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macosbyk – :
Thought I’d be sniffing something original when I received my sample in the mail. Imagine my surprise when it smelt very familiar. Like a womens perfume I’ve smelt in my childhood. I can’t see what all the hype is about. Doesn’t smell sexual at all to me. Just vintage and somewhat powdery.
More for someone in the above 40 age range perhaps.
Agree with reviewer kulabutr, Dior Leather Oud also smells a bit similar to this.
denser2007 – :
It smells like Dior leather oud, very closely.
Tiss1992 – :
A modern take on Creed´s English Leather. Love it!
riz261speagoessenda – :
Hedonistic comfort! Afrika Oliphant is teeming with animalics! Castoreum, civet, musk, ambergris – all balanced and beautiful thanks to Jorge Lee, overflowing with nature’s artistry. I see from the reviews, most have a reverence for them similar to mine.
Recently I have worn a gamut of perfumes that feature animalics, and it has given me a new appreciation for their use in perfumes – when used by talented perfumers that is. I was a little afraid of them before that, due to early musk concoctions, but they are now are some of my favorite notes. The depth they give to every fragrance is unparalleled. Animalics have a dynamic quality as if you smelled a warm breath on your skin. Their moist affection comforting, like the exhale of an animal tickling your hand (Nishane’s elephant!). Combined here with leather, resins and oud, they thrill.
This fragrance smells akin to a favorite jacket made of heavy leather, well-worn, and treasured. The one you reach for when you want to be comfortable, but still look hip and fierce. Oud’s woody nuances and resin’s medicinal sparkle make a natural backdrop for the supple leather. Along with the swagger of animalics! Sensual, with the luxe depth that castoreum and civet add. A little carnal with musk, and exotic with pirate ambergris. All give the leather a spirited feeling. You are wrapped in the softest animal hide, similar to the jacket that allows unhindered movement and adds panache to the wearer. Good sillage and longevity. Perfect Fall/Winter scent!
cocaIcanina – :
عطر من دار نيسان التركية العطور النيش العطر يأتي على هيئة اكستراكت العطر يحوي المسك و جلود حمضيات خفيفة به لمحة من نوتة مدخنة و هي التي أعطت العطر فخامة و ثقل مع نوتة العنبر العطر مسائي للمناسبات
panas100 – :
Poised halfway between a masculine chypre and a musky oriental, Africa Olifant exerts a steady fascination over its wearer. But fear not – despite the extraordinary array of animalic notes packed into this scent, Africa Olifant pulls off the remarkable feat of being both richly dirty and a breeze to wear. If you love the mossy funk of old-school masculines like Antaeus, then this will be right down your alley.
Grasslands sizzles. Sunlight (the dry smoke of frankincense and myrrh) replaces nighttime’s verdant dew. Jasmine, the fading heartbeat of night, winds its way in and out of our consciousness. Animalic castoreum and civet are still-slumbering beasts, while leather and oud comprise the sinewy, silent predators who snake through the morning, hunting for a piece of sleep-encumbered luck. Simultaneously timid and audacious, this fragrance is a sweet, green, dirty awakening.
The structure of the fragrance is quite clever. Instead of a top-down flow of notes, imagine a glowing core emanating concentric circles of rich aromas that strike the nose all at once – rubber, bone-dry leather, fiery balsam, melting tar, bitter moss, musk. There’s also a lot of myrrh, first bathing everything in a haze of smoke and then drying down to a lingering impression of licorice, stone and earth. Everything feels so elemental, and yet, at its core, Africa Olifant is a super-smooth leather with a surprisingly balmy freshness to it. Citrus and herbs provide lift, and a sweet-salty ambergris spotlights everything with its golden glow. The end result is a fragrance that feels solidly classical, but also animalic in a way that not many modern masculines are these days.
motion – :
It literally smells like elephants at the zoo in perfume form…that’s kinda amazing if you ask me! It smells of both the animal (leathery skin) and its habitat (kinda dirty “safari” vibe), but in a fragrance form which is beautified, yet triggers the memory of elephants instantly! I think it achieves this by being leathery, “dirty” animalic, and a bit powdery.
At the moment I don’t like it quite enough to consider a full bottle for myself, but I think it’s an impressive perfume for those that like overtly animalic leather.
If you enjoy this, you may be interested in Juliette Has a Gun – Into The Void
I will end up comparing them side-by-side and updating this.
asc419bedyWelty – :
Love it ! Besides what most are loving about this beautiful fragrance, I so appreciate the NISHANE DNA I smell in this as well most other compositions by the House of Nishane Istanbul. Great work ! Works very well on cold days
del86fin – :
A unique fall / winter fragrance with excellent projection and performance. I’ve never quite smelt anything like this, and came across it only when the folks at Twisted Lilly sent me a free sample with my order of Hacivat (the Aventus killer).
EDIT: bought a bottle and have been wearing it for the past few weeks.
Put simply, this is superlative. It’s a dirty, daring frag – full of civet, musk and frankincense (with just a hint of leather) – in the same vein as a Kouros or Antaeus, but less sweet and powdery and more audacious (and this is coming from a Kouros devotee).
If you’re willing to pivot away from the safe winter frags (Tuscan Leather and the like), this one should definitely be on your short list!
10/10
xsanyax – :
A very unique fragrance that I am loving. Longevity is great as well as sillage although I would not label it a beast. Another one very well done by Nishane.
ngn315Bessinepome – :
A beautifully composed animalic chypre, this opens with the usual chypre notes of labdanum, olibanum citrus, myrrh and a hint of incense with the civet and castoreum lurking just behind. It begins to dry down to reveal the masculine leathery and animalic notes that is the heart of the fragrance: civet, musk and castoreum. The perfume is developed in a very interesting way with the notes developing in non-linear overlapping circles where they beautifully envelope with each other with the key animalic notes always in the forefront but sweetened by amber and chypre notes. Very daring and sophisticated and with strong projection and sillage, this is a challenging and rewarding sensual experience. Only for animalic lovers.
IrenaBN – :
This is super strong, dark, sweet and elegant fragrance. It feels like able to penetrate glass bottle, but on the skin this beast appear to be gentle and elegant. Real dark African elephant! On the skin it plays complicated game for several hours, then lasts forever as an expensive cigar smell. Amazing value, amazing creation.
star__scrim – :
Afrika Olifant By Nishane is an animalic civet themed fragrance. Now dont let that scare you off because this is actually a very elegantly put together perfume. Top notes are a blast of ambery incense from the ambergris and labdanum et al. This fades quite fast, leading into the animalic castoreum and civet notes supported by a really nice leather and oud combo. All these notes are quite distinct and identifiable but somehow come together quite harmoniously so kudos to perfumer Jorge Lee. The base is pretty much a slightly powdery musk and civet as mentioned in the note list and is very pleasant and enjoyable.
I personally feel sometimes the mistake perfumers make with civet themed perfumes is that they pair it with spice notes like cumin, caraway n nutmeg, taking the frag instantly into ” The armpit of a sheep herder who has not bathed in a month territory” thus rendering it pretty much unwearable in any place with warm weather without being the recipient of rude comments from all who smell you. So thankfully, none of that here. To sum up, Afrika Olifant is a slightly powdery musky civet balanced out with oud and leather. Probably one of the easiest civets I have sniffed in a long time. It is the monsoon season here right now and I have no problem pulling this off on cooler days.
Now does that make this a crowd pleaser and blind buy worthy? No, not really as this takes a bit of experience with ouds and civets to truly appreciate so someone purely into compliment magnet freshies wont really like it. I dont mean to sound snobbish but it is what it is. As always do sample and test if you can but if you are a seasoned traveller on the Oud roads, do yourself a favour and check this out. A civet/Oud done right. 8.5/10
maxsimysn – :
Afrika Olifant is just stunning, never smelled anything like it!
Deep, rich, mysterious!
There are no empty words in the note list, every single note deliver.
Strong, but not loud. Just perfect!!!
korshaks – :
It smells as a dinosaur!
vitalikvn – :
Wow – very edgy. Animalic musky oudy. But just sweet enough to be unisex. Wearable, not too scary. I think this one is a good one for anyone looking for something strong but not overbearing.
This doesn’t really last on me. After an hour or so I can only smell it very faintly.
At second test this smells a little bit like body odour. And no it’s not me, I think it’s the civet! But it fits into the animalistic african style.
antonio-malbery – :
This fragrance is just AMAZING!It is the beauty and it’s the beast altogether morphed into a masterpiece concoction. I never should have liked a fragrance such as this. But it has got me mesmerized. This is an animalic scent. Even if you do not like animalic scents, you will end up appreciating this. You may not end up buying a bottle however still hold it in your highest regard.
This is the type of animalic scent which just screams SEX with bold capital letters. It is not an office scent. And it is not a first date scent. This is basically a scent you wear when you want to send the olfactory message that you are down to F*ck hahaha. My apologies, I did not want to sound rude but this fragrance just brings it out hahaha. Let’s say you are in a long term relationship or married for many years and your love life turned into a routine.
You just have to one day spray this fragrance before your significant other returns back home, and they WILL KNOW what time it is!!! 😀
I would say this is bolder masculine counter part of Salome Papillon Artisan Perfumes. While Salome is still sexy and classy with a mature teasing naughtiness to it. Afrika Olifant is right to the point, no beating around the bush force of sexy.
Before I never quite understood why people pegged musk and animalic notes as sexy. However This one ( and also Salome) made me understand why.
Deroxatvkx – :
At first sniff I got Nag Champa or Chandrika soap. Then I do smell a hint of Leather Oud type vibe – to whoever listed that as a similar scent. Its a daring scent, unique, different, but something I would cherish wearing.
extesanonse – :
Wow. This is unique and interesting, castoreum, oud and hint of leather; very tarry and animal musk, synthetic smell to it, powerful, made me sneeze. I like it bordering on okay. I loved the sample but would not want a full bottle. Very dry and dirty with no hint of sweetness.
Pabloz – :
It smells exactly like I expected it to by it’s name, kind of what I’d expect elephants on safari to smell like, a bit fecal animalistic. Didn’t last long on my skin, turned into a sweet skin scent rather quickly like a lot of fragrances, but as they say.. things aren’t beautiful because they last.
Update: actually much longer lasting than initially thought and never turned sweet on me again, I take it all back..i love you
;tktpj – :
I love that fragrance! in my first use it reminds me throughout its development Antaeus Chanel, which I have in my collection, so I decided to try again, but in a fist Antaeus and the other Afrika Olifant.
Antaeus is a lot more powerful, and I had trouble a comparison side by side .. since then NEWLY about 3 hours, when the antaeus began to dry and lower intensity, Afrika Olifant was already much fainter ..
So I decided to make a new testing side by side … but this time apply Antaeus into a fist, and 2 hours after Olifant Afrika apply. Now, I could compare both perfume almost the same intensity.
I were very similar, but feels Afrika Olifant, higher quality, softer, velvety, secutor more natural ..
Basically, it would be a soft leather, accompanied by sweet oud agreements and myrrh, Animalic and salty, by notes of castoreum, ambergris and labdanum.
I turned an addictive, very sensual and refined fragrance, as animal notes are softened and well mixed.
I love it, but the price seems excessive time for 50ml, find hope in the future at a lower price, and would not hesitate to add it to my collection.
Longevity is about average 8/9 hours and the sillage is moderate.
Note: 8/10
ACT3255 – :
This really isn’t bad at all! I was expecting a funky skunky, clear-the-room type fragrance. In fact, Afrika-Olifant is a well-behaved animalic scent, with nuances of incense, leather and smoke, combined with musk/vanilla sweetness from the castoreum. It’s not really me, but it’s very well done, and if you want an overtly sexual fragrance that won’t frighten the horses, you could do a lot worse than this. Think of an attractive, confident woman sporting an expensive handbag while confessing her naughty sins in a Catholic church.
Mindauginis2 – :
A surprisingly fresh smoky incense fragrance with a hint of musky sweetness. Looking at the note breakdown you would be forgiven to think this scent is going to be beastly. But nothing could be farther from the truth.
The animalistic notes of civet and leather are well blended and well behaved behind the smoky incense.
All in all a very nice enigmatic smelling fragrance.
DillMoigh – :
Well it’s nice although the Pyramid olfactory shouts animalic vicious masculinity but it turned to be quite wearable, safe, and not risky to whomever like it mild. It’s like a rosy animalic, delicate shouts, & romantic fetishes although i wanted it to be more risky, more tough, more strong ERRRRR .. but… umm… well… it’s not and it’s ok!
I don’t want to sound raunchy but i guess this is the smell i hope i can smell when a porn fetish scene is shown, i mean the smell of the shooting set.
Edit (1st May 2016) nope, not mild animalic, this is too much animalic as if using a certain single note rather than a combination or notes, and it’s coreltism. In my opinion Nishane still learning about fragrances and he is directing his fragrance to commercial lovers cause his fragrances isn’t that new or quite creative rather than a mild, common ones with quite big quality. Now i can’t go and say MEH, but all i can say is … OK.. what’s next!
The hype that has been created around him in my opinion was because of his origin “Turkey” the amazingly rich historical land that is full of superb history, plants, flowers, gourmand, and heritage and that’s it, and maybe also for the commonly fragrances that he creates for the public (which are already and currently used by everyone in Turkey) and directed to everyone but with extra quality then invaded the European market.. the market that appreciates everything new, and creative specially when it comes from a place like Turkey. but eventually it’s just ok rather than WOW or AMAZING. and honestly i can’t deny that Nishane has an amazing potential as i personally meet him in Esxence 2016 but i think he should think more deep, more creative, or maybe mixing cultures to come up with a hit that spin heads rather than creating standards.
dashalbv – :
The note pyramid had me expecting something pretty raunchy but it turns out that Afrika Olifant is dirty in a polite and wearable way. The first half hour is the best and most interesting part. The varied notes mentioned above all seem to explode out at once: a little leather, something ambergris sweet, a touch of parched oud, and soft animalic purrs and growls float about and all play together nicely. On one hand it’s instantly recognizeable as animal and, on the other, it just registers as something delicious and earthy. It dries down to the very same oud scent as Amouage Opus V, however this one handles it alot nicer. I would not complain if I got this for Christmas. It’s a sexy beast that is also cute as a button.
Riszav – :
This is the best Nishane for me yet. This opens with a myrrh incense smoke. The animalic notes are there, just done in a modern way in which they don’t shout. There is a suede-like leather there in the dry down, but on me this ends up an oud scent. An eclectic array of notes blended very well! Thumbs up!
marat71 – :
I’ve been one of the lucky ones to try Afrika Olifant on my skin and all I can say is hands down. Nishane have managed to craft something that I can only describe as animally beautiful, indeed the animalic smell is there but mixed in a way that far from being offensive is truly appealing, in fact my girlfriend told me this one is her favourite from all the fragances from Nishane I’ve tried (being all of them very unique and special: Spice Bazaar, Sultan Vetiver, Suede et Safran) and I must confess that wearing Afrika Olifant feels so warm, nice and elegant (maybe like having a second furry skin covering mine?)
ol_chik89 – :
This one is very animalic musky fragrance, but in a good way. I am very impressed with this house.
Very bold and strong, I can smell it next day. One of the best 3 from the line (other 2 are Musiqa Oud and Boszporusz)
Tarvus – :
Wow. ..Was my first reaction to Afrika Olifant, not because it was the best smelling thing I ever sniffed but because of the combination of cloyingness with a blast of animalic notes in the opening.
Its dark, bold, and so daring. I would say its a polarizing scent. I happen to love it! As it dries down a fruity note is very detectable mixed with leather, myrhh and incense. Incense not listed but I smell it in there dude.
Very long lasting and really good projection! I would wear this anytime of year but it is definitely suited for fall and winter. Spring …you can easily pull this off.
Overall I think that a person that has the right skin chemistry will love this as much as I do, as well as the right personality. A must try if you like a daring niche scent.
Mevegroowlern – :
WOW it dazed me with its eloquence!
If I have to describe it with only 3 words they are – audacity, uniqueness and erotica.
It is sharp, strong intensive and extremely provocative scent with unique presence and weight. I would call it wild and shameless. Perfume for real machos, cause pleasure and lust.
At me the scent opens with explosion of animalistic ambra, civet and bitter smoke, which softens after about 2 hours and on the scene come out well processed expensive leather and incense. They interweave elegantly and turn it into a seducing dance of pleasure.
Extraordinary durability – more than 24 hours and even after the 2 showers taken, the scent on my wrist still emits puff of gentle incense.
It is definitely winter, night scent. It will be difficult for a woman to use it but not impossible especially for the more daring ladies. It stays close to the skin but its presence is definitely stated.
And at the end I am really curious how this “beast” will develop when the outside temperatures are above 20 degrees.
ordidotandivy – :
Is this what the americans were looking for in Iraq….looks like a weapon of nose destruction…..love it!!
olegniko – :
look at the pyramid olfactory just woooooow !!!