ALGHABRA
EYE OF SEVEN HILLS

2019

Saffron
Nutmeg
Cinnamon

Whiskey
Tobacco
Vanilla
Tonka Bean
Benzoin
Orris
Patchouli

Amber
Sandalwood
Cedarwood
Oud
Musk

Eye Of Seven Hills takes several well-loved ‘darker’ concepts and blends them together nicely. There’s whiskey, tobacco, saffron, nutmeg, cinnamon, sandalwood, oud, amber, orris, patchouli…so you know this is going to be good.

It opens with a lot of whiskey and spices to me. It’s a darker take on boozy than for example Nasomatto Baraonda or Lubin Korrigan. I’d say saffron and cinnamon play a big role in the opening and it’s quite a heavy affair for some minutes.

That is great, but what really sold me on Eye Of Seven Hills when I first smelled it was the gourmand touches. Having worn it more, I needed to adjust to the opening a bit, but once the benzoin, vanilla, tonka mix comes through, alongside a hint of tobacco, the magic happens.

Somehow you get everything together here; all the notes listed in the paragraph above feel prominent at once and it works. If you look on Fragrantica, you’ll see comparisons made to boozy fragrance, spicy fragrances, tobacco fragrances, but in fact it’s all at once and to my knowledge not close to any singular one that’s named, although more recently Initio Side Effect has come up as a comparison often; I prefer the Alghabra.