A few months ago, I stumbled upon Esencia Elixir and we immediately became best friends. This earthy, mossy interpretation of the Aventus DNA perfectly matched my taste at the time and still ranks among my top 3 fragrance profiles. When I came across Hawas Black online and saw the numerous reviews for this scent, I thought to myself: this all sounds somewhat like my favorite Esencia Elixir! But was my initial suspicion justified?
Right off the bat: YES, it was! But let's take it step by step:
Immediately after application, a sticky and highly visible oil film remains on the skin. Classifying it as an EdP is therefore a gross understatement; this is much more of a perfume or even an elixir. One should definitely not overspray it and should apply it cautiously to inconspicuous areas when wearing light clothing. The scent starts with a citrus-fresh top note, dominated by bergamot and grapefruit. I only perceive pineapple faintly, and if at all, it’s not a freshly cut one but rather a somewhat stale pineapple. Relatively quickly, the fragrance shifts into an earthy-mossy direction. Comparisons to Absolu Aventus are completely out of place here - the fruitiness and the "vanilla" are completely absent. In the dry down, a woody-mossy, pleasant base remains.
While the longevity is in the medium to upper range, the sillage can definitely be categorized as "beast mode." We are talking about a room-filling sillage, even after 3-4 hours. Since many other reviewers mentioned that they could hardly perceive the scent after 2 hours, I find it very likely that many noses become quickly scent-blind to this perfume. This is not a major issue, but unfortunately distorts the overall assessment of the fragrance, as it creates the impression that the performance is weak and that one needs to overspray (which would be a big mistake in this case).
Conclusion: To be honest, I am somewhat surprised that not more people have drawn the comparison to "Esencia Elixir | Loewe." Of course, similarities to Hacivat or even Absolu Aventus are recognizable, but the entire scent progression is nearly identical to the Loewe. So, anyone looking for an earthy, mossy interpretation of the Aventus DNA that doesn't hit the budget too hard should definitely check out "Hawas Black / هوس | Rasasi"!
Ah nice, I found the same thing with the Vibrant Leather Elixir from Zara. It's also about 99% identical to the Esencia Elixir. At first, I thought it was inspired by Aventus, but after trying the Esencia on my skin, they were almost identical.
It's crazy how differently we perceive scents; for me, it's the exact opposite. I find the scent progression matches Hacivat 98% (except for the first 5-10 minutes, which are slightly synthetic/medicinal). I think Esencia is a bit mossier and "damp-earthy," if that makes sense.
Yes, it's really interesting how differently scents are perceived. I tested both directly on my skin and noticed hardly any differences, except that the Esencia Elixir starts off a bit "milder" and they only start to align in scent as they develop.
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