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wermaht – :
Lemon, ginger, and cardamom are the most prominent notes at opening to me. Quite lovely and refreshing, like you are sipping lemony ginger tea while savoring its aroma. I do not detect much rose as the perfume developes. At drydown, I get a whiff of powdery orris and heavy musk, with a bit of sandalwood. Overall, pleasant opening morphs into heavy musk dominated base which is not the direction I want. I would have liked it much better if spiciness persisted throughout with less musk, more sandalwood. I do not see this as a light oriental scent.
teravadila – :
A blast of spiced lemon in opening notes, calms into a gentler sandalwoody warmth.
I smell rose at the heart, rounding out and prettifying this scent. As far as spices go I smell cardamom and nutmeg more than ginger at first, then it all dries down to toasty warm powdered ginger and sandalwood after half an hour, the tea note is dry and astringent but very much in the background in dry down. There are no headachey aroma chemicals thankfully, or none that stand out.
It’s very easy-to-wear, quite neutral – neither masculine nor feminine really.
A nice choice for autumn days, but it is fairly light and doesn’t linger much after a couple of hours, though you could spray more generously and it would leave a soft sandalwood a bit longer on clothes I think
sacha – :
Let me preface by saying that I love Penhaligon’s and own many of them. I was disappointed in this one. On a scale of dislike, okay, like and wow/love, this is just an okay for me. It smells spicy; nothing special; cheap whore.
Cherm – :
It’s a very nice scent. I love the lemon with the ginger. It is spicy but not overly so. It does remind me of a cough syrup my Mum would give my brother and I if we had a cough. It also reminds me of lemon strepsil losenges. Mmm…I guess thats not really good.
Lemon note is not harsh at all and goes so well with tea . The lemon eases off a bit and then the spices come more to the fore.
Everything sits on the warm enveloping Amber and musk. It’s not very sweet but more lemony/tea with a touch of spice. A nice scent for casual wear on a sunny autumn day or cool summer night. Yes, unisex as well.
I wish the longevity was better but considering the notes in this it was never likely to last long. The sillage is moderate.
zeo128JeomiWogkig – :
I really like this one. The longer it wears, the more I like it. To me, it reminds me so much of my sister that I am going to give it to her. It is soft but has a density and weight to it that is unmistakable. It is warm and spicy but there is nothing sharp about it that I can smell. And as it wears and fades, it becomes a singular scent that has depth to it rather than certain notes falling behind or coming forward or it completely transforming. It is feminine and bold and understated. I think it is a beautiful creation.
strgev – :
The unfortunate thing about Malabah is that on my skin at least those lovely richer spices don’t make an appearance so I’m left with something reminiscent of a cough sweet or the tea that you drink when you’re ill, which isn’t particularly what I want out of a daytime fragrance.
constas – :
Warm and spicy but somehow still light and airy. I get the lemon and tea but it’s a warm/cooked lemon (lemon zinger tea but with more spices) smell NOT juicy or freshly squeezed. I don’t specifically pick out different spices but the dry slightly woody spices are prominent. I like it. It’s a great unisex, inoffensive spicy scent that works for the office. Wears on me like a typical eau de toilette for about 4-5 hours. Because I like lemon tea I find it comforting. Nice for fall/winter.
Reminds me quite a bit of Assam of India by Berdoues both have that lemon zinger tea type smell. Neither lasts or projects very well on my skin.
neestyliaidly – :
First off, this is mostly an antique rose and orris fragrance. I thought I might find it down inside grandmother’s purse, but no US DNA here. This is like getting uncomfortably close to Queen Mary’s Pearl and lace covered decollete. Mature and resinous antiquity. Not from a spice route, from a 1915 chemists sun exposed”sale” shelf. Right next to the Liver Salts.
starpom163 – :
I just reviewed Savoy Steam edp (which I like very much) so I will also review Malabah as well since I think they are very similar. Malabah is spicy and a little bit sharp. It has a slightly medicinal quality, not unpleasant at all. Cardamom, ginger comes out strong. A little bit of tea and citrus as well but I can’t smell any rose. Malabah is not for me but it’s a nice scent for many others I’m sure.
nataluno4ka – :
Hmm. My mini bottle is ten years old out of a set of five other Penhaligons. No lemon.. I get mulled wine and something reminiscent of the very last bit of drydown of Diamonds and Rubies, but more natural. Reminds me of an old delicatessen that used to be in my town which had a terrifically strong smell of spices and teas when you walked in. Having said it’s so old, it actually smells the same as I remember, which is why I just left it in a drawer and forgot about it. Not my cup of tea.
maksim85 – :
This starts off lemony and spicy and turns into a lovely rose, redolent of middle eastern spices. Smells fantastic in cooler weather.
I wore a tiny amount when I went to my doctor’s office to get some test results. I had a low grade fever, and my body heat magnified the scent. When she walked into the exam room, the first thing she said was, “it smells amazing in here!” This one is doctor approved, folks.
Kristinka – :
It’s an alright scent. What prevents me from liking it more is that I mostly get ginger notes, too much to my liking. I was there were citrus notes too, but they seem not to develop on my skin.
каспер – :
fresh ginger citrus,and warm beautiful rose
my winter scent !!
normalnui – :
Beautiful refreshing and calming lemon tea opening. Slight wafts of ginger throughout and some creeping amber in the last hour or so. Quite a simple scent. No real development…it just gets softer and softer until it disappears. Such a shame the longevity is so poor as is this truly a lovely, inoffensive Spring/Autumn scent. I would throw my hat in the ring that this could be considered unisex. Retail asking price is just not worth it as reapplication is needed every couple of hours.
L:Poor
S: Soft
Tyz2305 – :
A unique, refreshingly spicy oriental tea scent evaporates on me. Little mysterious this tea party …. but yet elegant and sophisticated, even wearing for evening dress is amazing! It will not come face every corner ..
fkt967intitytek – :
At first sniff, fairly sweet cloud with hints of spices surrounded me and transported to a cozy country house somewhere in India. I could literally see someone sitting on the balcony at the end of the long, hot day, while enjoying a cup of lightly spiced tea. I must say, this fragrance has an ultimate calming effect. I’m surprised to see a lemon note listed as dominant as i can’t smell anything too fresh or zesty at any development stages.
Malabah is neither exotic nor oriental to my nose. It’s a perfume you would probably enjoy wearing in a hot Asian country, as it’s very soft and becomes quite transparent after an hour or so, while drying down to a nice sweetish musk. Wouldn’t buy it myself, as it’s too soft for my liking and disappears quickly, breaking my reverie about Indian evenings. Having said that, I’d recommend this scent to anyone who likes chilling with a cup of tea while reading Ferdowsi, for instance. I think nutmeg, sandalwood, a little bit of rose would make those “tea” moments very meditative.
Edgardtwist – :
Never smelt a perfume like this. This is a new thing for me.. Its spicy, on the frst sniff.. After a while it become so sweet. Dry down is better than the frst burst. I like it ☺️
Clurryrooli – :
I reallllly like this perfume. It reminds me a bit of a fragrance from the 2000’s or so called Sheer Vitality from BBW’s original aromatherapy collection. It also reminds me of a bag of lemon potpourri I used to have. It is a fresh, nice, lemon-y scent without smelling like cleaning product. It’s a true but not overbearing lemon scent at first, but then dries down to a nice, tea-like scent with ginger notes. I liked this sample scent vial enough to purchase a larger bottle–on Ebay–which I got for $51 / free shipping! I would never pay the $145 listed at Penhaligon’s website….But then again, I probably wouldn’t pay over about $50 for ANY bottle of perfume. This fragrance has descent lasting power, maybe 5-6 hours. And so pretty, in a happy, not-so-girly, but nice & crisp sort of way!!!!
Dowell – :
Malabah is classified as an oriental spicy. In the top notes, we have lemon, tea, and coriander. In the middle, there’s ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, rose, and orris root. In the base, there’s amber, musk, and sandalwood. It was launched in 2003. I couldn’t find a pefumer for this particular composition.
On my skin, Malabah opens up with a bright, shiny lemon which lasts for almost the entire life of the fragrance. It’s not one of those wimpy lemon notes that dies in fifteen minutes. Mixed with the lemon is a mildly aggressive herbal (non-jammy, non-sweet) rose. This is all on a bed of an earthy tea note hefty enough to hold up everything else – maybe an oolong or Earl Grey. The combined effect, and I don’t mean this in a negative way at all, is sort of a lemon-eucalyptus cough drop accord, except I don’t get anything overtly medicinal about it – at least not on my skin.
Into the middle, the rose starts to become slightly more pronounced, and the cardamom and nutmeg become more prominent. In the base, finally the citrus starts to die (only after three or four hours), and the tea/rose combination linger on as the spices weaken. It dies, on my skin, as a soft tea/rose fragrance that might vaguely remind you of the way your grandmother might have smelled. (Again, I don’t mean that negatively at all.) However, I do mean to hint that I don’t find this fragrance nearly as unisex as Penhaligon’s seems to; I think it leans much more femme.
Overall impression? It’s a nice smell, but I think there are other much more successful spicy floral orientals out there to try. At the retail price point, there’s no way I would consider this at all. However, you can find it on the grey market for about half retail; this is a much fairer asking price. Again, I’m not sure I’d pay it. I’d rather save up for a bottle of something of an altogether superior quality, like Oud Ispahan (which, to be completely fair, is a fragrance that is trying to accomplish something quite different from Malabah, but diving into this point would take this review much too far afield), which I think accomplishes the conjuring of roughly the same environs – something resembling an Eastern-style spice bazaar. Unfortunately, I’ve smelled half a dozen fragrances that do it more successfully and with more olfactory vim and vigor. This reiteration of a classic, spicy falls flaccid, and perhaps even worse, feels overly dated.
nicolette026 – :
An opening blast of citrus and tea followed up fast by a soft spicy muskiness.
Apart from a softening and fading of citruses it is, on the whole a fairly linear composition with little development. There are no twists and turns, no surprises. The citrus in this is very similar to other Penhaligons, especially Vaara but whereas Vaara is very tart citrus rose, the spice in Malabah tames it in a way, to a sort of female version of cologne.
One thing I would say on this is that I find it to be no more for night than for day or spring or winter. It doesn’t have the punch, be it skank, depth or gourmand leanings to be considered a popular evening perfume on the market today. And yet it is almost too elegant, spiced too luxuriously to become a day-to-day for the masses.
I suppose this, in part, is one of things I love most about Malabah. I concluded that it would have been the most opulent eveningwear, but for a time gone by. A time when this would have seemed awfully exotic and heady. Sadly (depending on your view) we are no longer there, our travels span further and our tastes grow more extreme with less delicate palettes. We have become accustomed to really smelling the entirety of a culture, warts and all, and along the way have perhaps become a little bored of such sanitized incarnations of scented travels.
As always beautifully blended, it’s a love.
boss8022 – :
Mysterious and HOT! It smells tasty, spicy and interesting. The best part about this perfume is that is smells totally different, without smelling alien. It reminds you of something you may have smelled years ago, in front of an antique store, or an oriental marketplace…
BONUS: It perks up my mood when I put it on!
You gotta love this, and you have to have something like this for variety and spice in your perfume closet.
BukBuk – :
Orientals are my favorite perfumes. Of my top 6 favorites, 5 are Orientals. This is my pretty much all-the-time scent now. It has the distinction of being lighter, fresher, less sweet, and yet still be a spicy Oriental. I can wear this to work, really anywhere, and not overpower or offend. I love it. My only negatives are the price and the longevity. I will probably have to start purchasing the lotion and/or bath oil to get better longevity. It also comes in a solid, so I may try that.
Хантер – :
Whilst not a perfect match, this does fill the gap I will have when my Diesel D (discontinued) is used up. Similar…and in actual fact, this one is more refined. Spicy lemony tea scent which dries down to a spicy musky base. Just perfect, I love cardamom and this delivers. Might not be an in your face sillage monster, but the vapours surrounding me are heavenly. The rose peeks out every now and again on the dry down, making this even more delicious, as I love roses. Good one Penhaligon’s. Thumbs up.
EDWARD11 – :
I absolutely love this. I could smell it all day.
It starts off with a smooth lemon sherbet, as others have said, however it isn’t sharp or overpowering, just deliciously soft.
Fairly quickly the rose comes through at the back, rounding out the citrus with delicate powdery pink petals.
After 15 or 20 minutes the spice starts to come through and it is very evocative of India or the Middle East, although it’s not heavy at all. Rather than a heavy Eastern Oud or Incense smell this evokes the Far East using light heady floral and spice notes, reminding me more of warm summer evenings than the sickly sweet and heavy spice notes which you often find in an “Eastern” scent.
Each note segues seamlessly into the next, producing a full bodied, complex and varied scent which is able to be worn day or night.
To me it is sophisticated in a cool, understated way. Rather than punching you in the face with its exoticism, it simply drifts about you, leaving merely the impression of genteel elegance.
Five stars. My absolute favourite of the moment.
sveta abd – :
Gingered citrus spiced tea musk.
Grazhdanin.kz – :
Malabah, which is compared with Jacomo Art # 08 by its tea plus ginger aroma-quality, is in fact a citrusy airy East. Jacomo Art # 08 is loud, full-bodied,tangy-tactile true India, while Malabah is a fragrance wich would be office-suitable in the centre of Europe, yet would fill the room with that delicate and transparent eastern vibe. It sits close to the skin, its light, but has certain depth, like for example after first 15-20 minutes you start to smell beautiful rose in nutmeg. Overall I like both – Jacomo Art #08 and Malabah – each for its own character and suitability.
dt75max – :
This opens with a mild and tender lemon scent.
The mid-notes are the characteristic Penhaligon seamless blend, this time of indeterminate florals, including a little bit of rose, and very subtle spice.
This phase lasts for only a couple of hours, and then all that remains is the softest of musky skin-scents.
While this perfume is pleasant, it is not really opulent enough to earn it’s evocative name, and it doesn’t really last long enough to leave a strong impression.
Overall, it is tasteful but transient.
andrey55555 – :
Brioso ed effervescente limone e ginger.
Monotematico. Per chi ama gli esperidati semplici.
Mi ricorda molto Rajasthar Etro, Omnia Indian Garnet Bulgari e soprattutto Saharienne YSL. Dopo il primo guizzo “puro limone” fa capolino una rosa delicatissima, che non riesce a sbocciare nonostante il tiepido aiuto di spezie leggere.
Rinfrescante e nulla più.
rikano – :
This is the perfect spicy perfume I’ve been searching for. I often find spicy perfumes either aren’t all that spicy at all, or they’re so heavy that they just don’t suit my taste. This one is as spicy as I feel a spicy fragrance should be, but it’s also beautifully light and almost airy.
It opens as lemon tea, then within half an hour, there’s a melody of spices – I find the nutmeg and coriander to be the most prominent.
This is like a walk through a Marrakesh souk, but a well ventilated and air-conditioned one. You could actually wear this in hot weather as well as autumn/winter.
The rose stays quite subtle in the background and during the dry down, there’s a lovely and invigorating kick of ginger.
This one is a bit of a multitasker. It works very well as a sexy scent for a glam night out with the girls, or as a seductive scent for a night in. But weirdly, it also works just as well as an invigorating, airy, everyday scent.
Moderate sillage and around 6 hours longevity. Another one for my full bottle wishlist!
maks2612 – :
I was sorely tempted to blind buy this fragrance, based on the notes and the reviews. Glad I didn’t: on my skin, Malabah opened with a short-lived blast of citrus, then moved into the tea note. But what this translated to was not a feeling of tea, but the scent of cigarette tobacco, strangely enough. As it developed, it morphed more towards a light spice, but with a remaining bitterness that was unpleasant. It was not the spicy oriental I was hoping for. I am very thankful for samples!
The dry-down continued to warm up, and became more powdery with a very faint spiciness. Nice, but not wonderful.
maksbox – :
Altough Luca Turin compares this one to a cheap version of Nicolai`s New York, it reminded me of a relaxed version of YSL Nu EDP. That`s certainly the exotic spicy incensed aura of NU EDP here, but less dark and misterious. It evokes an oriental aura but balancing it with some citruses and some floral aspects. What intrigues me is that the combination of rose and ginger reminds me somehow of the pomenagrate peel mixed with incense and citrus aromas. While i like it, i don`t know if i would have a bottle. But this and Artemisia made me reconsider my tantrum with Penhaligon`s fragrances.
Pa69 – :
Malabah is one-of-a-kind, slightly citrus/slightly spicy scent . . .the one perfume I have received the most “Excuse me, what is that you are wearing” stops on the street for . . .and the ONLY perfume I have gone through over 5 full bottles of! It is not a “formal” perfume – I would never wear it with evening attire – but it is a perfume that subtely says “notice me” (unlike my current signatures of Boudoir, AP or Womanity). It is a perfume that can take you to wonderful places and put a smile on your face without ever really making an effort to do so. Wear it with a richly-colored Morrocan-inspired tunic and jeans or to the office – you won’t regret it! As long as Malabah is made, I will faithfully buy it.
LadyXAdmin – :
Ever since I read the description of this fragrance I knew it was right up my alley! I love and adore spices! I have a big spice cabinet in my kitchen with many exotic spices many of which most people (at least in the West) haven’t even heard of and I use all of them in my cooking. Anywhere that I settle to live I find the best spice markets in town.
When I first tried Malabah the opening was rather disappointing to me at first. It starts so lemony!! Lemon is nice and all, but there are tons of lemony fragrances out there that are freshy fresh and smell all clean. So for a moment I was afraid that I was in the presence of yet another of such cookie-cutter perfumes. But no! That was just the beginning. The lemony, frizzy, bubbly, soda-like phase passed away quickly thank heavens! I don’t like it!
Then opens a lovely cozy and truly spicy phase which only gets warmer and warmer and drier and drier until you start to really believe that you are in India or somewhere in the Middle East under the hot sun in an open air spice market bargaining with the shop keepers about the price of a few grams of cardamom or coriander! The scent of ginger is very strong too (at least on my skin) and gives it a real kick.
As time progresses the woody base notes start to more and more lurk in the background and make it even cozier and warmer and even drier.
It is a lovely dynamic fragrance. It is not too sweet and sticky but it is really delicious. It is hot! I love it.
On me luckily it lasts rather long since I see people here on this forum often complain that it is too short-lived on them. If I spray it in the morning I can still smell it on me and my clothes in the evening. But the sillage is not too big. It is louder in the beginning obviously. But as it becomes drier and less lemony it also starts to stay closer to the skin.
I would say that this is really a day scent. It is really nice and delicious, but not fancy and glamorous enough for evening wear. It is really light and playful and especially the lemony opening is good for summer mornings. But the hot spicy phase makes it comforting and warm enough for colder months. I tend to wear it a lot around Christmas season since it reminds me of all the spices that we use for Christmas cooking.
This is a very nice fragrance and I love it, but it is not a masterpiece. I highly recommend it for lovers of spices and spicy scents.
Matias – :
Delicious blend of lemon, tea, and light spices. Get a bit of the rose in there too, but not nearly enough to make it a floral. Feels soft and fresh, not at all sharp like many citruses tend to be.
Only complaint, as others have mentioned, the longevity is just awful. It disappears completely within a couple of hours. Such a shame, that’s the only thing keeping it off my ‘want’ list.
arif1998arif – :
Sweet candied fruits, the old-fashioned kind that are chewy and have sugar crystals on them. You can only get them in a candy confectioner’s shoppe. And each one is sitting in a little white paper wrapper. The flowers and spices join in after a bit, creating quite a full-bodied fragrance. All for a few minutes. And then it disappears into an extremely soft hint of a fragrance, lasting about three hours before it fades away.
Malabah sits so close to my skin, I can barely notice it. The opening is delightful and almost magical, bringing one back to a childhood memory of candy shoppes and their wonderful aromas. The mix of all the notes are nicely blended to call this an Oriental except it’s not sultry enough, or seductive enough in my mind. It just needs some more boost. It’s seems as if it’s not matured enough.
Perhaps if I was craving a spicier scent in the summer, this might be a good choice, but definitely not one for the cold weather months when a stronger perfume is needed.
azovmen – :
Zinging, sparkling ginger spice. Ginger ale for adults. It comes and goes very quickly though. Wish the longevity lived up to the verve.
egamberdiev – :
Opens like an expensive bubbling lemonade with bitter grapefruit adding and…rose!!! Amazing!!! But than it fades away…
Iodissila – :
I quite like this scent, which surprises me. I immediately liked the lemony floral scent, but I was concerned it would stay sharp. It didn’t! It dried down nicely, with a lot of iris and some warmer amber/sandalwood. Occasionally I get the tea and lemon scent, but mostly it’s a pretty, light irish deepend by amber, musk, and sandalwood.
For reference, my skin loves amber, iris, and vanilla, and hates leather, smoke and rose (which are always overpowering).
Omibiazisee – :
Citrusy, green, radiant, sparkling, with a touch of green tea and hints of spices. The opening is truly magical, like a beautiful multi-faceted gemstone that’s both pale yellow and pale green in colour. I am transported to a place that looks luxurious and minimalistic.
Drydown on me smells like creamy, warm tonka with just a whiff of citrus. I do not detect sandalwood at all, which is strange since my skin is a sandalwood amplifier. The dry down is rather disappointing to me because the opening was just so brilliant.
I like it, it gives me some sort of nostalgia of the 90s, when I was a child and life was carefree.
P.S: Longevity is 4-5 hours on me. The magical top notes are gone by the first one and a half hour, leaving behind a very soft scent that lingers on like a second skin.
shepempox – :
To me it smells like coca-cola!
ltybceckbr – :
12) A lemon tea…nothing complicated.
jfn252Unlogrere – :
Man, I love this stuff. Got a sample yesterday and my nose has been glued to my wrist ever since. I do notice the lack of staying power like other reviewers which is a huge bummer considering the price.
Regardless, it smells terrific while it lasts. Sweet but not cloying at all for me (I am usually quite sensitive to overly sweet frags). Spicy and floral, yet still refreshing. The notes are so superbly blended on me that I have stopped trying to identify all the individual notes out and am just enjoying the gorgeous “picture” they paint. No synthetic notes here. In a word, YUMMY.
Also, while very sweet, I think the right man could wear this. I’m thinking it might be delicious layered with Endymion.
igor33019 – :
I was really excited to try this one. I ordered a sample of it, and it arrived yesterday morning. It opened with all the spices for me. I could smell the nutmeg, amber, and sandalwood with a hint of rose to round it out. The first twenty minutes were fabulous. Then with the dry down it settled into a sweet, powdery floral with an undertone of ginger on me.
It’s nice, but too sweet for my tastes. I can see how this can be a popular fragrance for women, but I prefer more of a spicy unisex scent. Ah well, can’t win them all.
caawaa – :
The most beautiful perfume, the most tender, and, in any “stage” of it smelled even while changing, it keeps an utmost beauty.
Never loved a smell so much, never had one for such a long time, never getting tired of it!
uszs – :
Summer has arrived in the Northern hemisphere, a time when perfumistas everywhere are wistfully putting aside their heavy hitters in favor of more sheer and gossamer scents, and many lovely spicy orientals will be neglected until the temperatures cool down. However, if you happen to crave that sort of fragrance even in the summer heat, Malabah may be an excellent choice for you.
Malabah opens with a lively gust of lemon in combination with a strong tea note that recalls the steam from a cup of Earl Grey. While the lemon disappears in short order, the tea lingers as a soft rose emerges, along with just enough ginger and nutmeg to satisfy a longing for spices without becoming heavy or cloying. The base notes consist of a light, creamy sandalwood finished with musk and amber.
Although Malabah skews feminine to my nose, it can certainly be worn by men. Because of its airy quality and light sillage, Malabah is an ideal oriental for a summer day or evening. Bonus: Gorgeous bottle.
ништяк – :
An oriental for men. Not really strong or original. I expected more by this English stylish brand.
greefrelos – :
Exotic,sweet,warm, rich ginger tea with some lemon and spices.:)The drydown is absolutely beautiful: creamy, semi-sweet spiced sandalwood.Misterious fragrance, it’s invoke the hot sunny days in the winter and perfect on summer nights too when you just want to be seductive.:) .Worth to try!
bolsheslav – :
Lemmony Spicy Summer Scent.
Also wearable during cold days, rather autumnal season.
It has a warm aspect, maybe ginger and nutmeg contribute to the warmth of this fragrance.
Tea is less evident for me.
s6ah – :
Malabah is absolutely DELICIOUS. It’s perfectly spicy without being offensive. The cardamom, ginger, and rose combine so beautifully with the fresh lemon. Cardamom is such a delectably sweet spice. People who don’t feel this perfume is spicy are probably used to cloves and cinnamon. I love those spices, but sometimes they seem too harsh. Cardamom is a whole different animal.
The tea is only in the opening. As the perfume dries down, the “lemon tea” scent fades away.
This perfume reminds me very much of Jacomo #8. I was disappointed that Jacomo seems to remain fairly cool. Malabah has a smokiness to it that keeps it warm and gives it depth. This perfume smells like the perfect cup of chai. Malabah is the embodiment of everything that I love about Indian spices. It’s so exotic. On me, it lasts several hours.
spoorsKak – :
As people have already described, this is a nice fresh lemon tea like scent, you can also smell the ginger etc but not much rose. It could be unisex I guess, but I think slightly more feminine. It is lovely if you like this type of scent but not for me.
Явін – :
A bright ginger tea with a slice of lemon is what greets me on opening.
Then jasmine, rose and spices subtley infused to offer a sweet warm heart. Orris also softens the composition leading into a gentle wood finish.
Refreshing and a good Oriental for warmer weather if you must wear Oriental in the heat.
cupidon22 – :
Faint powdered florals with a clean talc-feel underlining a strong tea with lemon scent. I really like it for what amounts to simplicity and a feeling like scented maquillage, but it reminds me a lot of scents I already own (Toujours Moi, Novaya Zarya’s Milaya le Soir) so I won’t be buying it.
kdaktv – :
I went in blind….
Yes, the name is something else. The fragrance is nothing like I have experienced before, and I have no idea when I am going to wear it.
It a sneaky soft character…then it gives you a hint of floral (more jasmin than rose). I seem to have missed the opening alltoghether. Coriander and nutmeg stay with me for about 4 hours.
I love it…just wished it lasted longer.
ArturC – :
Malabah is such a beautiful name for a fragrance. Here I was captivated by its name and imagining a rich, spicy tea scent with an element of exotic sensuality.
This fragrance, to put it nicely, is too polite and refined in my opinion. It’s simplistic, inoffensive and rather plain.
Malabah opened with some interesting accords which had me hoping this fragrance would develop into something magical. The lemony tea opening was about as interesting as it gets.
The heart is a combination of sweet and spicy, with such weak sillage that one may wonder if they’re wearing a perfume at all. I’ve had my fair share of spicy rose scents, and Malabah has left me underwhelmed in that department.
For my spiced tea fix I usually turn to the beautiful L’Artisan’s Tea for Two, not Malabah. I like strong, in-your-face kind of fragrances, and this Penhaligon’s offering is far too lady-like and quiet for my personal tastes. I find it very British.
The lasting strength is pretty poor, struggling to last half the day on my skin. It was far too discreet and lacked serious warmth and distinction. It’s pleasant, I’ll say that much, but exotic is not a word that comes to mind when describing Malabah unfortunately.
Skinuebub – :
Malabha is a wonderful concoction of lemon and deep spicies, i do not perceive rose at all. On my skin it begins to warm around this juicy lemon tea that mixes beautifully with nutmeg,ginger an dcardamom.the basenotes confer a creamy landscape to this oriental portrayed of far indian country.it makes me think of the placid flow of Gange on witch impressive temples raise near its banks.the parfume is soft and fold you in a comforting, warm, orintal cluod of mysterious communion.it is wonderful in that selfish, intim moments of consideration on yourself.
wwycka – :
Oh man this is perfect perfume!!!
At first it is more masculine. I actually thought it is male perfume, but the way he changes it is like a little miracle. I wish I could make this kind od perfume…
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