Abjad
Abjad
80 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The blackcurrant hits with jammy intensity, immediately undercut by fig's honeyed density, but the sour milk note crashes through within seconds—a salty, almost lactic sharpness that transforms the fruited opening into something distinctly fermented and disconcerting. You're not quite sure whether to enjoy this or recoil, which is precisely the point.
Stone pine's cool, slightly mentholic resinousness emerges as the fruit fades, establishing a green, almost pharmaceutical base, whilst the rotten onion note develops into something genuinely funky—not entirely unpleasant, but definitely sulphurous and earthy. The woody base notes anchor this strange marriage, preventing either element from overwhelming the other, creating an oddly compelling balance between garden decomposition and coniferous cleanliness.
Cedar and musk form a soft, slightly dusty base that bears little resemblance to the chaotic heart, settling into something closer to a woody amber with faint savoury undertones. The fragrance becomes considerably more wearable here, though faint hints of that sour-onion character linger in the margins like a memory of something that didn't quite happen.
Abjad's Fā' is a fragrance that refuses easy categorisation, oscillating between the pastoral and the peculiar with an almost confrontational honesty. The opening pairing of blackcurrant and fig suggests something approachable—a fruited green cologne for warm afternoons—but the sour milk note arrives like an uninvited guest, curdling the sweetness into something fermented and alive, vaguely reminiscent of whey or yogurt left in the sun. It's an unsettling move that establishes Fā' as something wilfully unconventional.
The heart reveals the fragrance's true audacity. Stone pine brings a resinous, almost medicinal greenness—the smell of walking through Mediterranean scrubland—yet this sits directly alongside rotten onion, a note that transforms the composition into something agricultural and slightly sulphurous. Rather than repellent, this pairing achieves an odd naturalness, as if you've stumbled upon a neglected herb garden where decay feeds new growth. The woody accords (76%) provide essential ballast here, preventing the composition from tipping into deliberate provocation.
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3.6/5 (77)