Raghba by Lattafa Perfumes

Ragba is a strange perfume. I had it for three years and ended up gifting it because I didn’t like it enough to wear myself. My bottle is from 2022 and seems to have dried out and become less sweet over time. It’s the perfect sweet spot for those who aren’t into gourmands and the ideal smoky vibe for sweet lovers. It reminds me of a kid wanting to drink adult vanilla. It’s not bad, but it’s become way too popular; people buy it blindly and that usually goes wrong.

Not what I expected, not my type. I find it too cloying and intense. The caramel, incense, and vanilla notes are very strong. The longevity is decent; it lasted me about 5 hours.

Spectacular. A great opening. Between the cinnamon and dry down, a delicious vanilla. I don’t appreciate the incense, but it’s well-executed for those afraid of oriental scents. It has a light oud and maybe a touch of leather from the wood. It sounds 70% like YSL Babycat. The projection is good for an hour and then settles into a personal bubble. It’s not overwhelming; I bought it blindly and have no regrets.

Every nose is a different world. It’s the most gourmand in my collection: pure brown sugar with vanilla and wood, with incense very in the background. I don’t smell oud. Despite lasting 12 hours and projecting for 6, it doesn’t seem chic or elegant to me. For me, it’s just for hanging out with friends or casual dinners. It’s so sweet it makes me hungry and I end up eating dessert, so I don’t want to wear it anymore.

Excellent for anyone who loves oud a lot. I don’t recommend buying it blindly.

I only detect a sweet, potent incense with a slightly more masculine than feminine nuance. I like strong perfumes, but I’m not sure if I love wearing this scent. It makes me feel like I just stepped out of a bonfire, wrapped in smoke. I don’t know when or where to use it. It’s not a fragrance I enjoy; the performance is poor; despite the strong opening, it doesn’t project beyond the first hour.

I had high expectations, imagining an olfactory bomb. Maybe it’s already reformulated, but the opening is potent and narcotic. I only feel a sweet, vanilla-incense scent that later becomes skin-close. If you like incense, it’s good, but it’s not for everyone. It doesn’t have great longevity, max 5 hours, very discreet with low sillage after the first hour. For autumn and winter, day or night, you have to reapply several times if you want it to last. I won’t buy it again, although it’s cheap and I don’t dislike it entirely. A bit disappointing in terms of performance and scent.

After trying it timidly before, today with the cold and bad weather, I felt brave enough to wear it. The vanilla isn’t dessert-like or cloying, tamed by the incense and woods. It’s a good scent for the cold; it wraps you up and makes you feel comfortable. What caught my attention was the price… I expected it to be perfectly 10 or 15 € more expensive. It’s super synthetic, barely any evolution, but you can tell it’s well-made. For those looking for a dark vanilla with elegance and good value, Raghba has a beautiful scent. I don’t think I’ll buy it; they’re not my favorites and I already have enough, but it was very interesting to try. Thanks to the companion Taurien for the decant. I can’t help but mention the genius of Josesan, invoking Lope de Vega to describe his experience with Raghba. Bravo.

I smell a lot of incense. It reminds me of a shop from my youth selling ‘smoking things’ 😂, run by enthusiasts who mixed incense with room sprays; it smells exactly like that. I notice the feminine side, but that’s the part I like most; still, for my nose, it’s totally unisex and depends on the look and context. It opens well, very sweet. Then comes the vanilla with incense: the incense prevents it from being sugary, which I appreciate… The oud is felt at all times, but not too much. It’s quite linear, as others comment, and can become very overwhelming. It has brutal performance: if you don’t like it and it lands on fabric, it’s a mess guaranteed (I don’t know if it stains, but I imagine it does). It’s hard to remove from the skin, requiring several soaps and water. I don’t see it as suitable for a work environment, especially small offices, nor in hot weather. In short, I don’t dislike it, though I doubt it will be my favorite or that I’ll repurchase, but I’ll finish it slowly because I’ll use it sparingly.

Another total disappointment!!! It’s the third perfume from this Arab house, the third celebrated in forums and influencers, the third worth less than a kick. I conclude that all orientals are the same in DNA and behave the same with a rapid free fall. This one opens well, magnificently for those who love the caramel vanilla touch, but after ten minutes it degenerates into a nasty licorice aftertaste. In short, I don’t see much difference from the highly praised and horrible Raghba Wood Intense; luckily, this one is softer and disappears sooner. Absolutely not recommended, much better an Abre Magique!!!!!

It’s identical to Xerjoff’s Bouquet; they are hand-in-hand the same.

Wow, what a sweet bomb! To me, it smells like pure sugar, caramelized vanilla, and cinnamon. Even though it’s a winter scent, I wear it at night in the summer and I love it.

Lattafa’s Raghba is a magnet, pure power. My son-in-law introduced it to me, and its wood and spice notes make it super masculine to my taste. Every time I wear it, it leaves an unforgettable trail in the house.

Raghba is a perfume I had to endure and get used to; it never seemed ‘horrible’ to me, but I also didn’t see it as my style. I bought it blind, and if I had smelled it first, I wouldn’t have bought it; now I’m glad, I like how it smells on my skin, it’s sweet and smoky and getting better with time. Longevity is good and the trail isn’t bad for the first few hours; after three, it sticks more to the skin but you can tell. Don’t buy it blind: it worked out for me, but it could have gone differently.

Raghba smells delicious, so analyzing the notes is redundant, but it has been reformulated like many Arab fragrances that are soon to lose their edge. Longevity and projection are short. Anyone reading old reviews or social media posts is talking about a different perfume than the current one. I see it as unisex and totally gourmand, because the woody or incensey parts don’t stand out at all. It doesn’t smell like a heavy, smoky, or oud-filled Arab scent. I think budget brands like Lattafa saw the opportunity with the rising prices of big names and are reformulating to cut costs. First, they create the hype with ‘beast mode’ scents, then they release batches of lower quality. The same old story… And Raghba is one of them.