Qaed Al Fursan Untamed

قائد الفرسان

Lattafa 2025

Definitely get the comparison to Najim. Not exactly a 1:1 as most aren’t, but you can pick this up for $16 and at that price point it’s punching WAY above that price point!

Still a beautiful scent, blind buy safe if you like the style, and chances are even if you don’t you might after this one!

I sprayed a lot and noticed that it does project, but the projection is weak. Also, when I first oversprayed it, I smelled an unpleasant scent at the beginning, but after some time the actual fragrance starts to come through.
The scent is beautiful, but I wish it had better performance — especially that nice sweet masculine projection.

Immediately, after spraying this on my skin, I was transported. Not to a place, but to a time. A time when my grandfather was still with us.

He never wore this specific scent, nor Eros Najim, but something like it. I'm immediately brought back to Saturday afternoons where he would walk through our front door, unplanned. "Hello!" his voice would ring out through the house.

I'd hop off the computer or up from my meal to greet him. In his old age, he came to visit us most since we lived close by. He always wore something spicy like this (even when it was far too warm outside for that sort of scent).

I remember playing checkers and bocce. I remember Krispy Kreme donuts with him on Sundays after service, I remember graduating both high school and college with him there. My biggest fan, who I am still the biggest fan of today.

All that to say that this is a mature scent, if it weren't for that scent association, I probably wouldn't wear it, but there is comfort in it. Spicy, sweet, and a touch smoky. Leans more masculine for sure.

Love you Grandpa, perpetuamente.

This one goes after Versace Eros Najim, and I was keen to try it. It is not a complete blind buy, since I have sampled Najim many times, but pulling the trigger on the original was hard because I am not a fan of Versace, yet I am a massive fan of this scent profile. Eros is very fresh, blue, aquatic and citrusy, and Najim adds a tad of woodiness and oud, which is why I like it. Of all the Eros fragrances I sampled, it is the longest lasting, and it is the darkest of the flankers.

The Lattafa version is very similar at first. It has lighter oud and woodiness than the original, but they are still there. It is a fresh, elegant and unapologetic daily driver, darker than the original but one that does not need to be saved for the night time.

After an hour it is a little lighter on the oud and woodiness and more sweet and citrusy. It is not a bad take at all. At best it is about 75 percent of Najim, but you are definitely there, and if you do not own a Najim you might not even notice the difference. It is very affordable, which I am excited about, and I still want to do a full wear test to see how it performs.

Right from the start: Eros Najim is not in the collection, nor as a sample. Therefore, I have no direct comparison here, only to a sample of Eros EDP.
And that's where it starts...I read in the statements something about the Eros DNA. So: I sprayed both directly on my hands and checked.
Indeed, in the first two minutes, the mandarin is what unites them. However, the Qaed is also directly supported by cardamom and cinnamon for more spice, while in Eros EDP, lemon and mint veer towards freshness.

And that's about it. After three or four minutes (admittedly, at around 24 degrees right now), the mandarin is quite far in the background and the similarities to the "classic" Eros DNA are gone, now the Qaed continues on its own.
From the very beginning, there is incense present, giving it an oriental touch without the result becoming heavy or oppressive, remaining rather airy and moderately fresh.
Oh yes: the closer you sniff to the skin, the smokier it gets. It needs a bit of air to breathe.

I'm sitting at the keyboard and it's wafting around my nose from 30cm away. The result is...nice.
I'm lacking a bit of the technical vocabulary, so here’s a picture from my mind. Please, you're welcome:
An evening by the campfire, in mid to late spring or early autumn. Occasionally, the wind carries a bit of smoke over, and someone has come up with the idea of making stick bread and marshmallows. The sweetness of the dough (and the caramelization of the sugar) mixes in, and somewhere near a flower bed, there’s a bowl of fruit salad with a good portion of fresh mandarin.
Later, everyone moves closer to the embers, the smoke increases a bit, the fresh fruits have been consumed, the flowers have fallen asleep, only the one guy with five marshmallows on a stick hasn’t had enough and adds more sugar. Someone fetches warm blankets.

All in all, a lovely scent for spring and autumn. A bit too powerful for summer, perhaps a tad too weak for winter.

The presentation: The packaging is stylish but simple. Horse, name, concentration. The bottle is also stylish, but aaaaand processed according to the price, meaning you can see the "seam" of the mold quite clearly. But that’s okay.
Plus point: Cap with "bouncing magnet".
Minus point: my goodness, they could have squeezed the "Untamed" somewhere too.

In summary, for the price, you really can’t go wrong. The scent is pleasant, doesn’t clash, won’t really upset anyone, but also won’t scare anyone away. You’d like to take a sniff of it every now and then and enjoy it when the wind carries a cloud past.