Eliante

I will hold back on giving a concrete numerical rating, as Cuir Belga remains somewhat indefinable for me.
With some fragrances, you know immediately: "I like this" or "Ugh." With this one, it's not so simple. If I knew the original, I could at least say whether it is a good or bad dupe, but currently, I have to judge it blindly.
Like many dupe fragrances, Cuir Belga needs about 10 minutes to unfold. When I smell from the sprayer, I think more of a feminine scent.

The opening is sweet and somewhat synthetic, or perhaps it is the straw flower. Because just as this flower looks, it also initially smells.
Even though I am not a fan of "floral" descriptions, it fits well here to say that the powder is nestled on leather. The leather remains subtle and in the background, supporting the fragrance so that it doesn't drift too much into the feminine. The vanilla certainly plays its part and makes it pleasant & rounded. In the drydown, Cuir Belga reaches its best phase when the slightly sweet powder settles and beautifully integrates into the soft suede. This combination is simply delicious for me. Vanilla must play a crucial role here. Suede also fits in that it is noticeably soft & gentle, just like the supple texture of the Blue Suede Shoes.

This is not a fragrance that radiates. It is a tame companion, despite the wild leather.
So rather a close-to-skin candidate, but when I look at the values of the original, it seems to behave similarly.

The bottle is beautiful; it would be better if the orange label were also straight on the front. The sprayer is also really good, as is often the case with our Arab fragrance friends. For €20, it's a bang for the buck, as they say.

Now I realize: while I was writing this, I have come to understand that I really like Cuir Belga. I still don't know if I will ultimately keep it.
In conclusion, thank you for reading and...
you must know!

I want to keep it brief.
After testing the most relevant Terre d'Hermes flankers and finding none that I liked, Eau Givrée is the only one I ended up purchasing.

The story between us started, as so often, with a sample. After that, I knew this was going to be something solid.
Once I had paired the fragrance with someone from my close circle, it took a while, but ultimately there was no escaping it, and the scent made its way from the wishlist to my perfume cabinet at a good price.
The opening really smells like real ginger: that herbal sharpness that makes you wonder at first, "Wait, do I want to smell like this? Like a sushi side dish?"

But this somewhat harsh opening quickly settles down, and you have a wonderful fragrance that you can wear in the absolute height of summer without any issues. It is fresh, zesty, and during my second wear, it earned me the coveted fragrance compliment from a woman.

Good fragrances don’t need many notes. Here we have another example.
In conclusion, I want to mention this incredible spray head; it is simply a wet dream for any perfume junkie. You can evenly bathe yourself in the finest mist without any steps. The back of the bottle has the look of frosted glass, so the design is absolutely in harmony with the scent.

I hope I was able to give you a closer look at the fragrance. As always, you have to decide for yourselves.

I couldn't test both at the same time, but shortly after I sold my "Althaïr | Parfums de Marly," the Art of Nature II arrived at my place.
I liked Althair, but not in the way of "I also like it for 150 €."
And that's where the latest Lattafa Pride release came into play, for a fifth of the price in my case.

And what you get for this, I'll reveal right away, is definitely worth it.
I get one or two associations from the scent: primarily a milky cocoa, so to speak metaphorically - two teaspoons of cocoa powder instead of four.
On top of the foam, also figuratively speaking, are cardamom crumbles that you can taste with every sip.
Or the full-bodied, gourmand full milk chocolate with 40% cocoa content and embedded cardamom pieces that give the scent a certain rounded spiciness.

That's basically the scent for me.
With that, everything essential has been said, and I'll spare you the talk of "mm yes, here I smell 10% more orange blossom." Let's not kid ourselves, who is going to distinguish this scent from the original? It's not going to happen.
For the few times I wear the scent in winter each year, this is completely sufficient.
In my opinion, the Althaïr simply isn't worth it anymore, unless you have money to burn, because then you get the prettier bottle from PdM.

The bottle is a thing of its own, as is often the case with the Pride series. But the sprayer is good, and you can see the fill level on the side. So it's not a bad bottle.

You need to know this!

In short: I think Art of Arabia II is a great fragrance.
It starts off refreshing & citrusy, which quickly transforms into THE note of the fragrance. The almond. I have never tested "Pegasus Exclusif | Parfums de Marly," so I can't comment on the similarity between the two.
According to popular opinion, this one is supposed to be darker, woodier, and drier compared to Pegasus... and that is exactly what you get here with AoA II.
The almond is dry, it is woody, and that remains consistent throughout. I don't notice any Oud.
In my eyes, it is very masculine and comes across as relatively elegant. It is well-made and feels authentic, not synthetic. Jasmine and lavender, as well as the woods and vanilla, certainly round off the fragrance in some way, but I don't actively notice these notes.

I tend to say it's more of an evening fragrance, but I also wonder why one shouldn't be able to wear it in the office? It is neither loud nor intrusive and is really pleasantly rounded.
The bottle is heavy, matte black, yet translucent, everything feels very high-quality despite the affordable price. The sprayer is top-notch. The design is certainly debatable; I am not a fan of any "Art of ...," as the design is already questionable.

All in all, what is offered here is super solid. Especially if you are looking for a P. Exclusif clone, you should check out "Art of Arabia II | Lattafa Pride."
Testing might be a bit difficult, whether it is a blind buy candidate... I am unsure and tend to say no.

I hope I could give you a closer look at the fragrance!

You have to know

Wow wow wow, folks...
When I ordered a sample of this, the fragrance had 10 reviews with an average of 8.7. I don't need to mention that this has little significance with so few votes, but still, this juicy green number does look tempting, and since I was on the lookout for a scent similar to Erba Gold, I tested the CDN Oud.
I had already tried the CDNIM Limited Edition and the Urban Man, but these flankers have nothing to do with the Oud. And that Oud in the name doesn't necessarily have to mean much with Arabic fragrance houses, you might already know from the Amber Oud series by Al Haramain.

Now to the scent description. The notes listed here look really promising, harmonious, and delicious, but unfortunately, I noticed little to none of that while testing.
The fragrance consisted, upon spraying, of two components:
a nice fruitiness reminiscent of Erba Pura or Kirke, and unfortunately, an unidentifiable scent that reminded my brain of an industrial plastic in the making, as if you were standing next to the "cauldron" in a chemistry lab.
I don't know if something was wrong with the sample or why no one has mentioned this so far, as no one here has reported such an unpleasant note.
That was certainly not Oud.
I can also rule out that it was just my nose, as I had another person with me during the testing.
At the same time, I had the Shaghaf Oud Ahmar Eau de Parfum on the other hand, which, in contrast, simply appeared pleasantly fruity and rounded.

I eventually had to wash off the fragrance because that disturbing note only slightly diminished. That was probably nothing. Maybe I could balance the image of this fragrance a bit here, as the ratings often shoot up to unforeseen heights at first.

Test it for yourself in the end. Because after all, you need to know!