HISTORY
MEXICAN CACTUS

2023

Tropical Fruits
Bergamot
Lactonic accord

Cactus
Weed
Green Notes
Jasmine

Metallic Notes
Powdery Notes
Musk
Vetiver

History is a subsidiary of Alghabra.

Mexican Cactus is my first time trying History Parfums, a new brand tied to Alghabra. which is a brand that I’ve always liked. The notes for this looked awesome, and the fragrance is pretty great… with a caveat.

The caveat being cannabis. My brother tried this first and mentioned the scent of weed to me. Immediately on first spray, I got the cannibus-y vibe as well. Sites like Fragrantica don’t list it in the notes, but the original note breakdown does include it. Now, I don’t like the scent of cannabis. Luckily, I wouldn’t call it a deal breaker in Mexican Cactus, as it’s not overly funky and it’s mostly just fruity.

A lot of fruits, quite citrussy overtones, but I think I mostly smell something akin to mango here. But everything shrouded in a green hue. Cactus of course being a part of this and I must say, once you picture that, it starts to smell quite authentic to me and quite unique.

Despite my initial concerns, this is not as heavy on the cannabis vibe as even a Byredo Open Sky or V/Siteur Beach Bizarre. Instead, this is a very fruity, green, fresh, slightly musky scent. It’s clean, the way a cactus shampoo would be, but there’s some of the fruity (mango-esque) sweetness to balance it.

Milk or the lactonic accord is a very interesting note in the brand’s breakdown, but I can’t say I get anything milky in Mexican Cactus.

A fun fragrance. I’d say it leans a tad masculine and it reminds me of shower gels, but done in a more interesting way than is often the case. The cannabis tinge keeps me from really loving it, but I’d recommend this as a tropical fruity fragrance to try.

Quality and performance (extrait de parfum) is good and similar to what Alghabra has offered thus far.