Cologne De L'Empereur by AbdesSalaam Attar Profumo

I was expecting something very dry and bitter but this begins suprisingly sweet. As the alcohol burns off there is a brief wonderful candied mixed up accord, mainly floral with a warm neroli, delicate rose and dry lavender all underlined with dusty animalic civet. As this settles after a minute or so, the bergamot rings out clear, more orange than bitter and quite green too. At this point Guerlain's Eau Du Coq springs to mind somewhat for its juxtaposition of the lavender and civet, though this is sweeter, warmer and friendlier. The bergamot coninues to blossom and is joined by a lovely citrus accord with I think contains cedrat and lime. There are sweetish green notes too.

There is now a period where I thought of Creed's Bois de Cedrat. I experience a sheerness and transparency here; it shares the liquid, almost thirst quenching quality of that fragrace. The palpable depth is provided by the fantastic base of civet and maybe a touch of sandalwood? It remains in this balance for quite some time, the citrus and florals fading into the base which endures for many hours. The Guerlainish civet-lavender remains a feature; later on it reminds me more of Mouchoir de Monsieur. The balance of floral notes smells almost plummy at times and really sets this apart.

The overall softness and roundness define this and separate it from those other Eaux and similar fragrances. The layering is suprisingly coherent to me and very well conceived giving me a fascinating insight into how a truly natural version of this, perhaps my favourite fragrance style, works. The citrus oils are not sharp or acidic and overall it suprised me how they blend in and even take more time to come to life that the florals.

The civet endures to keep this fresh and funky at the same time.

Longevity is excellent with the base accord, sillage is on the low side.