ANFAS
AYA

2025

sparkling notes
pomegranate
bitter orange

red fruits
cherry
rose

cedarwood
sandalwood
amber
chocolate
musk

This is an unexpected fragrance; I would say, more of an acquired taste than the notes let on. If you’re looking for a full-on, fruity or Erba Pura type fragrance, or a more gourmand leaning fruity scent, Aya is probably not going to live up to your expectation. If you’re looking for a more mature, ‘niche’ scent profile with a lot of earthy tones and a Middle Eastern-lean, Aya will offer a lot.

The first minutes are very earthy, dry. I get some fruitiness, but none of the expected ‘sparkling’ opening. Instead, it borders on muddy and reminiscent of wet rocks and caves a bit. On the daring side and I was afraid that I would strongly dislike it for a moment. It’s not as daring as an Amouage Figment Man, but it did come to mind briefly.

Then the magic happens. After about half a hour, I start liking it more and end up liking vastly better than I could’ve imagined for some hours. What I don’t get is a real sparkling brightness and I definitely don’t get chocolate from Aya. But sweeter, almost candied, fruity notes that give off a lemonade vibe start coming through. It’s still earthy and you can definitely sense a typical, rather heavy, rose-patchouli-woody with an Eastern flair to it; like a much sweeter Jazeel Ghala.

At the end of the day, it mostly wears like earthy woods and citrus-edged, jammy fruity rose on my skin. I love it with moments, but have to make compromises; The late drydown feels a tad heavy and overly sweet and I definitely have to get past the initial ‘wet cave’ blast before I start to enjoy it. I suggest that you give this one some time to develop on skin if you’re going to test it. Overall though, it’s a good one and more to my taste than I thought it would be initially.