HonigBanane

You can smell a certain similarity to the original, but this perfume smells worlds cheaper and has a sillage that is practically non-existent. I have never seen the quality of the ingredients deviate so drastically from the original as here. It really smells like a cheap drugstore deodorant. The notes are so squeaky and shrill, it really burns your nose, and there is no trace of freshness! Instead of clean, it smells stuffy and like stale water, something from an old, unkempt sauna where years of damp sweat have soaked into the wooden benches and produced a kind of putrid note. Honestly, even if the fragrance didn't cost €20, it wouldn't be worth it. I'd rather wear a 2 euro deodorant from a discount store, I get more out of it! Definitely not a recommendation to buy and I would put the similarity to the original at around 60% (maximum).

A stunning amber / fruity fragrance. For me the opening is breathtaking and justifies why you get what you pay for in fragrances of the Picasso caliber. The beautiful sensual musks used in this symphony of a composition are the reason why niche perfumery will always be an art form. After the first hour or so, the tart fruitiness fades away (some) and it slides into a deep, sweet / not dry, powdery scent, with the sweet amber being an obsessive shield that exhilarates everything that blows from its sillage. I really enjoy it and I would go for people with style and class, but not an office environment. A solid 9/10 and a bottle that is certainly worthy in my collection.

If you liked tobacco vanilla, but thought the tobacco was too realistic and strong to be portable, get Herod.

If you liked Back to Black, but thought the honey cherry note was far too sweet and sticky, get Herod.

If you liked Pure Havane, but thought it could use better quality ingredients and better performance, then get Herod.

If you liked Layton but found it a little too spicy for your taste and you prefer something darker and sweeter, get Herod.

Edit: I admit that I've only worn it fully a few times and I've been praised several times, with people asking me to write down what I wore. The full bottle is already on its way.

This fragrance lives loosely around the 12 hours on you and projects strongly for very impressive 5-6 hours at least on my skin

In my opinion the best and most pleasant tobacco scent, of course there are also more complex ones but this one is perfectly balanced.

The idea of exotic vastness is clearly captured in L'Air du Désert Marocain, and this desert narrative was demonstrated as a perfect still life. Au Coeur du Désert zooms in on the same image, so you miss the vastness but get a more intense and intimate image.

The blurred, amber-colored coriander seed humming at its edges is lost. Things are clearer and more distinct, and the focus on the heart allows for more obvious modifications that would be lost in the expansive L'Air. The heart, which is the fragrance in Au Coeur du Désert, gives the desert narrative a drier, much more austere perspective, with firmer, more sustained brushstrokes with more close-up detail. The result is a denser, richer and tighter weave of the exotic carpet.

The most obvious difference: a light and slightly sour citrus note at the top releases and adds momentum, evolving into a piece of patchouli with a wonderful leathery bounce and a spice blend of vetiver, while the Texas cedar note is drawn deeper and yet a cool contrast note offers oriental warmth. The patchouli is heightened in this extract and moves into the pleasantly funky range of burning, wood and rubber. This is imitated with oakmoss and weighed with vanilla. Au Coeur du Désert is a fragrance of slow burning, patiently intense and immediately familiar, but an equally new and transformed scent, able to sit between L'Air du Désert marocaine and yet move away from it. The squiggles are removed and the body remains with a more serious gravity, far less fairy-tale and easily categorized in patchouli leather (see: Patchouli 24 by Le Labo) with all the spicy oriental components one would expect from such a pairing.

It's the same Maghreb desert we all fell in love with. We can still close our eyes and find comfort in the incense-amber wash, but this time we are closer to the earth.

My wife brought me a full bottle of this amazing perfume from the event at Esxence Milano Italy, which she had received as a gift.

Now for compliments... I'm wearing it for the first time and have applied it under the chin, behind the neck and on both wrists... so 4 sprays ... the opening is so uplifting and optimistic that the mood is immediately improved. After a while I am no longer so aware of the scent, but it remains. It doesn't bother me at all ... then after almost 2 full hours I get out of the car and see the neighbour, who is on the balcony on the first floor, about 10 metres away. She asks me: "Oh! You smell so good doing something new? " Well, she knows that we are co-creating fragrances for The Vagabond Prince and she has smelled many versions of our fragrances even before they were released ... I was stunned that she could feel Hacivat from that distance. I said to her: "I wish! This is something new that my wife brought back from Milan." This definitely brings Sillage / Projection to "Monster" level and also the longevity is great. I have a good 8 hours of it before I shower, but I think this scent will follow you easily from morning to night.

Yeah, there's a great pineapple scent and oakmoss, jasmine... it's really divine. I've been wearing it a lot for a while now and I'm pretty confident that this one is a goalkeeper.