Qaed Al Fursan Untamed: The Dubai Exclusive You Can Actually Buy
In 2024 Versace released Eros Najim — a caramel, cardamom and incense flanker so far removed from the minty blue Eros that people kept checking the bottle. It was gorgeous. It was also a Middle East travel-retail exclusive, sold at Dubai airport, and for most of its life you simply could not walk into a British shop and buy it.
A year later, Lattafa released Qaed Al Fursan Untamed, which shares seven of its notes.
Draw your own conclusions. We’ve drawn ours, and we’ll show you the maths below — including the one honest difference, because there is one and it matters.
How It Wears
Top — Cinnamon, Cardamom, Mandarin, Nutmeg. It opens warm and properly spiced. Cinnamon and nutmeg do the heavy lifting — this is baking spice, mulled-wine spice — with cardamom adding a green, aromatic lift and mandarin cutting a bright citrus line through the middle of it. It’s an autumn opening. It smells like a market stall in November.
Heart — Caramel, Lavender, Clary Sage, Geranium, Cypress. This is the clever bit, and it’s where Untamed becomes more than a spice bomb. Caramel arrives — dark and burnt rather than sugary — and just as it threatens to tip into gourmand, a wave of lavender, clary sage and cypress pulls it back. Herbal, dry, slightly green. It’s the tension between the sweet caramel and the aromatic herbs that makes this fragrance interesting rather than merely pleasant.
Base — Amber, Cedarwood, Frankincense, Labdanum, Vetiver. The landing is resinous and serious. Frankincense brings a dry, smoky, almost sacred quality; labdanum and amber bring warmth; cedar and vetiver bring the dry woody backbone. This is the part that lingers, and it’s what makes Untamed smell considerably more expensive than it has any right to.
The Eros Najim Question — Answered Properly
Search this fragrance and you’ll find a fight. Half the reviews call it a solid Eros Najim clone. The other half insist it has nothing to do with Najim at all.
Both camps are right, and here’s the bit nobody explains.
Line the two up. Versace Eros Najim is built on mandarin, saffron, cardamom and clary sage, over oud, cedarwood and caramel, landing on patchouli, vetiver, incense and tonka.
Qaed Al Fursan Untamed shares seven of those notes: mandarin, cardamom, clary sage, caramel, cedarwood, vetiver and incense. The mandarin-cardamom-caramel opening, the cedar, the frankincense, the vetiver — Lattafa has rebuilt Najim’s skeleton almost item for item. That is not a coincidence, and it’s the most complete dupe in the Lattafa catalogue as far as we can tell.
So what’s the difference? One note. Oud.
Najim has oud. Untamed doesn’t — and oud is precisely what gives Najim its smooth, resinous, unmistakably Arabian weight. Take it out and the whole fragrance shifts. And look at what Lattafa put in its place: lavender, clary sage, geranium and cypress. That’s a classic aromatic accord — herbal, dry, almost European.
The result is that Untamed takes Najim’s caramel-spice-incense frame and dresses it differently. It’s spicier, drier, greener and more herbal. That is why one perceptive reviewer said it reminded him more of Burberry Hero than of anything Middle Eastern. He wasn’t wrong.
Our verdict: if you love Najim’s caramel-and-incense character, Untamed will make you very happy indeed — and for a UK buyer, it may well be the only way you’ll ever get close to it. If it’s specifically the oud you love, know that it isn’t here, and buy accordingly.
Honest Performance
Solid — and we’ll give you real numbers rather than “long-lasting sillage!”
Expect around six to eight hours on skin, with the strongest projection in the first couple of hours, softening into a close, warm scent bubble after that. On clothing it goes considerably longer — ten hours and beyond. It is not a Khamrah-style room-filler, but it is not shy either. One wearer summed it up as ideal for a two-hour dinner date, and that’s exactly right: it’s strongest precisely when you need it to be.
Two or three sprays. It doesn’t need help.
Be Warned: The Cinnamon Is Not Subtle
We’d rather flag this than have you discover it.
Untamed is properly spiced. Cinnamon and nutmeg are right at the front and they do not whisper. Most people find it warm and moreish. A minority find it sharp and a bit sweet-shop — one reviewer likened it to the cinnamon boiled sweets nobody wanted at Halloween.
If warm baking spice is your thing, you will love this. If cinnamon has ever given you a headache in a fragrance, this is not the bottle for you, and there’s no maceration or restraint that will fix that. Better you know now.
Which Qaed Al Fursan Do You Want?
Three fragrances, one name, and they smell nothing alike. This confuses people constantly:
| Fragrance | Smells Like | Character | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qaed Al Fursan Untamed (this one) | Cinnamon, caramel, frankincense, dry woods | Warm, spicy, resinous, grown-up | Autumn / winter, evenings |
| Qaed Al Fursan (2016) | Grilled pineapple, saffron, oud | Smoky, sweet, projects hard | Spring / autumn |
| Qaed Al Fursan Unlimited (2022) | Coconut, pineapple, tropical florals | Creamy, soft, truly unisex | Spring / summer, daytime |
Untamed is the cold-weather one. If you came for warm spice and smoke, this is it.
Already Own Asad Bourbon?
Worth knowing, since a lot of our customers do: Untamed sits in a similar warm-spicy-woody neighbourhood, but it is lighter and it lacks Bourbon’s chocolatey sweetness. Where Bourbon is rich and boozy, Untamed is drier and more aromatic — the herbs and frankincense keep it from getting heavy. They’re complementary rather than duplicative, but if you want only one, that’s the difference. Our full Asad comparison is here →
Good to Know
- The bottle is excellent. Square flacon, galloping-horse motif, magnetic cap that shuts with a satisfying click. It does not look like a £20 fragrance.
- It rewards a rest. As with most Lattafa, a few weeks in a cool dark cupboard rounds out the spice. More on maceration →
- Classified unisex, wears masculine. Plenty of women wear it, but be aware it leans distinctly masculine — one buyer bought it having missed that entirely.
Why Buy From Royal Scents
Every bottle is genuine Lattafa, sourced properly and stored in the UK. And you’ll notice we told you the oud is missing and that the cinnamon might not suit you — because we’d rather sell you the right bottle than process your return.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Qaed Al Fursan Untamed a Versace Eros Najim dupe?
Yes, and an unusually complete one. The two share seven notes: mandarin, cardamom, clary sage, caramel, cedarwood, vetiver and incense. The one significant difference is oud, which Najim has and Untamed does not. Lattafa replaces it with an aromatic accord of lavender, clary sage, geranium and cypress, which makes Untamed drier, spicier and more herbal than the Versace.
What are the notes in Qaed Al Fursan Untamed?
Top notes are cinnamon, cardamom, mandarin and nutmeg. The heart is caramel, lavender, clary sage, geranium and cypress. The base is amber, cedarwood, olibanum (frankincense), labdanum and vetiver.
Why do some reviewers say it smells nothing like Eros Najim?
Because of the missing oud. Najim’s oud gives it a smooth, resinous, distinctly Middle Eastern character. Without it, Untamed reads as a drier, more herbal, more aromatic fragrance despite sharing most of the same notes. Both reactions are honest — they are describing the same absence.
Is Qaed Al Fursan Untamed long lasting?
Yes. Expect roughly six to eight hours on skin with strongest projection in the first couple of hours, and ten hours or more on clothing.
What is the difference between Qaed Al Fursan, Unlimited and Untamed?
They are three different fragrances sharing a name. The original is smoky pineapple with saffron and oud. Unlimited is a creamy coconut and tropical floral scent. Untamed is a warm woody spice with cinnamon, caramel and frankincense.
Is Qaed Al Fursan Untamed for men or women?
It is classified for both, but it leans distinctly masculine in wear. Women do wear it, but go in knowing its character.
What season is Qaed Al Fursan Untamed best for?
Autumn and winter, and evening wear. Its warm spice and resinous base come into their own in cold weather.
Written and wear-tested by Shaheen Shah Abrar, fragrance buyer at Royal Scents. Tested across a Nottingham winter, on skin and on a wool coat — where it was still going strong the following morning.
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