The brand Paris Corner is a new discovery for me. Randomly checking amazon for interesting perfumes with scent notes I like, I stumbled over the perfume “Éclair Affair” by the brand French Avenue from the United Arab Emirates. I bought it and was completely smitten. Before I had kept a distance to so called ‘oriental perfumes’ from the United Arab Emirates and other countries of the region. Reason was I had once bought a few perfumes from the brand Lattafa, and I did not like even one of them (Lattafa is the best-known and most successful brand out of the United Arab Emirates). Due to that I though none of the oriental brands would be fine for me. I had been wrong.
With careful testing I came from French Avenue to Paris Corner. One of the new perfumes in my collection was “Taskeen Caramel Cascade”. I had been a bit reluctant to buy it, as the comments on the parfumo platform were so diverse. Some people spoke of a terrible mushroom stench while others liked it. The invest was not too high, and “Taskeen Caramel Cascade” arrived at my door.
The perfume is unlike any other. It is a really unique smell. According to the website of Paris Corner the fragrance consists of the following scent notes: caramel, creamy milk, tonka bean, honey, vanilla, white musk and amber.
So far, so nice. But there is more to the perfume. From the first moment a very special mushroom note can be smelled, better described as a truffle note. That note is dominant and cannot be missed. Had the truffle been in the scent notes given by the producer, probably half of the negative comments would not be there, as people would have been prepared. Some would have not bought or tried the perfume in the first place, some others who like truffle would have done the opposite.
If you are unprepared and get such an unusual perfume to test, surprised reactions are quite normal. To me it is strange that some people do not smell the truffle/mushroom at all. Noses are different.
The overall impression of “Taskeen Caramel Cascade” is one of sweet caramel combined with noble truffle. Most of the scent notes named by the brand are there; I cannot distinguish the honey, though. The additional note, the truffle, gives an earthy note to the perfume, that envelops the wearer in a comforting bubble.
“Taskeen Caramel Cascade” is a unique perfume, very special and wonderfully wearable for any lady who does not want to smell like anybody else. The perfume has a comforting vibe without being common.
Paris Corner collection name ‘Taskeen’ means exactly that. It is an Arabian word and means peace or peaceful, also consolation, or comfort, or solace. The collection Taskeen comprises of currently 4 perfumes by Paris Corner. The first was created in 2022, “Taskeen Caramel Cascade” in 2024.
The colour of “Taskeen Caramel Cascade” is a light brown, perfectly well matched by the colour of the bottle.
The scent intensity is good and the perfume can be smelled on clothes for a day.
One of the distinguishing features of the so called ‘oriental perfumes’ is their acceptable price, ranging between 20-50 € in general. Often the perfumes are described by people as what I call ‘inspired’ scents. This means, they lean heavily on existing perfumes by far more expensive brands. “Taskeen Caramel Cascade” is certainly none of them. From my observation maybe a third of the Paris Corner scents are inspired – the rest is new.
The brand Paris Corner itself was founded almost 30 years ago in Dubai, or so the website tells us. I could not find out more about the owners or perfumers of the brand. Clearly Paris Corner has a few sister companies featured on the same website. Contrary to French Avenue’s founder, unfortunately the owners stay in the background. What they have created is a high-quality perfume world dominated by gourmand scents. Probably half of all the perfumes made by Paris Corner are gourmands. The bottles have a wide range of forms and colours. This seems to be feature of most Arabian brands – no uniform design, but rather colourful and showy forms with a lot of gold attached. It would be a mistake to assume the quality of the fragrance is bad just because the bottles look cheap. The quality of the gourmand perfumes is generally better than the quality of fruity or floral fragrances. The latter often contain an unpopular hairspray note, at least to my nose.
Paris Corner’s founders are quoted on their website with the wish to cherish memories through fragrances of the highest quality. At the same time, they wanted to bring them to the customer at an affordable price. They are definitely on the right track!