Rania J. T. Habanero Eau de Parfum is a celebration of oud and tobacco, in that order, accentuated with pepper and cardamom in the opening, and then myrrh, incense, and leather shortly after. In the drydown, the oud pulls back, the myrrh ramps up, and the sandalwood softens and adds a creamy, woody element to the whole composition. The notes are listed as:

• top notes: pink and black pepper, cardamom
• heart notes: black tobacco
• base notes: sandalwood, oud, incense, myrrh, leather

Scent Development

A peppery bite over a blanket of sweet, spiced myrrh with facets of animalic, musky oud; pungent and bordering on evoking the full gamut of a barnyard. There was sweeet, smoky incense that billowed through. The cardamom provided marginal freshness with its camphor-like aromatics. It took about 10 minutes the smoke turned grayer, less spiced and sweet, while the oud darkened with leathery undertones and had less pungency.

It was a fairly heady, darker fragrance with smoky, spicy incense and dry tobacco paired with animalic facets spread over soft leather and sweet myrrh humming underneath. The notes harmonized and were well-blended after settling on my skin for 20 minutes, and this had the effect of taming the more extreme ends of the types of notes used.

Deeper into wear–about 90 minutes later–T. Habanero was drier, smokier, and aged with leather and tobacco, little oud, and the last tendrils of incense. It flitted between smoky and earthy between the leather and tobacco, and the oud, while subtle, added an animalic undertone that persisted for another three hours. The drydown at the sixth hour was soft, smoky leather and tobacco with subtle, sweet myrrh.

Application

For testing, I used 1/3 of a 0.7ml sample vial dabbed to the underside and topside of my wrist area on my left arm. I used an unscented moisturizer prior to applying the scent as this is also my swatching arm (aka, incredibly parched at any given moment) as I found scent did not hold well here otherwise. 

I purchased my sample in January 2022; fragrances are known to be reformulated over their lifetime , so be mindful of when a review was made, e.g. a review from 2010 may not reflect what the same-named perfume smells like in 2022.

Longevity

It lasted for six hours until it was a skin-scent and about 12 hours before it was quite difficult to detect on my skin. The sillage and projection were moderate for the first two hours.

Personal Thoughts

It’s a lovely scent for those who love tobacco and leather and enjoy lighter, less pungent oud; the oud is stronger initially but weakens quite a bit so it may be a nice way to enjoy the character of oud without the full blast of it. The smoke was sweeter and for part of the wear more mixed with incense, which I also enjoyed. I feel like I have a few favorites in this genre, so I have to compare down the road to see if this is something I’ll replace one with!

Available Sizes

• 50ml for $155
• 0.7ml sample for $4

Where to Buy

• LuckyScent

Rania J. T. Habanero Perfume Review

Rania J. T. Habanero Perfume Review

Rania J. Oud Assam Eau de Parfum is rich oud and all that that entails; it’s pungent, animalistic, earthy, and fecal in its early development. Given some time, it turns leathery, spiced, and woody as it plays with smoky, smooth vetiver, incense, and tonka bean. The notes are:

• top notes: bergamot, sweet orange, bitter orange
• heart notes: oud
• base notes: cedar wood, vetiver, frankincense, black pepper, tonka bean, musk

It opened with bitter orange peels, subtle sweet orange, and earthy, slightly animalistic oud over a bed of spicy-sweet frankincense and black pepper but most of the notes evaporated in minutes and left a potent oud behind. Cool, smoky vetiver breezed around the oud, which amplified the oud’s barnyard aspect, smelling of horses and hay (and everything a horse-stall would entail, including not-yet-mucked out horse-stalls). It was smoky, leathery, earthy, musky, and very animalic.

After 15 minutes of development, the oud was smoky, woody, and earthy with less overt fecal tones, while the vetiver was smoother, less harsh. There was a delicate touch of smoky-sweet incense with soft musk. It smelled of dry, warm woods, leather, smoke, and musk, which were all well-blended together and the oud no longer came across as pungent after 30 minutes of wear.

The progression turned more linear from there with the oud still in focus but slowly shared the stage with vetiver, tonka bean, and musk in the drydown.

Application

For testing, I used 1/3 of a 0.7ml sample vial dabbed to the underside and topside of my wrist area on my left arm. I used an unscented moisturizer prior to applying the scent as this is also my swatching arm (aka, incredibly parched at any given moment) as I found scent did not hold well here otherwise. 

Longevity

It lasted for five hours until it was a skin-scent and about eight hours before it was quite difficult to detect on my skin. The sillage and projection were moderate with the sillage dropping faster than the projection within two hours.

Personal Thoughts

I enjoy oud as a note, though the pungency of the oud here is more than I tend to go for, so it’s not something I could see myself reaching for often enough to merit a full bottle, but it is a lovely option for those who prefer a stronger oud.

Available Sizes

• 50ml for $155
• 0.7ml sample for $4

Where to Buy

• Jovoy Paris
• LuckyScent

Rania J. Oud Assam Perfume Review

Rania J. Oud Assam Perfume Review

Rania J. Ambre Loup Eau de Parfum starts with richer, boozier vanilla with warm spices that quickly shifts and subdues to spiced woods, a little smoky leather, and rich vanilla, but the latter ends up almost muddled and soft given it was still within the first half hour of wear. Reviews from when this scent was first release suggest a very different perfume, both in terms of structure but in terms of intensity and depth.

I can’t personally attest to what it originally smelled like compared to what my current bottle smelled like, but given how different this smelled on a good friend who recommended this AND seeing some reviews over the last two years from customers who have had similar issues… this one seems a likely victim of reformulation for the worse. It used to be known for its intensity and depth, rich in labdanum, but it is an incredibly weak scent. What I experienced seemed like a whisper of its former self compared to prior reviews!

Here are the notes:

• top notes: cloves, spices
• heart notes: Balsam Peru essential oil, labdanum absolute, vanilla absolute
• base notes: agarwood/oud, gaiac wood, cedar wood

It opened with warm, rich, boozy vanilla with a dash of warming spices, like clove, that quickly shifted into a soft, leather and vanilla duo with subtle, blended spices. Five minutes after the initial application, there was a soft, smoky element that was chilly, more like vetiver but ended up lukewarm against the labdanum and vanilla and a curl of sweet tobacco.

Ambre Loup darkened after settling on my skin for 15 minutes; it was boozy vanilla, spiced, resinous woods, and smoky leather, though everything was woven so tightly together that it was particularly difficult to separate out different notes, which was exacerbated by the weakness in the perfume itself, regardless of spraying more than normal to try and write a review for it.

Over the next hour and a half, the perfume softened, smoothed out, and became more like spiced vanilla over warm woods. It did not transform much from that point, though the drydown was a barely-there skin scent with spiced vanilla and a hint of woodiness.

Application

I started with a bottle, and I tested this a dozen times over a couple of months; I tried different places to spray, different numbers of spray, but it was always the same – incredibly short-wearing before it became a skin scent with little sillage and projection. For the review itself, I used three sprays applied to the underside and topside of my wrist area on my left arm. I used an unscented moisturizer prior to applying the scent as this is also my swatching arm (aka, incredibly parched at any given moment) as I found scent did not hold well here otherwise. 

Longevity

It lasted for five hours until it was a skin-scent and about eight hours before it was quite difficult to detect on my skin. The sillage and projection were moderate with the sillage dropping faster than the projection within the first hour of wear.

Personal Thoughts

I purchased a bottle based on a friend’s recommendation, and I have tried this several times using more and more sprays to try and get to the type of scent that original reviews lauded over. I am going to attempt to find an original bottle to compare, because this version seemed so sad in comparison!

Available Sizes

• 50ml for $155
• 100ml for $260
• 0.7ml sample for $4

Where to Buy

• LuckyScent

Rania J. Ambre Loup Perfume Review

Rania J. Ambre Loup Perfume Review