Alexandria Fragrances Arabian Horse: The dupe that outdoes the original. And considering that the original is PDM’s Herod, that is saying A LOT, because I LOVE Herod. Herod, like many other great fragrances, has unfortunately dealt with some reformulations that have slightly altered the scent and hurt the longevity quite a bit. Arabian Horse is an Extrait de Parfum, so that’s already a big improvement, performance-wise. They are about 85%-90% similar. But Arabian Horse is denser, more ambery/resinous, and more tobacco-forward. This being my favorite tobacco note in any tobacco fragrance I’ve come across. It’s just sweet enough with a little smokiness while never smelling ashy or like a cigarette, or a night club. It has a nice, dark woodsy base that dries down into something that is absolutely to die for. (If you’re into these types of scents.) It’s warm, cozy, and comforting. I also have to mention that it is superbly blended! Herod is a bit more woody, a bit more spicy, a bit sweeter, and a bit lighter. The use of Iso E Super doesn’t help its longevity issues, as it seems to disappear before it actually does sometimes, due to anosmia. The modern formulation of Herod that I currently have, lasts about 4-5 hours (used to be an easy 8 hour or more fragrance!) Whereas Arabian Horse will get you a solid 8+ hours with solid projection and sillage for about half that time. The skin scent that lingers is an absolutely gorgeous amber, woody combo. I think it’s the slightly bolder use of amber/resinous notes in Arabian Horse that tips the scales in its favor for me, along with performance, of course. It also seems a bit richer, more opulent, and upscale than Herod. Honestly, fragrance houses should be wanting to make their own versions, or dupes of Arabian Horse. That’s how great it is.

One of the types of the fragrance world carriers that actually doesn’t get a lot of love are solids. I’ve not seen a review on solids for a long while. That’s gonna have to be something new for our group to review and I’m just the guy to do it. Coming soon, Nørge Scents. I was asked give feedback and review after wearing it for a week, and I can’t wait to share it with them and you as well. I’ve got three incoming: Nordic Sandalwood, Northern Smoke, & Midnight Mountain.

Cloudy and 15°C, so I decided to pull out some untested winter samples. This is my second fragrance from the house. The first was Oud for Greatness, which I really liked, though I cannot see myself wearing it just yet. It still left a very positive impression of the brand. I actually ordered a sample of Absolute Aphrodisiac but received Side Effect instead. I did not mind the mix-up since I had not tried either. This fragrance has become very popular among teens because a famous streamer wears it. If you search “Duke Dennis cologne”, Side Effect shows up. Anyways this is a super linear and very well blended fragrance in my opinion. The listed notes are rum, tobacco, cinnamon, saffron, sandalwood and hedione. Together they smell like spiced rum candy with a soft vanillic undertone. There also seems to be a plum-like nuance somewhere. I am not sure if that comes from the hedione since I do not remember smelling it before. I really like this one. It is sweet, warm and seductive. At first I thought it smelled like ATH Addicted, but after doing a side by side, it did not. After a few more cap tests, the closest comparisons to me were Monkey Special, Zara Rich Warm Addictive, and from memory something from Kilian in the black bottle line. The dry down is also quite similar to Gris Charnel minus the cardamom. I do pick up a very faint burnt rubber note, but if anything it adds character in a good way. Performance is not the best. For the first 70-90 minutes the projection was solid, around 2-3 feet, then it dropped off quickly. From hour 2/2.5 it becomes almost a skin scent. It has been exactly nine hours now and it sits very close to the skin. The only way to wear this is to overspray. Overall it could be a 10-12 hour fragrance, but about 80% of the time it will stay close to the skin. I have seen many reviews claiming newer batches are heavily nerfed, with only 4-5 hours of performance. My sample is fairly new, so I am not sure what they are referring to. If what I experienced today counts as bad performance, I might start hunting for an older bottle.