Top Notes 
Heart Notes 
Base Notes 
04/07/2023
TheBark
17 Reviews
TheBark
3
Can't stop sniffing... such an ethereal scent. Class in a bottle.
This one feels like it came out of left field. The notes are all familiar, but the end result is quite enchanting in a unique way. At first spritz, I thought, "This isn't what I expected." I could smell some light citrus and iris and some sweetness, but after a few minutes, a depth came. Though it remained somewhat ethereal, the lighter, sweet notes hovered over the deeper, earthier notes like a fog a foot or two off the ground. It's never too light or heavy like fog stuck between the warmer earth and cooler air above it.
As typical with Taif Al Emarat, the notes tend to differ depending on where one looks, though these listed here are the same as in the small pamphlet that came with it, except that it also mentioned cherry blossom, which is interesting because there is something here that smells "cherry-like," which turns perhaps almondy-ish later on, which cherry blossoms tend to smell like amongst some other delicate florals. If I had to make a comparison, which would seem almost unforgivable as I don't like the scent, it's as if somebody took Bogart Pour Homme from 2004, the one that supposedly smells like cherry tobacco, and made it with ingredients that cost 1,000 times more and stripped the tonka bean from it.
BPH is, to me, headache-inducing, thick, and a tonka-overload in its base notes. it's heavy and oppressive, screechy and obnoxious, but I can see where some people may get the impressions of both tobacco and cherry. And guess what? It has some of the same notes as GCC: Lavender, Bergamot, floral notes, and perhaps water lily substituted for Lily of the Valley. With GCC, and this was noted on the German-version of the website, which carries different reviews, one person remarked it smells of dry fruits, powdery tobacco, and incense, and I can understand that, though I'd say the tobaccoish accord is more on the dusty side and perhaps the result of lavender and something else, oak moss? (The Taif website, in the narrative above the notes, also lists oud, but who knows.)
In short, this is everything something like Bogart Pour Homme could only dream of being. It's made with much, much, much better quality ingredients and better blending, and there are hints of sour fruits, like cherries, that waft in and out. This isn't heavy like Boadicea the Victorious Bodacious, nor is it all that comparable; rather, it's something of the antithesis in that it's lighter and airier while retaining some depth. To me, this could be worn year-round.
As typical with Taif Al Emarat, the notes tend to differ depending on where one looks, though these listed here are the same as in the small pamphlet that came with it, except that it also mentioned cherry blossom, which is interesting because there is something here that smells "cherry-like," which turns perhaps almondy-ish later on, which cherry blossoms tend to smell like amongst some other delicate florals. If I had to make a comparison, which would seem almost unforgivable as I don't like the scent, it's as if somebody took Bogart Pour Homme from 2004, the one that supposedly smells like cherry tobacco, and made it with ingredients that cost 1,000 times more and stripped the tonka bean from it.
BPH is, to me, headache-inducing, thick, and a tonka-overload in its base notes. it's heavy and oppressive, screechy and obnoxious, but I can see where some people may get the impressions of both tobacco and cherry. And guess what? It has some of the same notes as GCC: Lavender, Bergamot, floral notes, and perhaps water lily substituted for Lily of the Valley. With GCC, and this was noted on the German-version of the website, which carries different reviews, one person remarked it smells of dry fruits, powdery tobacco, and incense, and I can understand that, though I'd say the tobaccoish accord is more on the dusty side and perhaps the result of lavender and something else, oak moss? (The Taif website, in the narrative above the notes, also lists oud, but who knows.)
In short, this is everything something like Bogart Pour Homme could only dream of being. It's made with much, much, much better quality ingredients and better blending, and there are hints of sour fruits, like cherries, that waft in and out. This isn't heavy like Boadicea the Victorious Bodacious, nor is it all that comparable; rather, it's something of the antithesis in that it's lighter and airier while retaining some depth. To me, this could be worn year-round.
