Accord No 2 Oriental

Zara Accord N°2 Oriental is just too good to be true. Notwithstanding it has been released for women, it's good enough for men, either. Classified as spicy and floral sweet, this scent possesses some dark edges, and the hawthorn blossom exudes that heavy musky fragrance with sexual undertones, which makes the scent manly, confident, and bold. The opening is green and floral with purple rose, herbal geranium leaves, and a tad of the poisonous lily of the valley. There is no citrus note in this overture. hence this perfume is excellent for cold weather. This is the more feminine side of the fragrance, with the floral notes lingering in the background. The heart starts pounding after a while, with nutty tones of walnut, obscure and androgynous whiffs of hawthorn, and gourmand crumbles of pure black Chocolate. Here the Walnut is mildly nutty, musty, phenolic and woody with grain-like nuances, and it blends gracefully together with the cocoa and the hawthorn, the resulting aroma is attractive, deep, and mysterious. This edge of the fragrance is unisex, good enough for both women and men. And finally, here it comes the dry down... It is dry-bitter-sweet, creamy, and woody. There is a bit of amber with its dusty aspect, a bit of the tonka bean sweetness, the dark vanilla creaminess, and the woodiness of the cedar. This is the more masculine side of the fragrance. I've fallen in love with Zara Accord n° 2 Oriental at the very first whiff but did not buy it immediately since I was looking for Accord n° 3 Woody. However, this one is now part of my wardrobe, and I am still in love with it! Both longevity and sillage are moderate, and as I've already said the best seasons are late autumn and winter. C'mon men, don't just dream it, dare it, and do it!

This one can easily pass for a niche perfume. It has a Killian vibe, with weird smoke and incense plus a super strong walnut, followed by distinct chocolate, and a warm background of vanilla and amber. All in all, it smells like cookies, very biscuity and a bit masculine. I was truly surprised by its originality (sorry, but it does not smell like amour nocturne, which i did not like much, anyways) and i found its longevity pretty decent, around 7 hours. It would also make a wonderful room spray, candle etc. Beautiful smell!! edit: its longevity reached 12 hours and its drydown smelled very pretty...! 160

Linear pencilshaver and powder smell with just a tiny bit of powdery dark chocolate and amber trail. To me it smells quite a bit like encre noir femme. Moderate sillage, not something really espectacular. But it s a nice decent to go scent when u want to smell elegant and sophicated without being sexy. A silent but noticeable scent and lasts quite good on hair and cloth. On skin moderate staying power and projection. Gorgeous bottle though.

The scent is very unique, a truly gourmand fragrance. Like cherries and chocolate. Projection and longevity are no good though, about two hours tops. Too bad because I really like it.

Having never had much luck with ZARA fragrance offerings "for man" (there's something in the vast majority of them, some same certain something, that I find headache inducing) I was pleasantly surprised when, on a whim, I thought I'd explore the "for females" selection and came across this. Well, at first, testing in shop, I could swear I could detect something rather smokey... even incense-y... as I see others have mentioned below. Cedar, rose, and dusty herbaceous resins, I thought. Buoyed by this unexpected development and thinking, "Ah, yes: 'Oriental', of course", I sprayed my arms liberally and went about my shopping. 40 minutes later, my forearms not offending, I added it to my purchases. Now I don't know if it was just my nose at the time, or the environment, or the tester. But when I sprayed again at home I thought, "Hang on...". This one is... a chameleon of sorts? At once I do indeed detect something akin to incense.. and then suddenly I find my face in a basket of chocolate chip biscuits! What's going on?? For the price, I can't say I'm annoyed. But this oddly deceptive potion will have to prove itself more than sweet dough, or my nose needs purifying, before I gift it away. The bevelled edge bottle is absolutely lovely, (mine's got a fun, faux jade-like cap) I'll certainly give it that. ★☆☆☆☆