Abdul Samad al Qurashi

I have recently become quite interested in Middle Eastern perfume, or at least, the concept of it. I say this because up to now, my only exposure to this style/idea has been through sampling the Amouage line and trying some of the Montale ouds. However, I have not tried anything from perfume houses that are, to me at least, slightly more exotic and less accessible. Price is probably one factor, particularly with real oud, which can be prohibitively expensive, and another consideration is that unknown factor; the fear that who you're buying from over the internet is some fraudster. Perhaps I am too conservative. In any event, I ordered some samples of oils/blends through The Perfumed Court that are made by Abdul Samad Al Qurashi. At least I think they are. I get a bit confused by perfumes made, marketed and sold in the Middle East because the names can be quite confusing to a westerner, and very often an outlet may stock a number of perfumes by different manufacturers. I ordered the Al Qurashi Blend, Musk a Ajeeb oil and an Oud Musk attar. 

The blend is a wonderful classic combination of oud, saffron and rose, with some woody notes. If this sounds familiar, you're right. If you've ever tried a Montale oud, such as Black Oud, for example, this will be a very familiar association. In fact, in many ways the blend is almost a dead ringer for Black Oud, but where it excels is in the superior blending, at least in my opinion. It opens with that medicinal, band aid oud and saffron accord, perhaps a bit less pungent than Black Oud, but quite assertive nevertheless. The saffron is beautifully  aromatic, spicy and dry, and there's just enough dewy, slightly sweet rose in the background to balance the oud and saffron. Whereas Black Oud assaults one's senses, Qurashi blend feels like a better-balanced, more refined take on oud, rose and saffron. What I find interesting is that after the initial medicinal opening, the oud shifts to a more woody, slightly musty/mushroomy accord, quite similar to that encountered in By Kilian's Pure Oud. I apologise if I am using western oud perfumes as a reference point, but I have not been fortunate enough to try the real stuff and therefore I have no idea whether the Qurashi blend contains any real oud, or if it is entirely synthetic. But I don't think it matters; it smells wonderful anyway. The rose thickens to a jammy, sweet syrup, which counterbalances the drier and woody oud perfectly. In the dry down the notes all soften considerably, until what is left is a dry wood and oud accord, which is quite lovely.  I find Qurashi blend to have more clarity than Black Oud. I detect each one of its notes more distinctly, whereas Black Oud muddies the waters a bit, in my opinion. I do like Black Oud, but I just find the Qurashi blend to be a more sophisticated and clearer take on this classic combination.

I am not going to review the two musks I sampled; this will be the subject of another post, as I think they warrant separate discussion. However, what I will say at the outset is that I found these musks to be totally confusing, and they have possibly permanently altered my perceptions of musk. If that sounds confusing, it is! All I do know is that as someone who enjoys musk, particularly animalic musk, and admittedly has only really tried a number of more mainstream/Western-style musks, I could not get my head around these. 

To end, I would certainly encourage you to try some of the Abdul Samad al Qurashi blends or oils. I'm sure some would be hit or miss, but they are certainly different and very interesting.

Guerlain - L'art et la Matiere and Spiritueuse Double Vanille

I recently ordered and received some Guerlain samples from The Perfumed Court. I was particularly interested in trying some of the  more exclusive fragrances, from the L'art et la Matiere range, for example. I ordered Bois de Armenie, Cuir Beluga and Spirituese Double Vanille (SDV). It was only later that I realised that SDV is not in that particular range, but fairly exclusive it still is, or to me anyway. I'm not sure if anyone from the UK is reading this, but is it just me, or are these sorts of fragrances really hard to find here? I mean, Guerlain is only a two-and-a-half hour train journey away, is it not? Again, these are probably carried at one or two of the large London stores, but I'm not personally aware if they are. Anyway, onto the fragrances. I'm not really sure what to say. When I recently ordered these and some of the Chanel Exclusifs, for some reason I thought the Guerlain ones would in all likelihood impress me, while I was prepared to be let down by the Chanels. In fact, it was the opposite way around and Chanel pleasantly surprised me while Guerlain left me feeling well, not let down exactly, but underwhelmed. It's not to say that these were not good, but they just did not do enough to hold my interest. My main issue was with longevity - I was dabbing, but even so, they were very subdued on my skin, SDV in particular being the guilty culprit. I ought to say that I don't judge the quality of a fragrance purely on longevity, but when you are paying these sorts of prices, one (or I in any event) would expect a bit more than a whisper. So below are my initial impressions. Like with all the perfumes I try, I will give them a second chance, because you never know what another day's wearing might bring.

SDV - this opened quite boozy and with loads of vanilla. Within a few minutes there was a nice vanillic, woody smell left on my skin, but decreasing in strength by the minute. Within an hour I was left with a faint vanilla accord, but I had to sniff really close to detect this. I wore SDV on a warm, muggy day, so perhaps this had something to do with it. To be fair, I don't think this is the sort of fragrance (at the risk of pigeonholing) that is suited to summer. I should really be wearing this on a cold, damp autumnal or winter day. Perhaps I didn't apply enough, I don't know. I do know that SDV has a lot of fans and conceptually, I can see why. It did smell good, for the hour that it lasted.

Cuir Beluga - I didn't keep any notes for this one, but it was very nice. It was a fairly subtle, leathery scent, quite sophisticated and not too powerhouse leather. What I enjoyed most though was a slightly salty, briny note that came through every now and then. Perhaps this was ambergris, but it blended surprisingly well with the leather.

Bois d'Armenie - this started with quite a sweet, boozy, vanillic hit and for a short while I wondered if I had been given another sample of SDV. However it quickly tapered off to a surprisingly dry, incense accord, with perhaps a hint of bergamot that created a slightly spicy interlude. The incense is very smooth, sophisticated and is not particularly gothic or church-like. There's a bit of amber in the background, slightly sweet, which might be labdanum and what I later realised is probably benzoin. At this stage I noted a similarity to Profumo's Mecca Balsam. It also becomes slightly dusty in feel, almost like the odor of books that have been stored for a while and have gathered dust, but not mouldering away. What I find really interesting about Bois d'Armenie is that far into the dry down it becomes much sweeter again, with vanilla at the fore and I even detect a slight boozy return. It's like it has done an about turn. The vanilla is very nice and reminds me a bit of SDV again and even slightly of Havanna Vanille by L'artisan. There is a faint lactonic milkiness at the very end.

I think of the three, Bois d'Armenie struck me as the most original and I particularly liked the way it ended up almost back where it started, after a journey of incense. SDV was disappointing and I will need to try it again to prevent it being sin-binned. Cuir Beluga is nice (what a bland word) but other than that brininess that I liked, it could to my nose be pretty much any smooth leather on the market. It's well done and I certainly like it but I probably expected a bit more.

I think what I find a slight letdown overall is that with such interesting possibilities, with strong and slightly mysterious ingredients, they all wear a little light and unobtrusively. I expected them to be a bit more assertive and it's probably no coincidence that the one I liked the most, Bois d'Armenie, did have the best longevity and sillage, but having said that, it was still relatively subdued.


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I'm a Tom Ford winner

Now, I'm not sure what you are thinking, but the title of this post does not mean that I've embraced Tom Ford as a Dale-Carnegie type guru. All it means is that I have won a coffret of Tom Ford mainstream samples, pictured here. These are a fairly generous size, 4ml each. The only one not included is Grey Vetiver, so what  I have are Black Orchid, Black Orchid Voile de Fleur, Tom Ford for Men, Tom Ford for Men Intense and White Patchouli. One of our local department stores, Fenwick, was offering this as part of their Beauty Week promotions and on a whim I entered the free draw. I do a lot of this these days; I'm such an opportunist. I've tried these all before, as they are readily available here in the UK, but I thought 4ml of each would be a nice thing to have. One thing that strikes me writing this is how difficult it is to find the Tom Ford Private Blend perfumes here. I assume one of the major London stores carries the line, possibly Harrods or Selfridges, but I'm not sure. If any of you know, please let me know.

So not really a major perfume review today, but I was quite chuffed at winning this. I hardly ever win anything. Although I did win a round of cheddar cheese once. It came in the post wrapped in its big old cheesy bandage. I must have been the only entrant.... Have a good week everyone.

Image credit: punmirls.com

Sonoma Scent Studio part 2

So, part 2 of my sampling of some of the Sonoma Scent Studio fragrances. My final three were Winter Woods, Ambre Noir and Fireside Intense. My general feeling about the line so far is that most of them would wear far better in the cooler months. I could particularly see myself sampling these again in the autumn. Nevertheless, I tried these on fairly warm spring days and these are my initial impressions:

Winter Woods - This opens quite dry, woody and spicy, with no citrus note embellishment. I think I detect a bit of incense, but mostly it is about light smoke, wood and spice. I thought I detected a floral note too, which seemed a bit rooty, so perhaps iris, but I honestly don't know for sure. It started to become quite sweet after a while, with what I think is a hefty dose of vanilla. I sort of like this, but I need to try it again in cooler weather. I couldn't quite figure out what was going on here.

Ambre Noir - this has to be the strangest amber perfume I have smelled. It opens with a weird, skanky note. It's hard to describe, but it smelled to me like slightly rotting vegetation, like stems that have stood in water for too long! It's one of those perfumes that is oddly compelling and repulsive at the same time, so certainly no lack of interest here. The amber seeps through soon enough, but it is a bone dry amber, no sweetness at all, and almost smoky. I think I detect a floral, rosy note, but again, quite dry, more like potpourri rather than dewy fresh. It develops a little like Rose Poivre or even Voleur de Roses, so I wonder if there's not perhaps a bit of patchouli in here as well. I need to try this one again. It's very strange, but a take on amber that I haven't encountered before, so I am quite excited about this.

Fireside Intense - I was scared that this would turn out like Tauer's Lonestar Memories. I don't mind that one, but I wasn't in the mood for scary, pungent birch tar, and thankfully this one turned out to be possibly my favourite of the lot. It opens with an almost boozy, cognac-like note and quickly becomes peppery, with spicy cedar and a faint birch tar accord. It is nice - smooth, rich and slightly smoky. I'm reminded a bit of Gucci 1 for men, the very pencil-cedar one, but richer, sweeter and more well-rounded. The sweetness fades in the heart, when the smokiness intensifies, but this is not an acrid smoke, but more like the fumes released from dying embers. I get a lot of cedar too, and what I think is guaiac wood. In the dry down it stays nicely woody. I'm getting a cedar and sandalwood combination, I think, and suddenly a number of fragrances spring to mind, such as 10 Corso Como and Let Me Play the Lion in particular. Overall, I think it is a lovely fragrance.

So, overall verdict? As I said above, I think a lot of these would perform better in the cooler months, but I like the overall style of the line. I think my two clear favourites are Incense Pure and Fireside Intense. The most quirky is Ambre Noir, while the slow burners may be Winter Woods and Wood Violet. I didn't care much for Sienna Musk I'm afraid, while Tabac Aurea reminded me too much of the Histoire 1740  perfume, with its immortelle feel, which I'm not a huge fan of.

La Via del Profumo - Balsamo della Mecca

I've come to the Mecca Balsam party quite late, the fragrance having received much attention and praise back in February and March this year. The notes include labdanum, benzoin, frankincense, agarwood, tonka, tobacco, damask rose and Indian tuberose. The creator behind La Via del Profumo, Dominique Dubrana, claims to use only all-natural ingredients in his perfumes. A number of people have marveled at the strength and longevity of Mecca Balsam, but actually, when you look at the list of ingredients above, it is no wonder, as they are all powerhouse notes, most with very good fixative properties. The perfume opens with what I perceive as Indian spice notes. I haven't seen a full list of notes, but I detect a lot of coriander, cumin and what I think is clove and maybe even fenugreek. It's quite heady, with an underlying current of ambery sweetness and perhaps some rose and what I thought was saffron, but perhaps not. I think I detected some oud, or agarwood, but it is by no means a dominating note and this is not an oud-centred fragrance. It's in the heart where Mecca Balsam really became compelling and interesting for me. It veered off in a smoky, resinous direction, with a strong frankincense note emerging, slightly musty and even off-putting. It reminded me ever so slightly of the style of incense in Etro's Messe de Minuit, all moldering church building. It becomes very complex, with the labdanum adding an ambery, deep sweetness, which with the rose, tobacco and incense, is quite amazing. The dry down smoothes out quite a lot, becoming quite woody, yet that slightly musty incense note persists almost to the very end. Late in development, one is left with the lingering labdanum, tinged with incense and a faint tobacco-amber woody sweetness. The late dry down reminds me a little of Bois d'Armenie by Guerlain, which I have also recently sampled, but perhaps a bit richer and more complex. I think the similarity might stem from a similar use of Benzoin. 

Mecca Balsam is a compelling and very interesting perfume. It is complex, rich and has extremely good lasting power on my skin, and good sillage too. I can see why many people have raved about it; it is very well made. One thing that surprises me is that the tuberose completely escapes me. I think I generally know the smell of tuberose quite well, but if I hadn't read a note list, I would not have detected this at all. I'm not sure if others have found this as well. Overall, I think Mecca Balsam is definitely worth trying, and looking at Profumo's website, a 16ml bottle only costs about 34 euros, which is not bad for a niche perfume. It comes in 50ml size too, but I always like it when perfumers allow you to purchase smaller bottle sizes; I really think its the way to go.


Image credit: scenthive.com

Chanel Cuir de Russie

I've arrived at my final Les Exclusif sample, Cuir de Russie. I know there are more in the series, but I did not order them. I've wanted to try Cuir de Russie for quite some time, having read quite a lot about it over the years. I had a notion that it would wear a bit like Caron's Tabac Blonde, which I adore, and in the dry down I can detect similarities, if not in notes, certainly in spirit. However, Cuir de Russie if anything reminds me of Bandit, but without any green or chypre notes. It has that same feline snarl to it, albeit toned down a touch, in true-to-style chic Chanel fashion, but with the masterful presence of civet, it definitely has a rich, animalic edge to it. I actually find Tabac Blonde less feminine than Cuir de Russie, particularly with its smoky tobacco and hay notes, but having said that, Cuir de Russie is not overbearingly feminine, and I did not feel uncomfortable wearing it. The notes for Cuir de Russie are orange blossom, bergamot, mandarine, clary sage, iris, jasmine, rose, ylang-ylang, cedar, vetiver, styrax, leather, amber and vanilla. For such a complicated set of notes, I find that it opens on my skin with quite an aldehydic haze and a soft, almost velvety leather note. I don't detect any citrus, but again, dabbing rather than spraying might mute these notes. There is a significant floral undertone, but the only distinct notes on my skin are iris and ylang-ylang, which Chanel loves to use. I find that at this stage the fragrance is ever so slightly soapy, but in a good way and even buttery. There is a voluptuousness to Cuir de Russie, which I didn't think I would find in a Chanel perfume and I suspect this richness is a result of the deft use of civet, augmenting the other notes. At this stage, once the leather intensifies, I feel that spirit of Bandit emerging, but as I said, with no greenness to it at all. There is a vague skankiness to Cuir de Russie, but it is subtle and just bubbling under the surface. The leather is identifiably in the Russian Leather style, but not aggressively so and I find it quite smooth. Into the dry down Cuir de Russie wears like a skin scent and to my nose even smells like skin to an extent, sexy female flesh just slightly blushed with the heat of passion. It does become slightly smoky too. Longevity is good, although it has very muted sillage for me. I really like Cuir de Russie, but I can't help feeling that it would be so much more devastatingly sexy worn by a woman. 

At the end of my Les Exclusifs sojourn, I find that overall I am probably pleasantly surprised by the quality of the fragrances I have sampled; for some reason I was expecting to feel let down. As I mentioned in a previous post, I loved Coromandel and Bois des Iles, and Cuir de Russie is a hit for me as well, although I don't feel my skin does it as much justice to it as the former two do. 28 La Pausa is good but the only one that disappointed me was 31 Rue Cambon. I know this is just my opinion and I'm sure many others would disagree with my rankings.

Image credit - taken from Grain de Musc blog

Chanel 28 La Pausa and 31 Rue Cambon

Following on from my recent foray into the world that is the Chanel Exclusifs, today I am sampling 28 La Pausa and 31 Rue Cambon. La Pausa opens very dry, with a rooty, carroty accord of iris. I don't smell much else for the first few minutes; I do perhaps detect a slight fizz of aldehydes, but it is muted. I haven't found any firm list of notes, but some have listed iris, violet, white musk, vetiver and even pink pepper. I must admit, I struggled to categorise La Pausa. The iris is the dominant note, but once the opening passes, it is neither particularly woody, rooty nor powdery. If anything it is a hybrid of all of this. In the heart La Pausa continues fairly dry and I do find this a very subtle and muted perfume. It has that Chanel "edge' of sophistication and elegance, but I find it almost too light and restrained. I wish it had more 'oomph'. The dry down continues as a fairly light and now woody iris. If anything it takes on a more fruity accord at this point. Someone referred to La Pausa as smelling a bit like Estee Lauder Pleasures, with a fruity white musk component, and I definitely do feel a slight Lauder vibe going on here!

31 Rue Cambon opens very green, even creamy to my nose. It has a much more forceful aldehydic fizz in the opening and is a bit sweeter. To me the green smells like galbanum, although I can't see this listed anywhere. It reminds me a bit of no. 19, albeit a lot smoother and restrained. I found it quite feminine at this stage. In the heart there is still quite a lot of greenness to Rue Cambon, but it also becomes mossy and loses the sweetness. It does wear like a chypre, but to me it smells nothing like Mitsouko, to which it has been compared. I'm not sure what to make of Rue Cambon. I have read a lot of favourable reviews of it, and it seems like it is the favourite Les Exclusif of many, but frankly, I don't get it.

Of the two, I prefer La Pausa. I especially like iris as a note, and if I'm honest, green perfumes are not my favourite genre. That's not to say that Rue Cambon is not good, but it isn't me. Having said that, so far neither of these two is really up my alley. I much prefer Bois des Iles and Coromandel, both of which made an immediate impact on me, whereas I'm feeling almost guilty about being lukewarm about La Pausa and Rue Cambon. It just goes to show how different everyone's taste is. I will give both of these another chance, as I do with most fragrances, because you never know - it could all be so different on another occasion. For the time being, Rue Cambon goes into my purgatory basket, while La Pausa is just on the right side of the fence.

Image credit: www.fashion-forum.org