Widian / AJ Arabia
Widian / AJ Arabia
131 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Pepper crackles against bright, almost green apple—there's an almost vegetative crispness here that catches you off-guard, neither sweet nor savoury but genuinely novel. The opening feels almost culinary, suggesting something far more restrained than the base notes will ultimately reveal.
The oud emerges with surprising subtlety, its usual leather-tobacco darkness tempered by delicate white blossoms that add a luminous quality without softening the composition's core character. The woody accord fully materialises, warm and encompassing, whilst that creamy, animalic quality builds steadily—the fragrance becomes progressively more sensual and skin-like.
Sandalwood and vanilla create a powdery, almost chalky foundation upon which the musk settles like a second skin, warmly animalic without ever turning soapy. The amber provides gentle sweetness at the very edges, whilst the woody base maintains the scent's sophisticated gravitas to the final hours—intimate, creamy, and faintly mysterious.
Gold I arrives as a masterclass in calculated restraint—a fragrance that refuses to shout despite commanding absolute attention. The opening marriage of crisp apple and black pepper creates an almost savoury topnote that immediately distinguishes itself from the sweeter oud offerings cluttering the market. What makes this truly compelling is how the heart's white blossoms refuse to soften the composition's inherent edge; instead, they act as a translucent veil draped across something deliberately animalic and raw.
This is a fragrance built on tension. The woody accord dominates with an almost architectural precision—sandalwood providing structure whilst the oud introduces something faintly gamey, slightly unsettling. The amber and vanilla base notes don't rush to comfort; rather, they anchor everything with a creamy, almost skin-like warmth that feels more intimate than indulgent. There's a peculiar creaminess here that emerges from the interplay between sandalwood's powdery naturalism and the musk's subtle animalic whisper—it's neither gourmand nor strictly woody, but something altogether more sophisticated.
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3.8/5 (124)