There’s been discussions about the dwindling interaction on this group of late. In the spirit of trying to improve engagement, I have a question: What makes you comment? Me, I generally drop a comment on posts about fragrances that I have some experience in, be that a smell at a counter or a bottle on my shelf. If it’s a scent I’m also excited about trying, I’ll also comment there, basically anything where I can share a personal insight or thought. Or at least I DID when I felt enthused enough to comment here. So… what about you?

Picked this one up about a year ago. A lot of hype was created, as at the time it was a Dubai release. Eventually it trickled down to the rest of us and I jumped on a bottle at full retail. An interesting detail the name “Najim” comes from the Arabic word for “star”, and the fragrance is crafted to capture that warm, golden-amber glow of the Middle Eastern desert at sunset. Or is this Versace trying to take a leaf out of certain Niche world playbooks? Back then It was a struggle for me, Which I mistook for a case of nose blindness. But this just doesn't work well for me. Top notes include mandarin, saffron & cardamon. At its heart, caramel, cedarwood & oud. At the base Indonesian Patchouli Orpur™, Vetiver Orpur™, incense accord, and tonka bean. By all accounts this juice should be rocking. But for me it falls flat. Even with heavy spraying this is a disappointment. It fades off my skin so fast. And yet throughout the day I pick up faint whispers of it in the air around me. This was the one that put me off this house, aside from the old-school l'homme I've lost interest with Versace. Now that Prada have bought over Versace, I don't have much hope for the brand either. My Rating 3/10 Scent 1 Longevity 1 Sillage 1 Would I rebuy?

Arabian Oud is exactly why I don’t like when people throw every Middle Eastern fragrance company into the same bucket. There is a huge difference between a Middle Eastern clone house and a real Middle Eastern luxury fragrance house. Arabian Oud is the latter. If your entire experience with Middle Eastern fragrances is Lattafa, Fragrance World, Paris Corner, Armaf and all of the other clone-heavy brands, Arabian Oud is a completely different conversation. This house has been around since 1982, comes out of Saudi Arabia, and has built its identity around actual Middle Eastern perfumery rather than chasing whatever Creed, Louis Vuitton, Xerjoff or Parfums de Marly released last year. Now, Arabian Oud is also huge, so I wouldn’t call it niche in the small independent sense. To me, the proper category is: Middle Eastern luxury perfumery. And I think that is where they belong. The foundation is still unmistakably Middle Eastern. Oud. Amber. Musk. Rose. Incense. Woods. Resins. Spices. But the important thing is that Arabian Oud doesn’t feel trapped by those materials. They can go traditional, modern, Western-facing, clean, dark, sweet, woody, resinous or polished. That range is what separates them from a lot of houses that basically have one loud woody-amber base and keep changing the top notes. KALEMAT Kalemat is probably one of the best examples of the traditional Arabian Oud identity. Warm amber. Sweet resins. Woods. Musk. That slightly honeyed, glowing Middle Eastern richness. This smells like it actually belongs to the region it comes from. And that matters. A lot of inexpensive Middle Eastern fragrances today are technically made in the Middle East but are designed almost entirely around recreating Western fragrances. Kalemat doesn’t need to pretend to be anything else. It has its own personality. It has richness and depth without turning into one of those cheap, screaming synthetic oud fragrances that people sometimes associate with Middle Eastern perfumery.

Yesterday, I sourced a sample of the latest Creed release (coming soon), Iris Debonair. Today, I wore it. Here are my thoughts. At the open, the iris is strong, smooth, and (interestingly) not at all powdery. There's an airiness to it, but it's resolute and not ephemeral. It's good, it feels natural, and it avoids that cloying lipstick-heavy slant that inhabits other iris-forward scents. This smooth and refined feeling lasts a good hour, in a bubble that feels distinct and assured. It's there, and it's not shy, but it's not slapping everyone in the face. As it develops, it does drop back a fair amount, leaving a cream floral musk that feels intimate but confident. If I'm honest, it drops back a little too much for me; I like a scent to speak its mind for the majority of its lifespan, while this appears to enjoy its own company a little too readily. There's definitely something there at all points in the process, but at times the sillage was so subtle it felt like it'd gone for good... only for a faint breeze of iris to reignite the intrigue. As it finally fades, on six or so hours, I'm unsure if it scratches the itch I was hoping it'd scratch. As an iris scent, it delivers early and delivers well, and it's certainly comfortable in its own skin. But I like a little more swagger for a marquee purchase, or at least I do at this stage of my journey. I liked it, for sure, but it'll take a few other strong wears of this to shift me from a NO to a MAYBE on the full bottle front. Either way, I look forward to further research in the fullness of time.

Out of sheer curiosity, is anyone else bothered by the increased use of an AI chatbot being used here? I’m not sure where I stand on it and would appreciate hearing y’all’s opinion on it. On the one hand, I appreciate the increased engagement, but on the other hand it feels very disingenuous. Like the board is running on AI autopilot and there’s no real interaction. I deal with AI slop on a regular basis and have seen good friends get let go and personally lost opportunities to the use of AI automation in place of human interaction. Let’s keep the comments respectful, but I’d love to hear y’all’s opinions and have some discussion about it. I’d love to hear from @Antonio O. Centeno and his @Antonio Cent team as well. Maybe they can shed some light on if they are using a chatbot and why and address some of the issues we are having.