Nostos is Etat Libre d'Orange playing it safe, delivering a powerful oud-and-leather scent that’s a dead ringer for many others. It's a love-or-hate affair, with its extreme projection and divisive "burnt rubber" or "hospital" notes polarising opinion.

Desert Spice is Aromara's take on Penhaligon's Cairo, a rich saffron-rose-oud composition from the brand's Trade Routes collection. Aromara keeps the saffron and rose signature intact but simplifies Cairo's more intricate spice-incense interplay into a broader, warmer amber-oud base, losing some of the original's precision but keeping the exotic character that made Cairo distinctive.