Harridan

Not at all what I expected.

Starts with a burst of sweet plum and tobacco. Develops into a warm, sweet and spicy scent with a hint of gentle cooling mintyness. It’s NOT a realistic, herbacious, barbershop mint - rather, it’s a drop of menthol-y coolness. There is something about this blend of vanilla, cocoa, spices and dried fruits with a minty note that reminds me of gingerbread cookies with mint icing, the ones shaped like teddy bear heads.

If you expected something like "The One for Men (Eau de Parfum) | Dolce & Gabbana" or Jazz Club that is not what you’re getting here. It’s very sweet in a somewhat edible way, tobacco and wood aren’t all that prominent, no amber. Not exactly my taste but it smells fairly unique. It’s cozy. I’ll wear my samples around Christmas but will not be going for a full bottle.

I tend to really like fragrances with notes of sage and vetiver but this one is just... a little uninspired. It smells like something you smelled before, many times before. If we're being kind you could indeed call it "a classic cologne". If we're being direct it smells generic and repetitive.

I will agree that it is both sweet and salty, but I would absolutely not call it candy-like. It's on the fresh side, with a hint of woody shower gel, the type of thing you can wear at any time of the year and a solid choice for the office. It would probably make for a good gift for someone who isn't particularly interested in perfumes.

I have to applaud the longevity, I did two sprays on my wrist at 11 am and I can still smell it clearly at 2 am the next day. The sillage was quite good as well, it actually drowned out the two sprays of By The Fireplace that I had on my other wrist. I'm a bit surprised to see other people didn't get nearly as good longevity, but as folks used to say YMMV.

I believe fragrance enthusiasts and people that already have a few frags in theirs collection can easily pass on this, as it doesn't bring much of a unique experience.

The Musc smells very clean in a way that distinctly belongs to scented cleaning products rather than personal fragrances or even home fragrances.

It starts bafflingly milky and screechy at the same time, then develops into the smell of wet wipes: soft and somewhat creamy, very clean in a way that communicates "this should be used to clean something else" or perhaps even "remember to rinse your hands after use, please keep out of your eyes and away from children". The white musk specifically reminds me of Montblanc Signature, although the whole fragrance is a lot less sweet and less lactonic. In the drydown the scent gets quite metallic, then becomes an unremarkable masculine leaning freshie.

I was really excited about the beeswax note since I love the slightly stinky and sweet beeswax accord that appears in some Serge Lutens fragrances. Sadly here beeswax isn't really discernable.

While I love nearly all fragrances from Essential Parfums I will say this one isn't worth the price for me. You do not need to spend this amount to smell like an easily available cleaning product.

Interestingly enough Teriaq smells more like a latte than most perfumes with coffee listed in their notes. Mix of burned caramel, bitter almond, honey, labdanum and leather notes blends bitterness and sweetness in a way that creates a very reaslistic impression of coffee - or more specifically the taste of coffee, a light, creamy one, with a little too much milk and a little too much sugar, probably sweetened with a pump of some fancy syrup on top of everything else.

The first time I wore it I was very surprised and impressed with it. The notes listed looked like a messy everything burger but the result was a pleasant and realistic coffee gourmand that I didn't expect at all. Unfortunately after a few days the scent started progressively getting more and more tiring to me. It felt like there's constantly a cup of lukewarm oversweetened coffee standing next to me on my desk while I work and it bothered me, at times making my empty stomach churn. I guess in a way this is a testament to how well blended Teriaq is.

Typically I choose to wear very sweet scents only when they are anchored by some stronger woody notes, a tobacco note or perhaps some dry spices. However, at least on my skin Teriaq leans overwhelmingly sweet. The labdanum and vetiver aren't very prominent and the leather note while discreet and elegantly done isn't my favorite. I can't sense any rose or rhubarb either. There's definitely a bit more spice if you spray it on your clothes - but it also smells like you spilled a bit of coffee all over yourself. Overall Teriaq is a pretty cool perfume, but probably not one for me. If you're someone who enjoys spice with moderate sweetness I would recommend trying out "Teriaq Intense /ترياق | Lattafa / لطافة" instead. If you're the kind of person who adds milk and multiple pumps of syrup into your coffee Teriaq is a love letter to you.

I tried Asad Bourbon as a part of Lattafa's Discovery Set vol. 2 and it turned out to be my second favorite, following behind the brilliant "Teriaq Intense /ترياق | Lattafa / لطافة" .

Asad Bourbon starts off strong: spicy, woody and intensly sweet. The dominant notes seem to be vanilla, nutmeg, pleasantly tingling pepper, vetiver and amber. I could swear I smell a hint of sweet tobacco but the listed notes don't include any. The mirabelle plum is discreet and elegant, combining well with equally discreet cocoa and vanilla. The cocoa will come out a bit more in the drydown but still remains somewhat burried under the vanilla. Davana is barely perceptible, if you don't know what it smells like you might simply not notice it.

The sweet notes feel a bit heavy-handed which seems to be the case with all Latafa creations I tried so far. Even so, it lacks the sickening sugary sweetness characterizing "Victoria / فيكتوريا | Lattafa / لطافة" , "The Kingdom for Women / المملكة | Lattafa / لطافة" and "Mayar Cherry Intense / ميار (Eau de Parfum) | Lattafa / لطافة" .

I would say Asad Bourbon is pretty unisex even if masculine leaning. It's a very warm and very sweet scent that doesn't veer into "nauseating" thanks to the balancing pull of woody vetiver and barbershop lavender.

It's comforting, confident and charismatic with a genuine charisma stemming from knowing that he's a great bang for your buck.

Long lasting, although surprisingly the sillage is less powerful than I expected it to be. If you're the kind of person who can find joy in Spicebomb Extreme you will probably enjoy the slightly less atomic and more basic Asad Bourbon as well. If you care for compliments from others this is certainly a compliment getter. (Let's be honest with ourselves, unique niche frags aren't the biggest compliment getters. A random passerby will not praise your artistic rendition of oud, wet earth or leather, they will praise your clean blue freshie and your mass-appealing vanilla bomb.)