Aristocrat Ajmal 2017

When I got this sample, I didn't know Ajmal at all. The search for it revealed that it was a former Indian company founded in 1951 by Ajmal Ali. In the mid 1970s, he relocated the company to Dubai. In 2004, according to the company, a lot of money was put into the hand once again in order to create a modern production facility that is oriented to European standards.

Unfortunately, I have to say that this - in a negative sense - also applies to Aristocrat. It is a flat, dull, confusable mainstream substance that one is not used to from Arab countries. The word "fragrance" is difficult to say on my lips or in my keyboard, because Aristocrat doesn't smell. Especially not fruity-citric, it smells rather chemical.

Let's smell it
It begins - according to the fragrance pyramid - with bergamot, watermelon and lime. If there's anything to smell, it's the watermelon. Bergamot and lime elude my nose. Luca Turin has already been critical about watermelon as a central fragrance; but even Givenchy (Insense Ultramarine) and Diptyque (Jardin Clos) got more out of it.

There should be musk in the heart and base note. I don't smell - and I'm not cold at the time I write these lines. The oud has also been so ambitious that I get the impression that it has been placed in the scent pyramid so that Aristocrat can be classified as a scent from the Orient.
Was it, for example, consideration for European noses, which occasionally have problems with oud? Or was it the orientation on the European market and its supposed fragrance preferences to get a foot in the door of the competitive market. But with Aristocrat this won't work. Such a flabby oriental scent has come under my nose so far