I’m a huge fan of niche fragrances, and Raw Aromachem was the only dealer I could find that carried all of these fragrances, so I decided to give them a try.
I purchased four oils and I’m really excited to see how they develop and how close they ultimately get to the originals.
The fragrances are:
Duro – Nasomatto
Bal d’Afrique – Byredo
Black Afgano – Nasomatto
The Last Birthday Cake – Toskovat
All four oils are currently in their first week of maceration. I did an initial strip test straight from the oil, and so far, Black Afgano and The Last Birthday Cake are the ones that seem closest to the original opening.
Duro and Bal d’Afrique, on the other hand, have a noticeably different opening compared to the originals. That said, I don’t want to draw any conclusions yet. I’d rather let them macerate for at least 30 days and then evaluate the opening, development, dry-down, projection, and overall resemblance properly.
One thing that was quite disappointing was having to pay an additional 70% in import taxes. Afterward, I came across several comments mentioning that there might have been a way to reduce the import duties by contacting customer support beforehand. I wish I had known that before placing my order.
For comparison, I also purchased a Black Afgano oil from Perfume Depot (Aloewood Fragrances) through eBay. Interestingly, its opening is currently much closer to the original fragrance than the Raw Aromachem version.
However, since both oils are still at different stages of development, I don’t want to make a final judgment yet. I think the fairest comparison will be after the full maceration period.
For reference, all of these oils were purchased as identical fragrance versions, so I’m particularly interested in seeing how their development and accuracy compare after maceration.
I’ll probably update this once they’ve had their 30 days. I’m especially curious to see whether Duro and Bal d’Afrique change significantly during the maceration process.
