it smells 100% western? Wouldn’t say so, in my opinion there’s also a lot of white incense here. To me it also smells a lot like you took Cap d’Antibes and made it an extrait and when I found the connection in my brain it felt like an epiphany. I’ll be honest with you, it took me some time to find out what Granada reminds me of but now that I own it and think that Cap is way cheaper, and a 100ml I’m a bit disappointed. If you really smell into it the cinnamon (and I think cardamom in here) mixed with the aromatic spearmint do give off a tiny touch of a mint cola vibe (if you have those in wherever you live). It is also noticeably salty in the base. The mid is vetiver aromatic, clean. There’s also some white florals, jasmine maybe and by this point it becomes delicate - not fully a skin scent, but a very close encounter for sure. After some additional time it becomes a warm amber and stays like that, being a skin scent, for long. This is potent for the first 30mins, but not suffocating. I’d wear it in the summer. It might even work well in winter with that spruce-y minty feel, but it’s not that strong - it might die in the cold. To me it’s noticeably masculine but hey, who will stop you from wearing it? Cmon. Strong projection for 1-3 hours, then moderate with delicate silage. Will last you a workingday, but sits very close after the opening. A bit expensive, I admit, but the whole Widian range is so what did you expect?

First of all I really like these kind of green fresh and earthy scents and it could easily been a love from me, but it's very weak unfortunately. The longevity for this is extremely poor for being an extrait de parfum. Something about my bottle is a little suspect..the notes I can easily distinguish and from what I can remember from sampling it about a year ago I say its legit, but the base of the bottle is uneven so it wobbles a bit. Could it be a fake?

Yet another underwhelming release from Widian. The opening is reminiscent of a softer, less "in your face" version of Amouage Enclave. After about 20 minutes or so, it dries down to a flat scent that reminds me of doctor's office tongue depressors. 3.5/10.

People say Tygar this, Spice & Wood that, I've smelled both and this and I see the similarities but I still disagree. This to me, on my skin (YMMV folks) really comes off like a modernized, fresher take on Halston Z14. I haven't smelled Clive Christian's X, but on the good word of RamseyTheRam and general fragcom, that is often compared to Z14, which would make sense of this DNA I've picked up on. I get pieces of many modern things. The watery citric opening that Hamid Merati-Kashani does so well in things like Pacific Rock Moss, faint traces of some ginger in the opening (I think it's how the juniper berries and cinnamon interact) that makes it smell like a cocktail in a way very reminiscent of how Kilian did Blue Moon Ginger Dash, and the musky almost smoky type of raspberry scent from Tuscan Leather. But the thing I see most similarity to here on my skin, is Halston's Z14. They're by no means the same, Granada is a perfectly unique product as far as I see it, but it's the most similar thing I've smelled to Granada, and trust me man, at $5/ml your boy has been looking... The way that the cinna-moss thing is done here, rounded off with the amber and patchouli, makes me smell similarities I cannot deny. Z14 is like the mature, winterized equivalent of Granada. It's not as modern as Granada, no, but Granada breathes new life into an old DNA that it too carries. The DNA of an old panty-dropping club monster of the late 70's, to be specific. Keep that in mind when wearing Granada, this may have the doors of a house of worship on it's bottle but that honestly does it less justice than taking this on you to the nightclub or even a dive if you're that type, the DNA was made for it. All in all, this one is THE standout best thing I have smelled from the house of Widian/AJ Arabia, I'm hesitant to give a perfect 10 out of 10 to literally anything, but this sucker gets it on one simple basis; when I smell this, I can't possibly conceive of any way or thing that could be done to this to make it any better than I find it already, which doesn't happen often, and as a sort of detail-obsessed perfectionist, is something I can really get behind. Bravo Widian.