Black II
Widian

AJ Arabia / Widian Black II:

Starts out with a moderate dose of plum (more the skin than the fruit), along with mandarin. Rose steps in very subtly to center stage in just a minute or so, along with a bit of sandalwood to add a smidgen of creamy starchiness, still undergirded by the fruits in the opening. Musk is quite low-key, and there are whiffs of vanilla sweet powderiness seeming to hold the delicate petals of the moderate dark rose.

I can see this working on a man, but I find it to be more suitable for ladies. It ultimately stays steady as a fruity-floral niche scent that is VERY costly; a decant of this is a highly recommended step, so you can assess if this tangy-musky potion would be worth a full bottle.

Death by goo gourmand that smells like an unholy mix of dime a dozen honey-syrup bombs. This kind of thing is wildly popular among a certain demographic as it is all about ‘smelling sweet' in the most literal sense of the phrase. But there's little or no depth to this oversaturated vanilla, just that hopeless feeling of being a bug trapped in something unbearably sticky. There's a tiny dab of fruitiness at the start, but nothing like enough to keep the sheer cloying horror of this stuff at bay. Eeuurgggh.

I am really unsure as to whether I like wearing this or not. It isn't bad at all...in fact, I enjoy smelling it! But as a scent for me to wear...I'm just not convinced we work well together. I also wonder if I'm too much of a girl to pull this powerhouse off.

The bottle and box are large and heavy. The bottle is thick glass, and has "presence". The box is just gorgeous! The cut-work (no doubt done by laser) is really beautiful and the entire presentation feels rather majestic.

The plum is nice, as are the other notes, but I smell more rose and musk, and perhaps some vanilla.

I had difficulty deciding between "thumbs up" and "neutral", but as it did not make me want to scrub it off, and its main fault is being too powerful for me, I can't really say that's the fault of the scent, but rather a personal feeling about how it interacts with me.

Largely the same as Black I (budget Arabic honey-bomb scent) but with an anonymous floral undercurrent that lends it a third dimension. It's still as cloying as everything else done in this style, and the longer it's on, the faster it turns into “exotic snickers bar.” Aside from that, there's not much to say about it. It's a warm but cheap smelling synth-bomb that's loaded with sugary notes and an expected sour synth sandalwood. After 30 minutes, you'd be hard-pressed to tell it apart from something like Raghba Wood Intense. Cheap but expensive.