Ajmal - Ghair 2

Date palms and dry, desert heat. Sitting around on soft, embroidered cushions inside a cotton tent, watching the sunset in the East amidst the yellow sand dunes, smoking a fragrant sheesha. Those are the images  that conjure up Ghair 2 by Ajmal, one of the prominent Arabian Perfume Houses for me.

Ghair 2 is woody and oriental. The top notes are of Cedarwood with a hint of mandarin. The middle notes are of Cedarwood and Sandalwood. But the musk avoids me. The dry down is wonderful with Amber being the most prominent.

The perfumes from Arabian Perfumes Houses are not for the faint-hearted. It is bold, rich and loud.  You need to go easy on the spray or you will be drenched in the fragrance. I found Ghair 2 although not as bold as some of the other Arabian perfumes that I have tried, still quite loud.  It is not something I would wear often. In fact I need to be in the right frame of mind to wear it.

Ghair 2 is marketed as a unisex perfume. The first notes and  I would have sworn it is more for the women than men. The mandarin - cedar wood combination had a definite feminine touch for me. But the base notes  are more masculine than feminine and as time passed the feminineness of the perfume wore away, leaving me a tad disappointed. 

On a totally different and unrelated note, Ghair 2 still conjures images of fresh dates in the dry desert heat. And I realise I have a love-hate relationship with this perfume. 

Les Parfums de Rosine - La Rose de Rosine

I love roses. Simple as that. I grew up in a house with a huge garden full of roses. At least to my childish eyes that's how it seemed. I loved their smell- that heart-filling, sweet fragrance that envelops not just the outside of your body but inside as well. The feeling you get when you take gulps of the smell- just simply closing your eyes and enjoying it. But I have never found the same roses of my childhood. 

Many years later, I was walking down Marylebone High Street to my favourite haunt there - The Daunt's Bookshop- I when a lady passed me by and then I caught the wiff of that rose- yes, THAT rose smell. I am not normally in the habit of stopping perfect strangers in mid-stride to ask about the perfume they are wearing but that is exactly what I did that day, I must confess. She mentioned Rosine something and pointed me to a boutique.

Les Parfums de Rosine says, "The woman who wears it is ultra feminine, and a kind of diva. She is sensual, noble, beautiful and so refined. Her world is the boudoir and opera front seat. La Rose de Rosine is made with the sumptuous and opulent red rose."

The perfume was created in 1991 by François Robert. The top notes are Violet, Tagete, Ylang Ylang and of course roses. The middles notes are once again rose, Grasse, Jasmine and Iris. The Base notes are Tonka beans, Benzoin and Balsam.

It is powdery and vintage perfume. It's light. It's a rose perfume for the late afternoon. It feels as if the roses belong to the gardens of Empress Josephine. The first notes for me are of the violet. Its presence is very real. But of course the rose takes over, gently at first and not overpowering but slowly and surely. I could imagine the Empress walking among her roses in the morning with just a bit of dew caught on the petals. The middle notes of jasmine and iris once again blends beautifully with the rose. 

But what I like most about Rose de la Rosine is that although it sits close to my skin, it stays with me. Perhaps I am nostalgic for the roses of my childhood. But it is long lasting. And I love it. But then again, I love roses....

What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.

William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, 2. 2.

Tom Ford - Champaca Absolute

Sweet, sticky and boozy, reminding me of honey bees buzzing around syrupy nectar, I was not sure of Tom Ford’s Champaca Absolute when I first tried it. I mean, whether I liked it or not. It was the name that drew me to it. I know the Champaca flower very well (or Champa Pool as we called it in my native Maldives). I have longed for a real Champaca perfume for years.

Tom Ford describes it as, “Intricate. Mysterious. Passionate.” The website

goes on to say, “Tom Ford's love of the rare and expensive blooms, which must be gathered by the thousands to produce a single bottle of the fragrance, fueled his desire to create this floral-oriental composition. Its precious, white-flower heart is given intriguing dimension through layers of tokajii wine, cognac, vanilla bean amber and sandalwood”

The top notes of Champaca Absolute are cognac, plum wine, bergamot and dyer’s greenweed. The middle notes are champaca, orchid, violet and jasmine; and the base notes are vanilla, amber, sandalwood and marron glace. 

On the first description, I agree with Tom Ford. The perfume is intricate and passionate. Sadly, there we part company.

The champaca is a beautiful flower found in Asia that I am very familiar with, growing up in the Maldives. It has a very distinct smell that is creamy, sweet but not overpowering. My first reaction to Champaca Absolute is that it smells nothing like the real Champaca flower what so ever. While I do acknowledge this is not a soliflore I just could not find any Champaca fragrance of my childhood. So if anyone familiar with the smell of Champaca and wanting to buy a true Champaca fragrance, this perfume will be a huge disappointment.  I cannot smell any jasmine either but for that I am personally happy because I don't like jasmine in bottled perfumes although I love the real flowers. 

As I said, Champaca Absolute is sickeningly sweet, sticky, syrupy and boozy. The cognac/ plum wine notes are extremely strong. But surprisingly I didn't find it intoxicating at all. Somehow the sweet sticky smell reminds me of honey bees buzzing around for nectar in the afternoon sun. 

Having not found any real Champaca or jasmine, nevertheless, there was something extremely sweet and flowery in there, more akin to gardenia. Once the boozy top notes settle down, it is definitely floral. The floral mixes well with the sweet wine notes. 

It definitely is an evening perfume. Rather than the real tropical, champaca flowers, which we use to wear on our hair, some time, Champaca Absolute is one that I would wear for the evening. It is definitely a perfume for the evening out – with lots of friends in a high-society function that goes into the wee hours of the morning. 

The sillage is great. And it seems to last forever.

And my search for a real champaca perfume continues….

Diptyque -Oud Palao

"Oud Palao by Diptyque is a Oriental Woody fragrance for women and men. This is a new fragrance. Oud Palao was launched in 2015. The fragrance features bulgarian rose, agarwood (oud), labdanum, madagascar vanilla, rum, tobacco, patchouli, camphor and sandalwood." www.fragrantica.com

Smoky rose, burning incense and ancient Arabia. That's what Oud Palao is for me. The first burst of Oud and Rose is all enveloping and I walk not through a garden of summer roses but  a smoky souk in the evening, amidst dry desert heat and soft flickering lamp lights. I could see the women in black abayas, their kohl-lined dark eyes sparkling with anticipation, with the gold bangles exposed, lifting their slender wrists to smell the fragrance. It's what Jasmine would wear for Alladin. That was my first impression of Oud Palao.

That is when the sandalwood arrived, not the heavy, yellow, raw sandalwood but the sandalwood you get-  when you fan yourself with a sandalwood fan on a hot tropical afternoon somewhere in Sri Lanka - that faint whiff as the breeze pass with the wave of your hand. And following that a slight of camphor - just. 

Having said that, it is mostly Arabia.

Myriam Badault one of the creators of the perfume (the other is Fabrice Pellegerin)  confirmed in an interview that Dubai as a destination played a part in the inspiration for the fragrance. And clearly this shows. 

Sadly, I cannot smell the patchouli and I am a big fan of it. Even a good few hours later, the patchouli avoids me. 

It's marketed as a unisex fragrance but for me it has a more feminine side. 

12 hours later and I can still smell it. The longevity is amazing. 

Creed - Royal Princess Oud

If you can smell a colour this is how I imagine red would smell like. On that note Creed got it right.

 “After seeing the sketches for the first time, I could picture the scent in my mind,” shares Olivier Creed, Sixth Generation Master Perfumer at The House of Creed. “Particularly the red garments that graced the pages of these archival books struck me as incredibly empowering and beautiful for all women, not just of that time period. I knew Oud – a historical ingredient that is both expensive and rare – would be befitting for this magical accord.”

However, that's where I have to part company with the master perfumer.  I got a bottle of Royal Princess Oud for my silver wedding anniversary. But instead of reminding me of a historical princess,  it gave me a heady note of a hot summer night, and dancing under the skies to Chris de Burgh's Lady in Red. Yes, for me it's very much a modern day "royal" woman, powerful and sophisticated, rather than a historical one perhaps waltzing to Blue Danube.

The top notes are Sicilian  Bergamot, Rose and Violet. The Rose and Violet blends beautifully and it just envelops you. The middle notes are patchouli, iris, jasmine and vanilla. But it's the base note benzoin, sandalwood and oud that lingers and lingers on. It's intoxicating and powerful. It's fruity and full bodied.  It's warm and rich. And while Rose is the top note I can still get a very subtle hint hours later. Not just any rose. But a right royal red rose. Just in the background. Almost 12 hours later I can still smell the perfume on my skin. 

It's an Oud  for a woman in her prime. A woman who knows her mind. A woman who can wear a red, silky gown and glide across the dance floor with confidence. 

"The lady in red is dancing with me, cheek to cheek,

There's nobody here, it's just you and me,

It's where I want to be,

But I hardly know this beauty,
I'll never forget the way you looked (or smelled!) tonight"

Jo Malone - Mimosa & Cardamom

"Mimosa & Cardamom captures the bohemian spirit. Modern and mesmerising, evocative and sensual."

That is how Jo Malone describes the perfume. It's top note is cardamom, middle note mimosa and base note Tonga beans.

But for me it's not modern. It's classical. It is certainly mesmerising and sensual. It's a "South America meets Asia" perfume. It reminds me of the spice markets of Asia in early morning after a night of torrential rain. It is a woman in her prime, dressed in a flowing yellow dress, strolling in the open air market, among the woven baskets full of cardamom, Tonka beans, some still green, and grabbing a handful, raising them up to her face and then taking a long, slow breathe before releasing them slowly back through her slender fingers, letting go of the pods gracefully back into the basket and watching them mingle with the masses, one by one. And then she's gone. A flash of yellow. Then no more.  Vanished into the crowds. Leaving a faint memory of what was before.

Mimosa and Cardamom is just that. Creamy, green, spicy and beautiful. Sadly, it only lasted an hour or so on me. It's there and then suddenly not there.   It left me nostalgic. It left me hungry for more.

Would I buy it? Most definitely yes. 

Ormonde Jayne - Tiare

I love Ormonde Jayne's Tiare. It's the kind of perfume that you fall in love at first faint whiff. 

Ormonde Jayne describes it at ..


"Like precious jewels resting on dark green foliage, the unsurpassed beauty of the Tiare flower is hand picked whilst still unopened and laid in oil for 15 days to extract the fragrance. Like the woman who wears Tiare, this is a perfume that totally ignores seasons and the time of day, a perfume so artfully blended and infinitely refined... but with a dash of scintillating appeal" 


Tiare flowers

I do not know exactly what the Tiare flower smells like. It is a type of gardenia native to Tahiti and I am sure we do not have the flower in the Maldives. But somehow the smell of the perfume reminds me of "unimaa". I don't know why but perhaps it is a close cousin.


"Unimaa"

      It reminds me of the tropics on a warm, late afternoon sun, walking on the beach on that exact line where the waves come and just teases your feet but not quite get them wet, just letting your feet sink into the soft sand, and move without making a sound, the smells of flower drifting with each breeze, sharp and sweet, complementing the tropical heat. You gaze and gaze at the aquamarine stretch of silk ahead of you, yet not see anything. All you are aware of this is this enveloping fragrance, all around you like an aura as you walk.

Linda McCartney - Seaside Woman 


       The perfume is sharp and flowery, it fills you with a kind of high that surrounds you. It lasts for a good 5-6 hours. It envelops you with hints of jasmine and trails of white flowers and the burning afternoon sun on a white sandy beach. It is deep, powerful and extremely feminine. It also has Cedar, Sandalwood and Patchouli among others as base notes.