The Hawas timeline is strange. The original fragrance was released in 2015, and was an instant success, ranking highly with the dudebros on the interwebs, stirring the chattering class on YouTube and Instagram, etc. I would argue that Hawas was just as popular in that space as Aventus was five years prior, generating the same kind of sexually-focused buzz, with every other guy claiming it was a "panty-dropper." Somehow I remained oblivious to it until many years later, which I don't regret.
Apparently, Rasasi was also oblivious, because they waited eight years to release the first Hawas flanker, simply named "Ice," in 2023. Like, what? Why wait nearly a decade to follow up a smash hit? And it gets better: since Ice, Rasasi can't stop churning out Hawas flankers. Very weirdly, none of these flankers, with the exception of Ice, smell anything like the original fragrance, and nearly all of them are obvious cash grabs with no point other than to hook the Gen Z influencers into providing the brand with free advertising and millions in sales revenue. I tend to cast a forgiving eye on YouTube influencers because commercial influencing is, like it or not, a legitimate way to make a living on the platform, and if you're successful enough to have brands send you free bottles just so you can flog their wares on a monetized channel, more power to you. They certainly flogged the hell out of Hawas Ice. Nearly every influencer claims Ice is better than the original.
It turns out, Ice is most certainly not better than the original, and in my opinion it isn't even as good. Where the original Hawas smacks my nose with its salty grape soda vibe and remains detectable all day, garnering occasional compliments, Ice just smells like a thinner version, with less grape fizz and way more salt. Under all the salt is a pallid fruitiness that rapidly (within ten minutes) fades into what smells like rubber tubing. Utterly unremarkable on skin and in the air, Hawas Ice only remains detectable to me for about four hours, at which point it fades to a very intimate skin scent. I'll again give credence to the YouTube influencers who praise Ice, and acknowledge that it's a pleasant variant of the theme, but give me its big brother over it, any day of the week. Not recommended.