Shoebox

In the social media, the large and small content creators are overflowing with positive reviews of "Bade'e Al Oud - Oud for Glory | Lattafa / لطافة", so that I myself was on the verge of blindly buying a bottle.

Just good that I briefly came to my senses again and let me first a small bottling here in the souk have sent.

Why? Well, the fragrance itself is actually quite nice. It reminds me of the little, harmless brother of "Ameer Al Oudh Intense Oud | Lattafa / لطافة". A nice woody scent, just without fire. And without oomph.
A bit perceive the car tire smell, which some have already described here. But it evaporates quite quickly. Sweet wood, almost like freshly cut spruce or fir. That's what I perceive mainly.

"A little weak on the chest." was however also my first thought when I sprayed him to test on the back of the hand. But with it a little more suitable for everyday use than the olfactory blend grenade "Ameer Al Oudh Intense Oud | Lattafa / لطافة".

Then this morning I wanted to do the everyday test and sprayed "Bade'e Al Oud - Oud for Glory | Lattafa / لطافة" the first time "so right" on.

Well, a breakfast in the café and a short walk later he was then rushed past. The hype fast train.
He was up close, barely noticeable. Nose blindness? No, because even my girlfriend could hardly smell him.

I had really expected more. Even my cheap drugstore fragrances hold out much longer and are i.d.R. even in the early afternoon still clearly more perceptible than "Bade'e Al Oud - Oud for Glory | Lattafa / لطافة" after just under 2 hours.

Too bad, Lattafa. For this train I book no more ticket.

Rammstein.
The band that a resourceful music editor once labeled "Teutonic metal".
The band that has been with me since my school days.

I remember when my parents bought a satellite dish and I finally got to enjoy MTV, VIVA and VIVA2.
I fervently recorded every episode of "Headbanger's Ballroom" on VHS tape and couldn't help but watch the music videos for "Engel" and "Du riechst so gut" for the first time in my life.

Who could have guessed back then that the band around Till Lindemann would leave such an immense footprint in pop culture?

Fast forward a few decades. You can now fill your entire household with Rammstein memorabilia. From snow globes and doormats to fire barrels, there's nothing you can't buy with the iconic Rammstein logo.

So it's all the more logical that there must also be Rammstein perfume.
I have to admit that I've grown weary of the whole merchandise machinery and avoid buying any band "trinkets" apart from T-shirts.
That's why I've largely ignored the fragrances over the years.

Over time, however, there were more and more voices attesting to the good quality of Rammstein perfumes. And here on Parfumo, too, most of the fragrances came off well. "Kokain Gold" was even described as the best perfume from the "Maison le Rammstein" fragrance house.

So I thought to myself: "Oh come on, you can't go wrong for 30 EUR at Rossmann."

I couldn't either. I liked Cocaine Gold from the very first second.
It starts off smoky, herbaceous and even reminded me a little of "Wow! for Men (Eau de Toilette) | Joop!" at first.
However, the herbaceousness fades very quickly - in contrast to WOW! - very quickly and makes way for a sweet, spicy, warm woody note with a hint of leather.

It's definitely not a fragrance that will please everyone and everything. It's probably too smoky, too edgy, too special for that.
And I probably won't be able to wear it every day either.
But every now and then - maybe at the weekends - I'll put it on and then I'll be a bit of a chubby teenager again, sitting at home with my parents in the living room, drinking Coke and watching "You smell so good" on VHS.

After a first statement shot quickly from the hip, I would now like to use the leisure time I have at the moment to leave a review.

"Wow! for Men (Eau de Toilette) | Joop!" is like a crooked, poorly put together hovel. The wind blows through every corner, the roof leaks and if you turn on the coffee machine, you get a wipe.
But despite the danger to life and limb, we love this ruin in need of renovation. Yes, because despite the flaws, it feels homely. You could almost say cozy.

The inclined reader will now ask: "What do you mean?"
Or perhaps: "Have you lost your mind?"

Well. Definitely the latter! But to address the former:
When I held the amber-colored bottle in my hand for the first time and carelessly sprayed some on the back of my hand, my first reaction was actually "Wow!" . . . "Wow, that's awful!"
It had a green, herbaceous, indefinable smell that immediately awakened my animalistic flight reflexes. Was it the fir balsam? Or the cashmeran? Some notes mingled together to form a somehow strange fragrance association.

But the longer I smelled the fragrance, the longer it developed, the more I liked it.
There was this woody, fresh, slightly floral-spicy something that also had a synthetic touch.
It's so different from what I normally like. Although it has all the things I like.
Maybe that strange familiarity was the reason I bought it. That endearing, offputting otherness.

The junk shop with the label "Wow! for Men (Eau de Toilette) | Joop!" is honestly not a place I want to visit every day. In the long run, it would disturb me, constrict me, repel me.
But every now and then, when I feel like it and am overcome by a kind of nostalgia, I want to go there.
To the place where it smells of herbaceous synthetic wood.

The older generations among us will certainly be familiar with the quote from the headline. Back in 1984, Klaus Lage belted out "a thousand times touched, a thousand times nothing happened" to the mullet-helmeted and permed audience.

But this won't be the ultimate retro chart show and there won't be any Oliver Geissen sitting on a semi-circular sofa.
But what is the author of these lines getting at?

Well, there are fragrances that you have to smell yourself into first. It's work!
Because they deliberately make it difficult. This is sometimes part of the courtship ritual of a new fragrance.
First one or two careful sprays on a strip of paper before carefully applying something to the back of your hand or wrist and then shuffling through the brightly lit aisles of a drugstore or perfumery, lost in thought.
Optionally, the scent is held under the partner's nose at regular intervals with the introductory words "What do you think?".

How does the fragrance develop? Do I like the top note? The heart? The base? Smell it again.
Or take a test strip home and ponder on the couch what occasion and weather the fragrance is suitable for?

All of this... i didn't have any of that with "Ramz Lattafa (Silver) | Lattafa / لطافة".
It immediately went "zoom"!
Sprayed it on my hand, smelled it and I was immediately floating on a pleasant wave of fragrance.
Admittedly, I don't know the "original" that the "Ramz Lattafa (Silver) | Lattafa / لطافة" is supposed to be based on. That's why I don't fall into the tried and tested "that note is missing" and "this note is different".

On its own, it is a beautiful, warm yet fresh fragrance with a slightly oriental twist.
The now tried and tested cocktail of pear, mint, bergamot and lavender is a wonderful aperitif that whets the appetite for the main course with a quartet of vanilla, amber, musk and patchouli, framed by cardamom and sage.

Is it something special? It is for me.
Sure, it's nothing "niche" and not every fragrance has to be for me. Because it's not every day that offers a reason to push a complex, unwieldy keyboard of fragrance compositions and accords in front of you that sends one half of your fellow human beings into ecstasy and the other into horror.

Sometimes it has to be something "simple". And I don't mean that in a negative sense.

In the end, I believe that "Ramz Lattafa (Silver) | Lattafa / لطافة" and I will become very good friends and will "Zoom" even more often.
Finally, without giving it a second thought, I reordered 2 bottles on backup.
Because at a price of EUR 12 for 100 ml, you can't go wrong.

After countless review texts and evaluation videos, I give up exhausted. "This Is Him!" goes blindly and untested into my shopping cart.
After all, it's supposed to be so great! So spicy and woody and somehow different!
Good thing advertising doesn't work for me.

So a few days later, I fish an inconspicuous cardboard box out of a yellow, metal mausoleum of parcels. And when I get home, I finally hold the somewhat crooked bottle in my hands. Curious, I pull off the cap, pause briefly and spray.

Wait a minute! Did the fragrance pyramid even say anything about...?
Too late. Stroboscopes flash before my eyes. Artificial fog wafts through the room, curling and mingling with bluish tobacco smoke.
It's warm and stuffy in the small, poorly lit club.
Between the flashes of light, you can make out black figures on the dance floor, dancing to pounding EBM sounds.
Patchouli... where does the patchouli come from? I rub my eyes in confusion. Something about "This Is Him!" reminds me of that pure, earthy patchouli scent I used to wear in my youth. Incense and pepper must be to blame.
But as quickly as it came, the first association vanishes again.

It's actually not that bad! Spicy, woody, slightly sweet. But there's something else...

Oh no!
Mountains of files. A mountain range of files framing a small, inconspicuous island. A lonely desk with an almost antique-looking typewriter. A demanding yet bored voice booms from somewhere: "We need thirty copies of the budget plans for the next council meeting by tomorrow! And where are the files for the new business park?"
Sandalwood and grapefruit... they remind me of the office. Of shirt-sleeved employees carrying around dog-eared file folders.
But this scene is also just a flash.

Now I'm back at home and poring over the black glass monolith.

Do I like "This Is Him" now?
It gives me associations of patchouli and office fragrance. But only very briefly. Once the first few moments have passed, it is quite pleasant to wear.
Spicy, smoky and dry. But still somewhere fresh and almost alcoholic in its woody and awkward way.

So I like it! It's a good thing that advertising doesn't work for me.