NISSABA
Berbera

2024

PERFUMER
Coralie Spicher
Fabrice Pellegrin

black pepper
spicy notes
nutmeg
elemi

powdery notes
frankincense
myrrh
leather

amber
opoponax

Nissaba launched with a high quality collection of fragrances; my clear favorite being the vanilla Grand-Ile. Berbera is an addition to the collection that is pretty far removed from Grand-Ile and it doesn’t quite suit me as well as some of their other releases.

I was expecting something sweeter, more cozy, based on the listed notes for this fragrance. Instead, I found a long opening of almost bitter greens in Berbera. It’s spicy, it’s a tiny bit sweet in an incense-manner, but it has that crunchy, stalk-like; maybe even pine-like green tinge to it. It does make for a great natural-smelling, forest setting, with crushed leaves and cut open tree bark.

As it warms up, it feels more and more spicy. Sweeter, but still green, fresh spicy. Pepper and incense surely, but dont go in expecting a sweet, cozy resinous fragrance. Well, of course elemi is a resin, but it’s not what I usually think of when I think of resinous notes. And this fragrance leans quite far in that direction, rather than the usual sweet amber, at least for most of the wear.

Interesting and wearable. Traditionally masculine leaning and mature. This is a serious fragrance in a style we don’t see much of anno its release year. I personally can’t fully get behind the green touches in Berbera, but if those are more up your alley, this could be a rare find. I can also see potential here for fans of vintage men’s colognes.