Widian / AJ Arabia
Widian / AJ Arabia
301 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The raspberry hits like a statement—bold, almost aggressively ripe, with pink pepper CO2 adding a sharp, effervescent bite that borders on medicinal. Bergamot cuts through the sweetness with citric precision, preventing the fruit from devolving into cordial territory whilst creating an oddly compelling tension between lush and austere.
Violet leaf introduces an unexpected coolness, its cucumber-green freshness and subtle bitterness acting as palate cleanser before the leather unfolds. The Ambrofix creates an airy, almost salty-mineral quality that lifts the composition, whilst Virginia cedar adds dry woodiness and the leather itself emerges as soft, lived-in, practically second-skin intimate rather than showy.
What remains is a warm, musky embrace where vanilla and coumarin soften into sweet-hay comfort without losing sophistication. The patchouli provides earthy depth, the leather becomes a whisper rather than a shout, and the entire composition settles close to skin—familiar, comforting, yet still maintaining that memory of the raspberry-leather shock that started everything.
Aswan throws you headfirst into a contradiction: jammy raspberry syrup poured over a broken-in leather jacket, still warm from wear. That opening fruit isn't polite or natural—it's the concentrated, almost medicinal intensity of fresh raspberry coulis meeting the aromatic snap of pink pepper CO2, which adds a fizzing, metallic edge rather than straightforward heat. The bergamot barely registers as citrus; instead, it sharpens the berry into something more dangerous, less dessert-like.
What makes this compelling is how quickly the violet leaf strips away any remaining sweetness. It arrives with its characteristic cucumber-water coolness and slightly bitter, green sap quality, creating an unexpected bridge between fruit and leather. The Ambrofix—that modern ambergris replacement—adds a papery, almost ozonic brightness that keeps the composition from collapsing into heaviness, whilst Virginia cedar provides a dry, pencil-shaving woodiness that supports rather than dominates.
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3.7/5 (297)