Niche line Nejma has launched Puro and Puro Intense, two fragrances for men inspired by Havana:
On a recent stay in Havana, Christian Bousidan, co-creator of the Nejma perfume brand and great lover of cigars and rum, experienced a magical moment that transcended time; a moment so indefinable and unique that he wanted to share it with others, but could not find the words to do so… If words are not enough, fragrance must rise to the challenge. This unique feeling has been transformed into a perfume that takes us to another place, another time, like an epic novel.
Seated by the Malecón on the terrace of Havana’s Grand Hotel Nacional de Cuba, a Partagas Cigar in one hand and a glass of 7-year-old Matusalem in the other, listening to the sounds of Trova played on an old gramophone by the Buena Vista Social Club, a unique and magical moment was born and time stood still…
Puro ~ With notes of rum, lime, mint, cactus sap, prickly pear, cinnamon, cigar, mahogany and vetiver.
Puro Intense ~ With notes of rum, lime, bitter orange, cinnamon, coffee, cocoa bean, cigar, mahogany and burnt caramel.
Nejma Puro and Puro Intense are available in 40 ml Eau de Parfum. They can be found now at Aedes, $95 each. (via press release)
I am looking for a new boozy scent for fall and Puro Intense sounds well worthy of a sniff. The prickly pear note in Puro makes me a bit leery – fruity notes, excepting orange, and I are generally not friends. Hopefully the lime in both will just provide a bit of sharp contrast to enhance the other good stuff!
Good news for you, FW: prickly pear is a cactus, so I’m guessing a green note rather than sweet fruit.
Oops, I see waftbycarol already noted that below.
My newbie-ness shines through!
Thanks, mals- now I will sniff both!
We have lots of prickly pear in Texas- and it is very sweet when ripe. Ripe prickly pears are a deep hued magenta and grow on the cactus- they are syprupy sweet (sweeter than strawbwerries)- and a lot of local restaurants swirl them into margaritas and make fresh sorbet.
Hm! So which did the perfumer go for – the plant or the sweet fruit??
Yep. Cactus.
Oooh, rum&cigar, now these sound nice! Only at Aedes?
I’m sure other people carry Nejma, but I don’t know who.
i am preparing my reviews for these today ! What a coincidence . The Puro Intense reminds me of Bond New Haarlem , but the Puro is quite original and fresh , while not smelling of a Mojito , nor of pear….prickly pear is a cactus and is green rather than fruity .
Thanks!
and I got a touch of rose from it. I thought it beautiful – fresh and different, “clean” without being boring. The clean is not laundry freshener musk.
Must. smell. the. intense.
It sounds like there is potential for it to be everything I’d hoped Havana Vanille would be for me rather than how HV actually turned out in the end, at least on my skin.
I wonder why Aedes chose not to carry the rest of this line. Id rather sample the Aouds that Nejma offers.
I woudn’t mind trying both.
Wonder whether I would find these attractive on a guy. I had far too many drunkards dancing too close to me on club floors reeking of rum when I was a teen. Far too many was not that many (I wasn’t the generic teen queen beauty) – but enough to leave a gal with a queasy scent memory for years! ( :
It’s strange that they are announcing this duo of fragrances as new, since you can find them at ebay from since the last year. It’s also strange that they’re selling the nejma line as an independent brand, when in fact it was a line of Pascal Morabito fragrances.
I purchased the Puro for my boyfriend about a year ago from a very wonderful ebay seller and i saw that you can also purchase it there already again.
Prickly pear cactuses have two edible parts: the pads (nopales), which are used as a green vegetable, and the fruits, which, as helenviolette notes, are deep magenta red (at least in the Americas) and sweet. (The fruits I’ve seen in other parts of the world had orange flesh.)
I don’t remember the smell exactly (did not eat them because they have lots of hard black seeds), but it was a pleasant fruity smell. American southwest cookbooks sometimes suggest substituting green beans for the nopales. So it’s hard to tell what exactly the prickly pear element contributes to Puro – aside from an exotic flourish in the PR!
I just bought this … on EBAY!!!
yes EBAY!!!!! got it for 60.00 bucks!
Based on Yummy Descriptions alone…Can’t wait…
Puro ~ With notes of rum, lime, mint, cactus sap, prickly pear, cinnamon, cigar, mahogany and vetiver!!!!
Soon as I get it in my hands..
Will post a review of my own ….
I must react violently to the inspiration for this perfume as described. I’m sorry but what a hackneyed, trite view of Cuba. I’m surprised there wasn’t something about the vintage autos rolling by… (rolling eyes)