Absolutely Dark Zara 2023

I first tested Percival at the airport in the morning, and in the afternoon, I bought Absolutely Dark at Zara. Let me take you along on the trip.
(If you want to go straight to the scent impression, just skip the next 2 paragraphs). :)

Somewhere between Alice in Wonderland and complete overwhelm, I find myself at Antalya Airport, which is almost better organized than some tie perfume shops, and eventually stumble upon Percival. "That smells like shower gel," is my first thought. "Still, there's something to it! For 100 €, I would have bought it immediately," was my second thought. Quickly sprayed on my arm, off to the plane for the Final Call.

Although I have tested an insane number of brilliant niche fragrances, I couldn't get Percival out of my head. Luckily, I still had Absolutely Dark in mind, so I quickly dropped off my suitcase at home and continued my journey to Zara.

In the opening, Absolutely Dark is a pleasantly fresh blue scent that can naturally remind one of shower gel. Mandarin, sea, early hints of wood, and bergamot. In my memory, it's not quite as fresh, but a bit more aquatic than Percival.
The drydown is, for me, the real highlight of Absolutely Dark: cashmere, sandalwood, tonka, and a so subtle rose that you can perceive a floral note, but you don't immediately smell that typically pronounced rose scent. Nevertheless, the citrus-aquatic character remains intact without being overly fresh.
In comparison to "Percival | Parfums de Marly," I would cautiously say there is a 90-95% similarity.
Of course, the Zara scent is a bit more synthetic, yet without a direct niche comparison, one doesn’t think, "Oh, that’s synthetic" - my impression is that the Zara scent comes off as less synthetic than many designer fragrances.

For "a blue scent," the longevity is more than acceptable and lasts on my skin about as long as the blue classics - around 6-7 hours. Scent-wise, the sillage is the real star here: over the mentioned longevity, the sillage is nearly linear and radiates enough to hear, "Oh, you’re wearing a nice fragrance," but not so strong as to become intrusive.

The price is absolute madness. Of course, in a positive sense. Even if the longevity doesn’t turn out as good for someone else as it does for me, you can spray it on happily without having to watch your wallet. Especially the fact that you can get such a brilliant DNA at this price is truly incredible.

The bottle is not a feast for the eyes, but it’s also not as bad as a "Détour Noir | Al Haramain / الحرمين" that immediately screams "Fill me up!" The sprayer serves its purpose, and I am satisfied.

Much more important to me is the gap that this fragrance fills in my collection:
At least for me, blue scents are always the choice when it’s once again, "Oh, what should I wear today?" and the exotics in the collection just somehow don’t fit the day.
Absolutely Dark is unique enough to distinguish itself from its distant, overly popular cousins Y Eau de Parfum and Bleu de Chanel Eau de Parfum without having to compromise on performance.

Anyone passing by a Zara soon should definitely test it!

P.S.: Yes, the name is total nonsense. But since I’m so convinced of the scent, I’ll just cleverly ignore that.