Khaltaat Al Arabia Royal Blends Lattafa / لطافة

If you’re intent on blindly buying this Arabian perfume, do expect something Middle Eastern-style, unlike its twin Royal Delight Silver. This fragrance is fruity, sweet, sticky, spicy, and woody, with a feminine lift on my skin. The almost dominant presence of fruity and amber notes helps the perfume release those traits that we find in Erba Pura and Kirkè Extrait de Parfum, even if I wouldn’t define it as a clone of them. It’s just to give you an idea of the type of fragrance, so creamy, fruity, and salty.

Royal blend announces itself with an alcoholic explosion, immediately followed by a powerful fruity accord, as if we were faced with a mixed fresh fruit salad, with common and tropical fruits, passion fruit, and so forth. Warm, creamy, floral, - fruit and spices, the pineapple is ripe, and the cinnamon adds that sweet touch that we encounter when we taste fresh whipped cream with a generous sprinkling of freshly ground cinnamon on top. Meanwhile, from the base, I immediately get the salty and musky notes of amber and white musk. The opening is straightforward, amber and fruity, with a sensual white floral background.

I get sweet, powdery, and resinous accords in the heart. Let the fragrance develop, and after a handful of minutes, the spiciness of the cinnamon amplifies with a kind of clove-like aroma from the eugenol ingredient. Meanwhile, the salty and smooth amber comes through. Deep in the background, I catch a sort of nuttiness, creamy, milky, and not bitter at all, more akin to hazelnut than almond, with a coconut slant. Besides, the resins come from benzoin, maybe myrrh, and other ointments that recall the places where spiritual massages are given. Royal Blends offers even a floral facet, with a perceivable note of heady jasmine. Perfectly balancing femininity and masculinity, jasmine emits an unmistakably powerful floral and fruity scent.

And then there is another change. The drydown abandons the initial fruity blast, to reveal a trail full of powdery and salty nuances. If there is patchouli, this is very tamed and soft. Instead, dusty and vanilla coumarins compete for the stage together with a salty amber with reflections of soft and sweetish white musk.

To wrap up, it is a sort of warm, comfy, and charming, with a balmy feeling. It goes through several stages, and the character is pretty non-linear. Like Royal Delight, the performance is great. It lasts several hours and projects strongly in the first bunch of hours. Despite its dominant sweetness, the perfume should have a good yield in the warmer months, from late spring to late autumn, and will be noticed on summer evenings. Finally, it has that feminine slant on my skin, but I am not saying it is for women only.

These are my impressions based on a bottle I have owned since April 2024.

-Elysium