3
Hanging Gardens
WHAT IT IS
Ancient Babylonian shaving oil with a bouquet of fresh immortelle nearby. Eau Nabati opens with some bergamot and herbaceous pettigrain, giving a spicy fougere-like vibe, then settles into a *superb* green, honey-sweet immortelle. The opening and mid last 4+ hours with noticeable sillage, then dry down into a beautiful amber-woody scent which leans slightly vanilla on my skin by the 8-9hr mark. Even without marketing language about desert gardens, the effect is one of mixing typically "green" notes (bergamot, immortelle) and "blue" notes (palm tree, Peru balsam) to create a deep teal composition... refreshing yet rich, not unlike a blooming oasis in hot desert air.
WHO IT'S FOR
You like Oriental fragrances, but don't want to stray too far into heavy resinous accords or gas the people around you. You want something you can feel good about wearing to work in the morning and still be subtly there at happy hour in the evening. You're likely a guy, but this is absolutely unisex - especially if you love immortelle.
ALTERNATIVES
Dior Dune captures a similar melange of green notes with vanilla accords, though it lacks the spicy opening. Eight & Bob's The Original is a creamy green fougere anchored by amber; there's no immortelle, but the overall effect is similar. Pellegrin's own Eau de Minthe is a minty-geranium barbershop fougere, but sits at the opposite end of the spectrum from Nabati... icy, bracing, and short-lived (though beautiful).
FINAL THOUGHTS
If Eau Rihla's nuclear powered sillage put me off to Diptyque's Middle Eastern fragrances, Nabati brought me back. Some reviews have criticized that Nabati isn't "original enough" for a niche house like Diptyque, but I strongly believe this is one of Pellegrin's most wearable fragrances to date, seamlessly transitioning from day to night, warm to cool, casual to elegant, and striking the right balance of intimate vs loud - I'll take that any day over a piece of art I can't wear!
Ancient Babylonian shaving oil with a bouquet of fresh immortelle nearby. Eau Nabati opens with some bergamot and herbaceous pettigrain, giving a spicy fougere-like vibe, then settles into a *superb* green, honey-sweet immortelle. The opening and mid last 4+ hours with noticeable sillage, then dry down into a beautiful amber-woody scent which leans slightly vanilla on my skin by the 8-9hr mark. Even without marketing language about desert gardens, the effect is one of mixing typically "green" notes (bergamot, immortelle) and "blue" notes (palm tree, Peru balsam) to create a deep teal composition... refreshing yet rich, not unlike a blooming oasis in hot desert air.
WHO IT'S FOR
You like Oriental fragrances, but don't want to stray too far into heavy resinous accords or gas the people around you. You want something you can feel good about wearing to work in the morning and still be subtly there at happy hour in the evening. You're likely a guy, but this is absolutely unisex - especially if you love immortelle.
ALTERNATIVES
Dior Dune captures a similar melange of green notes with vanilla accords, though it lacks the spicy opening. Eight & Bob's The Original is a creamy green fougere anchored by amber; there's no immortelle, but the overall effect is similar. Pellegrin's own Eau de Minthe is a minty-geranium barbershop fougere, but sits at the opposite end of the spectrum from Nabati... icy, bracing, and short-lived (though beautiful).
FINAL THOUGHTS
If Eau Rihla's nuclear powered sillage put me off to Diptyque's Middle Eastern fragrances, Nabati brought me back. Some reviews have criticized that Nabati isn't "original enough" for a niche house like Diptyque, but I strongly believe this is one of Pellegrin's most wearable fragrances to date, seamlessly transitioning from day to night, warm to cool, casual to elegant, and striking the right balance of intimate vs loud - I'll take that any day over a piece of art I can't wear!
Uncrated
