Black I
Widian

Widian / AJ Arabia starts the ball rolling with Black I.

Incense and cardamom mix immediately, with cinnamon sitting somewhere within this sharp pairing. Cypress, sandalwood, and cedar add an incidental subtle sour wood starchiness that sits very low under the bright and tight incense-cardamom-cinnamon trio. Musk tastefully sits atop all of this, adding a sexy touch.

This is an interesting Arabian Nights type of scent feel, very airy and moderately shrill. Smells simpler than it really is, projecting pretty widely and with decent longevity overall.

This is a unisex fragrance in the same vein as Voyage d'Hermes is - matter of fact, Black I (minus the extra smidgen of wood) resembles Vd'H, especially with the dominance of the cardamom.

Smells sophisticated, but I wouldn't pay for full bottle: Decant is a great place to start here!

A volatile "average" soapy-rosey sandalwood. A more than mediocre creation (definitely pleasant but) with not a shred of structure and evolution. This umpteenth "arabian" creation smells delicate and subtle (as the aroma of a bar of soap) on my skin. Super soapy and seriously honeyed but it is not enough. Yes, I detect a sort of Montale's balmy vibe (related to the former house's creamiest, soapiest and spiciest experiments - Mukhallat, Dark Purple, Louban, just to quote several) while I pick up an ostensibly "eastern-arabish" (almost cloudy-volatile) twist a la Guerlain Santal Royal, Heeley Agaewood or Maria Lux Deeply (even if in here the soapiness smells more tangible). Black I is creamy and super cardamomish with a huge dose of soothing cinnamon and saffron lingering on a woody/musky-oriented base. Frankincense is a key reserved "background" element which (combined to musk and sandalwood) determines the general balminess and delicacy. Floral notes (rose, jasmine?), connected to resins and musk, afford a sort of (a la Elie Saab Le Parfum) musky-floral spark (though in this case rooted on a more typically arabic woody-resinous foundation). Any hint of cypress waves under my amateur nose. This juice is unisex but more properly projected towards the glamour femine universe. Dry down is warm, synth in perception and nowadays somewhat generic (Elie Saab Le Parfum, Estee Lauder Modern Muse, JpG Scandal etc, with all the assumed differences). Faint projection and good duration on my decrepit skin.

The note pyramid seems a bit off here. To me this smells like rose accented by cedarwood, cinnamon and clean musk. A touch of incense, but not much. Quite pleasant except for a slightly limp woody Amber synthetic base. I get little or no cardamom, perhaps because cardamom is an opening note that performs better out of a spray, whereas I applied from a dab. But primarily this is a Rose fragrance.

Performance improves depending on the level of application. 0.4ml got me very good performance. But I imagine frugal users or cost-conscious bottle owners will be struggling a bit..

Stunning presentation. Almost worth buying for the presentation alone.

This is the kind of perfume I often find myself longing for – warm, reassuring woods done in an unfussy style with ingredients that fall perfectly into place. Here we have a sappy, just-cut kind of evocation of cedar, tinged with green, paired with a sandalwood that almost brought a tear of joy to my eye, so long has it been since I've come across anything that truly resembles the best of this wood: dry yet buttery, salty-sweet and smooth as satin. There are touches of restrained spice – mainly cardamom which has a natural affinity to woody notes, and an additional musky sweetness in the base to bolster the sandalwood. No baffling complexity, no shock and awe, but oh so satisfying. This is a perfume one doesn't need to think twice about wearing, it would suit almost any mood.
However, three things check my admiration turning into fully-fledged love. One is the painful price point, two, its restrained projection (it just wears too close to the skin and requires generous spraying to boost it a bit), and three, that it is top-loaded, turning into a sweet woody muddle after a couple of hours.

I liked this quite a lot. Must have been the cedar and whatever spices- possibly Labdanum are there. My only concern was a distinct lack of throw. I could only smell it by putting my nose directly on the sample area. Otherwise, a very pleasant, even sassy, spicy scent. And very expensive for such little silage (in a parfum, yet).

This scent (and the line in general) sits somewhere between the inelegant Orientalism of Montale and the lacerating synthetics of ultra-hip lines like Nu-Be. Black I goes on quite Montale (sweet, synthy honey-wood) and then turns a bit dirty (a kind of earthy cedar). There's some rose lurking around, and plenty of dessert-style spices (cinnamon and whatnot). Through it all, though, it's the honey that dominates. All of the Arabic cheapy trappings are present, but it doesn't stand out enough to hold my attention. It's not unpleasant, but it strikes me as a bit of a cut-rate composition that's riding more on clichés. With that said, this is the best of the four that I've tried so far, both in structure and character.