Attar/Mukhallat of the Day

[Escentually]

Sultan Pasha - Al Lail

Decided to skip Thebes I in the lineup as I wanted to give my undivided attention to that attar. Swiped this guy today, lovely opening of sweet citrus and rose, the rose could be contributing to that initial citrusy blast. Followed by the main player in this attar, this lovely heady indolic jasmine. Incredibly rich and sexy. I get slight whiffs of peaches in the top and mid, followed by a musk/civet animalic base starting to accompany the jasmine. Sort of a chypre, sort of feminine, shouldn’t be anything I typically enjoy, but as with all quality blends I can appreciate the craftsmanship of this attar. The jasmine really stands out to me as gorgeous, and is what makes a lasting impression on me with this one.

 

[Escentually]

Sultan Pasha - Thebes Grade 1

Incredible, me and grandma are enamored by this attar. A minute into swiping this she asked me to give her a swipe as well, and occurrence extremely rare in my household. I was going to write a short story post about it, but as I began to write about it I just couldn’t hold back when describing its sheer transportation powers. I knew I had to give this one my full undivided attention when sampling it.

Opens with a aldehyde and citrus opening that is fresh and reminds me of older style perfumery. Transitioning to a dewy rose. Adding to it a deeply heady jasmine, and a cool/smooth iris that gives it the vibe of being in an ancient tomb. Having not seen the light of day or any fresh air in 1000s of years.

Appearing now is the smell of the leather garments these ancient civilizations were wearing. Dusty, raw and unrefined. The life that bloomed in the flowers is beginning to decay.

Vetiver is added and it makes it feel like you’re crawling down the stem of the roses and jasmine. Getting more green and vegetal as the fragrance transitions, getting closer to the earth as you’re approaching your end. The animalic starts to appear, your flesh being starting to rot. Funky ambergris most likely adding to this beautiful scent of dead animals and damp earth.

Truly a masterpiece, forcing you to bask in the beauty of life, and accept the cold embrace of death with every swipe.

 

[Escentually]

Sultan Pasha - Café Ambre Noir

Blissful coffee, warm and comforting. Little hints of booze, there comes a bit of tobacco and leather in the mid, possibly from the cambodi oud. Warm resins and spices help the scent feel alive on your skin. All in all this is the most realistic and delicious coffee scent I’ve tried. The sillage is that of walking in your favorite café with your order already waiting for you at the table. My favorite from the samples I’ve tried so far

 

[Mr.P]

Jasmine absolute, India, MANE

This as I may have mentioned before is some crazy top shelf Jasmine absolute. I never would've guessed it was Indian in origin... I think most Indian absolutes have smelled have not been such good crops or extractions. Either very simple and sweet but uninteresting, or complex and multilayered but a bit heavy on indole and fecal notes.

Gross generalizations are always inaccurate, but speaking of jasmine regions, i was lucky enough to spend about 10 minutes having a private chat with Jean Kerleo back in 1997 or so (Jean Patou's nose back in their prime and developer of 1000 and Sublime). He said that for him the very best jasmine crops he could find outside of Grasse came from India - that other regions weren't even on the table. Also that the beautiful extractions were not so easy to find and would get bought up entirely by the perfume houses.

Another thing he said unequivocally (for those of you who get tired of the synthetic obsession over at basenotes): he emphasized the centrality of natural ingredients and the constant battle with execs to include enough quality naturals to make a decent perfume. Every perfume he talked about during the earlier presentation he gave, the first thing he would say was what percent naturals it was. As in "Great perfume, at least 85% naturals" etc.

I get it that synthetics allow for all kinds of unusual olfactory experiences and a greatly simplified blending and formulation process, but I love the fact that this master, who is truly one of the greatest noses, recognized the centrality of natural materials and the fact that synthetics are generally used as a way to decrease cost and increase profit, even if they do allow for some interesting nuances as well.

He was actually being very cynical and I think the perfume "Sublime" represented too much interference from the executives. He said he did not think it was so sublime... talked about the process where the perfume started with images in marketing and media, and then a fragrance is supposed to be made to match all of that. He also said the "juice" is the least important thing to the execs and pretty much roasted them subtly the whole time.

I wish I had asked him his thoughts on creating fragrances with a strictly natural palette.

 

[FreeSoul]

Jasmine absolute, India, MANE

This as I may have mentioned before is some crazy top shelf Jasmine absolute. I never would've guessed it was Indian in origin... I think most Indian absolutes have smelled have not been such good crops or extractions. Either very simple and sweet but uninteresting, or complex and multilayered but a bit heavy on indole and fecal notes.

Gross generalizations are always inaccurate, but speaking of jasmine regions, i was lucky enough to spend about 10 minutes having a private chat with Jean Kerleo back in 1997 or so (Jean Patou's nose back in their prime and developer of 1000 and Sublime). He said that for him the very best jasmine crops he could find outside of Grasse came from India - that other regions weren't even on the table. Also that the beautiful extractions were not so easy to find and would get bought up entirely by the perfume houses.

Another thing he said unequivocally (for those of you who get tired of the synthetic obsession over at basenotes): he emphasized the centrality of natural ingredients and the constant battle with execs to include enough quality naturals to make a decent perfume. Every perfume he talked about during the earlier presentation he gave, the first thing he would say was what percent naturals it was. As in "Great perfume, at least 85% naturals" etc.

I get it that synthetics allow for all kinds of unusual olfactory experiences and a greatly simplified blending and formulation process, but I love the fact that this master, who is truly one of the greatest noses, recognized the centrality of natural materials and the fact that synthetics are generally used as a way to decrease cost and increase profit, even if they do allow for some interesting nuances as well.

He was actually being very cynical and I think the perfume "Sublime" represented too much interference from the executives. He said he did not think it was so sublime... talked about the process where the perfume started with images in marketing and media, and then a fragrance is supposed to be made to match all of that. He also said the "juice" is the least important thing to the execs and pretty much roasted them subtly the whole time.

I wish I had asked him his thoughts on creating fragrances with a strictly natural palette.

Really interesting thank you! I have been questioning whether my obsession of trying to stay away from synthetic ingredients to try making blends was the correct path to try and stick to or whether it was a lack of knowledge as to why synthetic ingredients have a place.

 

[Mr.P]

I do think modern perfumery in a broad sense depends on a balance of natural and synthetic ingredients.

I like the idea of natural only fragrances just for the fun of it - to try to imagine or re-create what things might've smelled like in the past, even though these may be impractical for many applications and not appreciated by the masses

 

[Ashfaque]

Ghaliyah Banu Hashem (Al Najwa)

You are immediately greeted with a big dollop of deer musk, piquant spices, an ambergris laced metallic floral and a delicate astringent accord. There is also a leathery and slightly balsamic oudy hum in the background.

Slowly the oud begins to show its magic. There is a rose without any of its zesty, minty or mentholic notes. It comes across as gently sweet with oodles of incensy qualities that I associate with some old school super incensy Malaysian ouds (both chips and oils) – also common (at least the impression) in some Taifi and Kashan rose oils.

There is a toned-down camphoraceous smell, clearly identifiable when inhaled longer. It, oud and deer musk amplify rose’s inherent incense qualities and controls the potential intensities of the rose and other sweet elements in it. Ambergris is quite prominent from the start. It slows everything down and allows rose and other oils’ less volatile molecules to display their beauties more elegantly. For example, I noticed some violet-, raspberry-, blueberry-like top notes at the start of the trail (around 4th hour).

Once the top-notes diminish, a delightfully eccentric fruity floral concoction peppered with incenses becomes very apparent. Imagine some purple and red berries smells with some sweet musky and oud qualities. In cooler weather this part also imparts a bitter medicinal quality that I associate with some very special ouds.

It is quite a shape-shifter. Depending on the weather, the overall olfactory transition varies quite a lot. For example, in cooler weather, the overall musk accord has a higher proportion of incensiness than the oudy balsamic profile. In the warmer weather, it is the opposite. The musk is sweeter and less incensy in warmer weather (32°C outside with 85% humidity) and the opposite for a more tempered weather (less than 25°C outside with lower than usual humidity – iirc, in mid-March).

One of the best things a composition can achieve is to make its wearer wondering what he be smelling in a composition and getting different things at different times s. t. weather and other factors. Jaabir (the perfumer) has convincingly achieved it here with flying colours. My early morning wear for today.

 

[Escentually]

Sultan Pasha - Âme Sombre Grade 1

As many of heard this is Pashas homage to Amouage Tribute. A legendary attar of the past that many revere, and I have never smelled.

On the swipe, you get this spicy blast of frankincense and rose. Spicy and citrusy sharp. It smells dark and not like the sweet inviting rose I’ve tried in many other scents. Saffron introduced here and there yet overshadowed to me by the loud frankincense dominating the scent.

Upon drying a bit, this frankincense and rose allow some other notes to breathe, a spicy/smoky amber fossil and a leathery Indian oud. A touch of salty ambergris adding to the already intense spiciness of the already mentioned ingredients.

Blending here to me is masterful after the top notes quiet down a bit. Everything cohesively playing a role to create this zesty spicy accord. Not something I can see myself wearing everyday, because I feel as if this scent should remain special.

 

[Himanshu Sharma]

Homemade blend:

Frankincense
Bourbon Vetiver
Javanese Vetiver
Patchouli
Sandalwood
Vanilla
Labdanum

So, good

 

[An Najwa]

Ghaliyah Banu Hashem (Al Najwa)

You are immediately greeted with a big dollop of deer musk, piquant spices, an ambergris laced metallic floral and a delicate astringent accord. There is also a leathery and slightly balsamic oudy hum in the background.

Slowly the oud begins to show its magic. There is a rose without any of its zesty, minty or mentholic notes. It comes across as gently sweet with oodles of incensy qualities that I associate with some old school super incensy Malaysian ouds (both chips and oils) – also common (at least the impression) in some Taifi and Kashan rose oils.

There is a toned-down camphoraceous smell, clearly identifiable when inhaled longer. It, oud and deer musk amplify rose’s inherent incense qualities and controls the potential intensities of the rose and other sweet elements in it. Ambergris is quite prominent from the start. It slows everything down and allows rose and other oils’ less volatile molecules to display their beauties more elegantly. For example, I noticed some violet-, raspberry-, blueberry-like top notes at the start of the trail (around 4th hour).

Once the top-notes diminish, a delightfully eccentric fruity floral concoction peppered with incenses becomes very apparent. Imagine some purple and red berries smells with some sweet musky and oud qualities. In cooler weather this part also imparts a bitter medicinal quality that I associate with some very special ouds.

It is quite a shape-shifter. Depending on the weather, the overall olfactory transition varies quite a lot. For example, in cooler weather, the overall musk accord has a higher proportion of incensiness than the oudy balsamic profile. In the warmer weather, it is the opposite. The musk is sweeter and less incensy in warmer weather (32°C outside with 85% humidity) and the opposite for a more tempered weather (less than 25°C outside with lower than usual humidity – iirc, in mid-March).

One of the best things a composition can achieve is to make its wearer wondering what he be smelling in a composition and getting different things at different times s. t. weather and other factors. Jaabir (the perfumer) has convincingly achieved it here with flying colours. My early morning wear for today.

Brother @Ashfaque
Truly Honoured to read this detailed review of Ghāliya Banū Hāshim
I'm glad that you're enjoying it.

Thanks

 

[Mr.P]

The wild invasive roses are now in full bloom so I think today is my day to gather as many as I can and distill what i can from them. I will mostly be making hydrosol I assume. The water I'm using is pure spring water from a geothermal spring that is my home water supply. Nice to have this coming out of the top so I don't really need to do much to get good water.

I also harvested a bunch of catnip but I was not able to get anything useful out of it last year with my still.. So I'm going to dry this and make it into a stuffing for a bed for my old cat

 

[Mr.P]

Just got two decent sized sacks full of rosa multiflora blossoms. I'm trying to decide what to do here because this is a narrow window of opportunity. Maybe two more days of flowering remain.

Option 1: make a large volume of hydrosol. I would be able to keep some and sell some at the market near me.

Option 2: make an attar by distilling into a receiver filled with sandalwood oil or santalol isolate. The isolate is a very appealing option because it has a relatively mild scent and I can get it for about two dollars a gram. I have about 30g on hand and I'm not sure if that would be enough to really do this properly.

Option 3: make a kind of rose essence or cologne by macerating in 95% alcohol and doing a low temperature (bain marie) distillation. With the amount I collected I would be able to do at least a dozen charges of the same "spirits" and I have a feeling this is probably the best way to go.

My attar/mukh of the day is going to be whatever I cook up with these rose blossoms.

 

[Mr.P]

I am trying another one of An Najwa's blends - this one is "Khaltat Baghdad".
For whatever reason I struggle with reviewing attars and mukhallats. it would be one thing if I wore and had smelled many over the years but really 99.9% of my fragrance focus is on studying the individual materials, simple accords, and trying to improve my own compositions. So it is rare that I wear a perfume or mukh on my skin and my understanding of these fragrances reflects that.

First thing I will say is that this house has a very distinctive style. There is a theme that ties the last few fragrances i have smelled together - kishmir, mahgreb II share a sweet peachy quality, though it is slightly different in each and the blends are all distinct from one another.

Now I'm going to get all the ingredients wrong because I'm hit and miss at dissecting what goes into these types of attars... and generally only a small number of individual things stand out with An Najwa's mukhs which suggests to me that methodical/gradual blending approaches are used here. Or maybe it's due to the wisdom of the ages with some of the old texts that are part of the DNA of this stuff.

There is the same peachy smell that I had thought was due to osmanthus in mahgreb ii and kishmir but apparently is an accord of a variety of other materials. It is a kind of leathery peachiness in this attar, and this is very much what grabs my attention with this these blends. This is surrounded by what I am guessing is a blend of agallocha, musk, and perhaps ambergris. One thing I'm realizing is that musk and ambergris in blends do not necessarily reveal themselves as such because their scent combines with other things and transforms. this has some of the creaminess that in the past brought Sandalwood oil to mind without smelling exactly like sandalwood oil. I think now I realize that that is maybe coming from the agallocha / ambergris / musk base in An Najwa's attars.

The overall accord is unique and is triggering some kind of early memory but I can't quite figure out what the association is. when I inhale deeply I am reminded of a time when i was maybe 5 to 9 years old... and it just hit me as i am typing - during my summers I stayed at a small cabin in the woods and we would set up a tent for my friends and I to hang out in, and this is the smell of being in that tent combination of the fabric and the natural forest smells I guess. When I smell this, I am in that tent. I had forgotten about the tent and that aroma.

That particular aspect of the aroma is just a small fraction of the overall scent of course... as I have been going in and out of my house I have been repeatedly struck by the richness of the musk / ambergris(?) base that supports the peachy leathery top notes. makes it worth taking multiple trips outside just for that purpose. I wonder what my neighbors think - ducking in and out of the house and smelling my arm haha

I had a similar experience with one of mesoud's blends. I think it was one of his early prototypes, the vial was marked with a letter but no name. The top/heart note accord in that fragrance was somehow the exact smell of one of my childhood friend's homes. I cannot smell that fragrance without feeling like I'm in their house.

That's two lost memories retrieved thanks to the mysteries of this style of perfumery.

 

[Mr.P]

Hours later and I'm sitting here smelling saffron and wondering where the saffron is coming from, and then when I put it on my skin, and whose saffron extract it was? I'm racking my brain here trying to figure out when it hits me that a strong saffron note has been sitting there in the middle of the peachy leathery musky oud the whole time, and as the top notes peel away becomes dominant. This perfume has structure!

First stage: peachy leathery musk etc

Second stage: more prominent musk and oud and somewhat woody

Third stage: saffron, saffron, and more saffron. Musk/ agallocha / ambergris(?) still there carrying through. I put a "?" after the ambergris because I don't specifically smell it but I THINK I smell something that is the result of ambergris, agallocha and musk together. I was surprised to have saffron pop out like that that is a pleasant surprise and makes me realize how useful saffron could be as a base in my own fragrances. 🙂

And I still think I smell sandalwood but in this case it might be because (i just remembered) first thing this morning I had applied a swipe of the Mysuru 2 from al hind and that is chipping in to the aroma a bit

 

[Mr.P]

Just applied a swipe of this after a long time. Wardlab ward al ta'ifi Wadi Mahram KSA 2023

It hit me entirely differently this time than the previous times I've sampled it. Some broad diaphanous natural sophisticated dry rose - wine like. Hit me totally differently tonight. I have no idea if I really see the full picture of this oil and what it smells like to an expert on oil from this region for example. What a mystery.

 

[Ofaruk]

A Rosy affair with brother @OsmaniaOud.

Today I had the wonderful opprtunity with a collection of rose oils from different regions laid out on the table.

Each one is promising a distinct aroma with different facets. From Bulgarian Rose to Istanbul and Burdur the diversity was intriguing. On top of that these are aged oils estimated to be 30+ years old.

It was fascinating to see how the same “flower” could evoke different emotions and memories. To say the least, I am marveled at the complexity of rose oils once again and how they can vary from city to city even in the same country. At the end of the day, Bulgaria is only 300 miles away from Istanbul.

Exploring these beauties with brother Usman was a delightful experience that deepened my love for rose as an individual who grew up in a culture where one can enjoy the scent of rose from drinks to desserts; and from celebrations to religious rituals.

 

[An Najwa]

Hours later and I'm sitting here smelling saffron and wondering where the saffron is coming from, and then when I put it on my skin, and whose saffron extract it was? I'm racking my brain here trying to figure out when it hits me that a strong saffron note has been sitting there in the middle of the peachy leathery musky oud the whole time, and as the top notes peel away becomes dominant. This perfume has structure!

First stage: peachy leathery musk etc

Second stage: more prominent musk and oud and somewhat woody

Third stage: saffron, saffron, and more saffron. Musk/ agallocha / ambergris(?) still there carrying through. I put a "?" after the ambergris because I don't specifically smell it but I THINK I smell something that is the result of ambergris, agallocha and musk together. I was surprised to have saffron pop out like that that is a pleasant surprise and makes me realize how useful saffron could be as a base in my own fragrances. 🙂

And I still think I smell sandalwood but in this case it might be because (i just remembered) first thing this morning I had applied a swipe of the Mysuru 2 from al hind and that is chipping in to the aroma a bit

Thanks for sharing your experience Mr. P
Yes there is Mysore Sandalwood used in this, I used a Grey Ambergris + Mysore Maceration in this.

 

[Simla House]

Went for the original attar formulation of Jungle Kinam by EO today.
Dense green vertivers, earth, spices, and wafts of florals.
Creates a nice aura when the breeze hits it 👍

 

[Himanshu Sharma]

I had macerated @RisingPhoenix Tibetan Musk in his Mysore Deep and Buttery

Took first swipe today after roughly 2 years.
Musk has been totally consolidated. This was my first time playing with dry grains, was a little concerned since the color change in the oil was not the same as I get when macerating semi dry grains. But, it smells beautiful.
Super refined.

 

[OsmaniaOud]

View attachment 37862
A Rosy affair with brother @OsmaniaOud.

Today I had the wonderful opprtunity with a collection of rose oils from different regions laid out on the table.

Each one is promising a distinct aroma with different facets. From Bulgarian Rose to Istanbul and Burdur the diversity was intriguing. On top of that these are aged oils estimated to be 30+ years old.

It was fascinating to see how the same “flower” could evoke different emotions and memories. To say the least, I am marveled at the complexity of rose oils once again and how they can vary from city to city even in the same country. At the end of the day, Bulgaria is only 300 miles away from Istanbul.

Exploring these beauties with brother Usman was a delightful experience that deepened my love for rose as an individual who grew up in a culture where one can enjoy the scent of rose from drinks to desserts; and from celebrations to religious rituals.

Jazaakallahu Khayr for the kind words.

Pleasure was all mine as I got too learn alot from you.