The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Manta landed in 2025 from the house of Ibraheem AlQurashi, part of the brand's LTHR (leather) collection. The brief behind it feels deliberate. Take the weight and warmth that Arabian houses do better than anyone, then crack the door open with something bright at the top. That's where the tropical fruit and blackcurrant come in. They arrive with a juicy, almost candied sweetness, the kind of opening that pulls you in before the deeper notes have even registered. Then the composition pivots. Saffron threads through the fruit, lending it a spiced, slightly leathery warmth that prepares the nose for what's coming underneath. Benzoin and oud take hold, the fruit darkening into something closer to jam than fresh tropical.
What makes Manta structurally interesting is the inversion of expectation. Most leather fragrances open with smoke, birch, or ink, then look for warmth later. Manta flips that script. Blackcurrant and tropical fruit lead, giving you a dewy, almost confectionary brightness, before saffron threads through like heat lightning. Then the architecture shifts entirely. Benzoin and oud pull the composition into resin territory, raspberry adds a bruised-berry sweetness that bridges fruit and leather, and the base lands in a heavy stack: amber, leather, patchouli, vanilla. This is not a linear progression from light to dark. It is a bait-and-switch, dressed in Arabian perfumery's richest materials.
The evolution
The first fifteen minutes are deceptive. Blackcurrant and tropical fruit arrive with a sweetness that suggests something almost cheerful, the saffron adding a thread of something warmer underneath. It smells like the opening should belong to a lighter, brighter composition. That illusion lasts maybe twenty minutes. Then benzoin and oud start pulling the light down. Raspberry joins, giving the fruit a darker, jam-stained quality rather than the fresh-tropical character it had at the start. By the one-hour mark, the leather has fully taken over. Not sharp leather, not cracked-sole leather, but the warm, slightly sweet leather of a bag that has absorbed years of use. Patchouli and vanilla build underneath, the amber amplifying everything. The drydown is where Manta earns its reputation.
Cultural impact
Manta has drawn comparisons to Oud Maracujá by Maison Crivelli, a fragrance that similarly pairs tropical fruit with oud and leather. That parallel speaks to how the composition sits at a crossroads between different perfumery traditions, taking the warmth and resinous depth associated with Arabian houses and pairing it against an opening that feels distinctly contemporary. Wearers consistently cite its performance as a standout, with longevity and sillage well above average for the leather oriental category.
