Review: Porto Neroli by House of Alhambra perfume
Introduction
Hey guys, welcome back to Europe Diary! I’m here with another review blog, and today I’m reviewing one that you guys really requested from the House of Alhambra perfume under the LETTA umbrella—Porto Neroli.
They did a pretty blatant knockoff of the Neroli Portofino bottle, and they did a good job. So, I want to go ahead and start talking about it in terms of the scent profile. Obviously, it is cloning Neroli Portofino. I haven’t smelled that one in a minute, but I will tell you right away—once you spray it and smell it up close, you’re gonna notice a quality difference, and it’s a little synthetic. But for the price, it smells like it should cost more, so again, it’s not going to be one-to-one in terms of quality, but the scent profile, as far as I can remember, is pretty good. I like fragrances like 4711, and I would have loved for that to last because, in the summer, when it’s really hot and I want to wear something like a white button-down, that goes perfectly with that scent profile. So if you like a nice white floral fragrance, I think what you’re really going to smell in this is citrus, neroli flower, and a little bit of orange blossom as well—so white florals and citrus.
And this smells good, guys. This smells really good. Again, it’s not one-to-one with the quality, especially in the beginning, but as it dries down, it smells like a lot higher quality than the price point, which I’m going to talk about at the end. And I really mean that because Middle Eastern fragrances can really go either way when it comes to the cheaper ones. Obviously, some Middle Eastern fragrances are very expensive, but when it comes to the cheap ones, sometimes they smell really high quality, but sometimes you can tell they’re really synthetic upon the first spray. But this one, I would say, punches way above its price point. So, scent profile: if you like that white, clean floral fragrance vibe, especially for summer, this is right up your alley.
Note on Neroli
Know this though: if you haven’t smelled Neroli Portofino specifically, smell Neroli Portofino or something similar first. Neroli is a hit or miss with people. I love it, but initially, years ago—maybe like ten years ago—I didn’t care for it at all. And I think that’s typical of Neroli. It’s either something you love, or something you’re not a big fan of. Actually, there is a group that doesn’t care about it at all. But I’m at the point where I think it’s a really nice scent because it’s a nice, clean floral, and I love a clean floral. So that’s what it smells like.
Performance
Now let’s talk about performance, because I think that’s what most of you are here to ask about. Obviously, everyone knows what it’s duping. It’s very obvious.
And typically, Lattafa—or in this case, Alhambra—gets really close. It’s a real hit or miss, because Lattafa tends to do more twists on fragrances. This one, to me, really isn’t a twist, but you can probably tell because they didn’t make the bottle look any different.
So, performance is not great, but it is on par with things of this caliber. Neroli fragrances, including Neroli Portofino, aren’t exactly known for being performance beasts. I have not been able to get more than six hours out of this, and typically six hours is when it starts to fade for me. Good projection in the first hour to hour and a half, and then it comes a little bit closer to the skin. It doesn’t become a straight skin scent, but it really doesn’t differ too much from other Neroli-forward scents.
Fresh scents, clean florals, citrus scents—these don’t typically have too much staying power. So in terms of performance, although it’s not a beast, I’m going to say it’s on average with what it’s duping. I don’t have a sample of Neroli Portofino with me right now, and I really wanted to do a comparison between the two. But those of you who have Neroli Portofino know it’s not a beast. These types of fragrances don’t tend to be. So are you going to get good performance? You’re going to get an average-to-above-average performance if you’re comparing it to other Neroli fragrances like Neroli Portofino.
I don’t actually have a problem with that because this isn’t something you’re going to make a workhorse. This is something you’re going to throw on with a white button-down, or maybe a white sundress—something white. I’m in real summer mode right now, guys. I know we’re not there yet, and I’m literally wearing a sweater, but if you’re going to have lunch on a beach, this is what you’re going to wear. It’s going to be mildly upscale.
And you don’t typically need eight hours because lunch doesn’t last that long. So for what it’s used for, I think it’s just fine. You don’t need more than that.
Who Can Wear It
In terms of who can wear it—completely unisex and no age limit at all. I’m not picking up on any specific age for this, so yeah, I think anyone can wear it. Maybe the orange blossom rounds it out a bit and gives it a slight sweetness, but if you’re looking for something youthful, this really isn’t going to be it. This honestly has more of an upscale vibe, so just know that—at least in my opinion. Everyone’s different, and everyone considers “upscale” differently. That’s kind of what I smell. But Neroli fragrances tend to work really well on a lot of people. You know best if Neroli works with your skin, so keep that in mind. Again, Neroli is a real hit-or-miss floral note.
When to Wear It
In terms of when you could wear it, like I said before, to me, this is something you could wear for upscale casual events when it’s a nice, sunny day. I can’t really see this being worn in the evening. It feels more like a daytime fragrance, but if you’re somewhere hot and humid, this would probably be better to wear at night than a lot of other sweeter scents. So for the most part, I find this to be a spring-summer daytime fragrance. You can dress it up or down, but at least throw some buttons on your shirt or wear a nice white V-neck—something nice and clean-cut. That’s what I see with this fragrance. It dresses up a little nicer than a lot of other fragrances, and it’s not as playful. So that’s when you could wear it, and those are the seasons in which I would wear it.
Compliments
Compliments? I didn’t really get any with this one. I’m trying to think—no, I didn’t get any. But that’s a real hit or miss for me anyway, because it depends on where I’m wearing it. And again, it’s not a huge projection beast. So I imagine if I’m wearing it in the summer and I’m around more people, it might make a difference. Just keep in mind, I get good performance from a lot of things, and this one was… six hours was the most I got, and I feel like that should answer a lot of your questions. If you get more, good for you. If you want to use the lotion technique—where you put lotion in your hand, throw a couple of sprays, apply that, and then spray on top—you can do that for better performance. But I didn’t do that, and I think it did just fine for the scent profile that this is in.
It’s also inoffensive, so you could probably wear this to work more easily than most Middle Eastern fragrances because it really isn’t a typical Middle Eastern scent. It’s the Middle Eastern dupe of a Tom Ford fragrance.
Price Point
As for the price point, this was under $20 when I got it. They are starting to go up in price though. The Alhambras are going from $20—or well below $20, I think I paid around $18 for this—to closer to $30. Is it worth it? Yes, if you like Neroli Portofino, yes. I haven’t tried Neroli Canvas by Al Haramain. I heard that one was a beast. If you want a beast, you can look for that, but it’s significantly more expensive. I think the cheapest you could get it for was $70, and it’s harder to come across now.
Conclusion
Anyway, if you’ve tried this fragrance, comment down below. As always, I drop a blog every day, and I’ll see you in the next one.
Bye!!
