Best Areej Le Doré Oud Luwak II by Areej Le Dore Alternatives & Similar Perfumes

The lush Indonesian rainforest is home to the palm civet, a small mammal that eats coffee beans which, once excreted, are harvested for their malty flavour. Kopi Luwak is inspired by this connoisseur’s beverage, with rich coffee notes mingling with animalic civet. Incense and oud underscore the fermented darkness, with dark amber and aged vanilla adding a sweaty sweetness.

Stone Cap: 100% Picasso quartz

As the sun sinks over the dense tropical forest, civets emerge warily from the thickets. Under a carpet of narcotic flower blossoms, a smattering of coffee berries peppers the ground. The moist air is heavy with mossy aromas that penetrate every crevice, but the musky scent of the civets dominates; their marked territory daring one to enter at one’s own risk.

Civet pays homage to the age-old ingredient, civet, as well as chypre perfumes of bygone days – perfumes that refused to be intimidated by raw, alluring, animalistic musks. Civet is a moody and complex brew entwined in mystery. It opens with a spicy floral accord, threaded through with dark coffee tones. Slowly it prowls forward, unraveling base notes of leather, moss and vanilla that combines with distinctive civet musk to create a bewildering, sophisticated scent with the promise of a sultry nighttime rendezvous.

Perfumer: Shelley Waddington

Nocturne is a startling coming-together of unusual elements: red wine, leather, roasted coffee and pistachio. Blackcurrant — bright, acrid and somewhat minty — lends a whiff of petrol when combined with oud. Nocturne’s effect is rich, green, dark and weird.

Oily, big and blissful, Black Afgano is all the browns: coffee, hashish incense, oud and tobacco. The notes refer to substances that induce temporary bliss, but with Black Afgano’s considerable hangtime, the pleasure of this perfume is practically permanent.

“Shaan” is a Sanskrit name meaning greatness and majesty. The  perfumer intertwines the name with the legend of the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose, the conquering leader whose final battle was foretold by the oracles. Ember Shaan is a fragrance that shifts and evolves, reflecting the concept of victory intertwined with sorrow. With a variety of ouds and frankincenses, this extrait explores how a bright fire fades into a smouldering ember, while also deepening into something more profound. Coffee, rose and sandalwood combine their rich effects into an olfactory syrup that infuses the woods, while spicy opoponax and stony gunpowder add punctuation and surprise.

Perfumer: Prin Lomros

Please note this 2020 formulation by Prin is a new vision of the Rhinocerous theme and is not a replacement (neither conceptually and nor technically) for the prevous discontinued formulation. 

Prin Lomros tells this bold leather story in his favorite witchy herbal incense style with a few nods to the first chapter (the boozy theme of rum and whiskey).

Zoologist's concept for the perfume:

"Under the searing gaze of an unrelenting sun, the ornery rhinoceros surveys his dusty territory. A tough, battered hide is his armour against the erosive onslaught of sand, whipped into a frenzy by a hot, merciless wind, as he stands strong, defending his domain.

On the first spray of Zoologist Rhinoceros, heady notes of sweet rum and whiskey collide with mellow coffee before the scent settles into its lingering journey. Rich leather, oud and incense are carried in a cloud of smoky red tobacco along a dusty amber path, dotted with hints of patchouli and moss. Rhinoceros is a sophisticated and robust scent that makes a bold, unapologetic statement. Go forth and explore your world. Don’t ask permission."

Zoologist Rhinoceros does not use animal products.

From the heart of the Mediterranean scrub, where the air hums with resin and sun-drenched leaves, Ladano rises — a fragrance shaped by the slow pulse of Cistus ladanifer. For centuries, this golden resin has been gathered from the wool of animals, breathing its scent into fabric and skin. Here, labdanum glows rather than burns — thick, balsamic, embracing. It’s animated by tickly aromatics: licorice, celery seed, cinnamon leaf and immortelle.

The dogged prospector strikes gold. Upon discovering a payload rich with nutrients, the scarab returns home. Face down, guided by the sun, it propels the tightly-packed dung backwards to a burrow lined with dusky spheres. Underground, it tunnels into the ball to deposit a precious egg. In time, the larva hatches and feeds, until it emerges, fully formed, and instinct drives it down the same dusty trail to repeat the cycle.

Like Egyptians entrusting sacred mummies to tombs for the journey to the next life, a scarab burying its treasure marks the dawn of new life. Zoologist Sacred Scarab captures the mystique of Kyphi incense, a blend of blue lotus, raisins, plums, olibanum, myrrh, and juniper. Once bound with wine and burned in ancient rituals, today this divine scent guides your spirit on a path to discovery and rebirth.

Perfumer: Sultan Pasha

Astra Infinita is Latin for “endless stars”, and this extrait is a celestial blend of brightness and depth. It opens with a citrus supernova: Sicilian lemon, bitter orange and Calabrian bergamot, softened by the golden ripeness of mango and the narcotic bloom of Reunion ylang-ylang.
Then Siberian birch and Indonesian clove meet black pepper and cedarwood, a core that feels both grounded and otherworldly. The base is slow-burning and eternal: Spanish labdanum, Cambodian oud, Mysore sandalwood and Bourbon vanilla. These stars are not distant. They’re drawn to you.

In fleeting top notes Myrtle, fragile as the promises of love, encounters the preciousness of saffron, merging into an indomitable desire for eros.

The luxuriant notes of honey are exalted by the jasmine night breeze that pervades the home of the chaste lovers, among the frescoes, on a thalamus of rose petals.

The mysterious notes of incense and sweet vanilla blend with the oriental contamination of amber and labdanum that fades into the ancient aroma of agar wood, sealing the essence of Castiamanti, expression of rich Pompeii.