Taif T14 Taif Al-Emarat / طيف الإمارات 2019

I held off purchasing this, waiting for reviews that never came, save one buried way down in the YouTube search results in a foreign language that couldn't be translated. Nevertheless, from what I could gather, it was the person's favorite of the three they reviewed. The lack of notes, a marketing trend from a few years back that thankfully didn't last long, had me wondering if there was more to this, as "oriental notes" is rather ubiquitous and nebulous within the house.

I waited several days to give it a full wearing as temperatures swelled over the 80s here and from sampling it on my hand, it seemed by far the woodiest of the 10 or so Taif Al Emarat fragrances I have and about 10 others I've sampled. To my surprise, it has facets that smell like Arabian Oud's Mukhalat Dewan Al Sharq, which makes sense considering both are amber-oud fragrances. Dewan Al Sharq has a blend of three ouds, Indian, Cambodian and Borneo, whereas Taif T14 has Vietnamese, all in the same ballpark, so to speak. Both have a certain sweetness to them and a fresh spiciness.

Upon giving Taif T14 a full wearing, I was surprised yet again that it didn't come across as dense feeling as a single spray to the back of my hand. This could be from the tendency to small the back of one's hand up close, whereas when it is applied to pulse points, you get more of an aura, which was the case here. It was a bit airier, and the sweetness there from the start. It's here that it also reminded me of a superior version of Halston Man Amber, with a good dose of oud, though my nose also detects some cedar at times (it even has the same gold-plated look of Halston Man Amber.)

The amber isn't thick and chewy but has a resinous feel. Overall, the combination keeps morphing and revealing different smells, including something almost chocolatey in wafts I'm getting from time to time, rather than having distinct phases of development (top, mid, base.) It wouldn't be correct to say it's a linear fragrance when, as Dewan Al Sharq does, it reveals different characteristics from moment to moment while still maintaining an overall impression of the main components of amber and oud.

Overall, this is very well done and a pleasant surprise to wear after sampling it a bit. If you like the idea of an upper-scale Halston Amber Man or have found Dewan Al Sharq too pricey, this may be right up your alley.