* Unique hybrid gourmand and leather fragrance
* Unique and imaginative fragrance
* Very nice black tea note not found in any other gourmand fragrance
* Warm blend of sweet, tea, spice, leather, vanilla, smoke, incense, amber, and vanilla aromas
* Drier than most sweet fragrances thanks to a good note balance
* Perfect for date nights and social occasions
* Good for both older and younger users
* Good intro to the leather fragrance DNA for gourmand lovers
* Great masculine fragrance
* Strong performer
* Beautiful bottle presentation
* High QPR value
* Niche quality for discounter price

* Not unisex
* Notes may come off as rubber or petrol to some noses
* Love it or leave it proposition
* Absolutely unnecessary, hard to open and plain looking display case

Lattafa's Al Areeq Gold is probably the most masculine fragrance to date I've experienced. It's very unique, a hybrid leather and gourmand fragrance. That makes no sense on paper, but in practice this is unique, imaginative and beautiful. The two standout notes are a black tea note in the opening I have never experienced in any other gourmand fragrance I own. This is followed by sweet, spice, leather, vanilla, amber, smoke and incense aromas.

There are comparisons to Mercedes-Benz Club Black, Bvlgari Man in Black, Lattafa's own Oud Lail Maleki (which I also own), Valentino Donna Noir Absolu and Crystal Saffron. Al Areeq Gold is absolutely not a clone of any of these. This is its beast. It's extremely masculine and quite strong. There is a touch of sweetness but it comes off drier than most sweet fragrances due to a great balance of its notes.

This is a great intro to the leather fragrance DNA for gourmand lovers, but keep in mind that leather is probably the second most polarizing fragrance note there is, surpassed in divisiveness only by oud. Combined with the other notes here, it may come off as rubber or petrol to some noses. You have to be confident to wear this. Definitely rewarding if you can.

This is easily a niche quality perfume for a discount price. Performance is quite strong. Very high QPR value here. The bottle presentation is beautiful. Note that this comes in a display case, but the display case is IMHO completely unnecessary. It's also hard to open and rather plain looking, especially in comparison to Lattafa's outstanding display case presentations for Thouq, Eternal Oud and the Winners Trophy fragrances. Really not sure why they went for this, but if they were going to go for it then I feel they could and should have done a much better job with the case. Annoying case aside, this is an easy high recommend from me to male users.

Typically when Lattafa releases a gold and silver version, it’s safe to say the gold is feminine leaning and the silver is masculine, but this leans very masculine. Heavy leather notes with some middle eastern spices of saffron and incense. It does have some vanilla to warm it up, but not enough to be feminine, ladies be warned this is a fragrance for the men.