Attar/Mukhallat of the Day

[haidervalli]

Appreciate it brother! I don’t think it even does this beautiful attar justice

I couldn't articulate the scent of this attar into words it's so well blended

 

[Mr.P]

Saffron, sinensis oud, and rose layered - what a miracle - as I am sitting here at the market hoping a fragrance nerd will drop in. Got some An Najwa and Al Shareef samples here just in case anyone with the experience to appreciate these swings by. 🙂

 

[Taesik Yun]

Mellifluence day.

No.347 Tadasu No Mori Imperial
A very rounded woody, white floral, and oriental blend.
seductive, captivating.

No.271 Rever Rouge Imperial
Pink musk rose, jasmin sambac, orange flower and many others...
despite being released about 4 years ago, it's still one of my favorite attars.

 

[Shiningrobes]

Sumer Swipes

Ive been out of town and living in air conditioning all day from hotel room to car to work to hotel room in a vicious unnatural cycle. I’ve also missed easing into summer heat so I’m just roasting in NYC humidity right now. I kind of love this feeling but I usually get to approach it more slowly . Anyway, I’ve had some great ouds waiting for me that I’ve been excited to wear but I just keep burning them off completely in this heat. So today I decided to layer some spikenard, Peru balsam, Somali frank and a touch of deer musk/sandal maceration. 👀😮 What a combo! Just full blast woody armpit, mammalian perfume. Frakincense is one of my summer go tos because it seems to really sit well on the skin and I get to experience it’s full profile. This is so good I may need to blend it and see what happens. My only other real summer scent is Ensar‘s Amber (an underrated gem) which I can usually only wear in extreme heat or extreme cold. It’s so blasting and diffusive and even survives a shower. For some reason this is the time of year when I really want a projecting cloud of scent to surround me, not so much to hide my body smell but to pick it up and elevate it. Does anyone else have any summer favorites? Scents that perform best in heat or survive long enough to appreciate?

 

[Mr.P]

Just applied my first little dab of the Taif rose from Al Shareef. This is only the 4th specimen of taif oil I have smelled. Two within the last year from ward lab 😢, one of unknown origin about 10-12 years ago, and this one.

The taifi profile is something I think I have a beginner's grasp of at this point, although each of the three recent ones has its own unique character. I get a certain dry mineral quality in varying intensity in these oils that I find very pleasant. The Al Shareef oil has an elevated bright tart aspect of rose that is a bit reminiscent of verbena to me. It's kind of a citrus but not really citrus, and this oil stands out with a really appealing citrus forward delicious clean rose scent just like sticking your nose in a fresh khazanlic damascena flower (I had a small shrub of this). There are hints of some of the apple smell from the stamens as well, just enough to add some lifelike complexity.

I don't know how much this is a unique consistent signature of the Al Shareef oil, but I think the specimen I smelled years ago could've been from Al Shareef because the person who gave me the swipe had purchased a number of items from Al Shareef over the years, and the forward tart citric aspect was very similar, more so than the two other Taifi I have smelled. And also could've been ASAQ but i am not sure.

Wonderful stuff I'm a big fan of Rose oil and have smelled what seems like a lot to me and this really captures notes i have appreciated from a variety of flowers and oils I have smelled but presents them in a uniquely clean balance and that distinct Taifi backdrop.

 

[Mr.P]

Working on jasmine fragrances today. Just rebottled this into these tester vials - this is 100% pure Jasmine grandiflorum distillate distilled by yours truly from concrete I sourced from one of the suppliers White Lotus used for jasmine oils. This oil has been aging for at least eight years, probably a bit more.

Still smells pretty much like it did when it was fresh but it has been in the dark etc. Very fresh cucumbery explosive jasmine scent that is lifelike / dewy when diluted. I am using it as part of a Jasmine fragrance to good effect I think. If you have smelled the "emanation oils" of grand. from Chaitman, you will understand the general performance, as those were made in a similar way.

The second picture shows a bottle of Sambac distilled at the same time more or less in the same still. This batch of sambac had a kind of fruity aspect to it, the oil is (and was) darker than the grand (which was quite pale when fresh).

 

[Mr.P]

Here is a complete jasmine soliflor attar i just made, just a meticulously (?) worked out balance of jasmine oils. this is the top and heart note of a jasmine fragrance that I sell as a spray but I may just keep this batch as an attar. This has a fair amount of the distilled jasmines from the previous post along with the nicest absolutes I could find including sambac and grandiflorum absolutes and distillates, subliminal orange blossom absolute. The bulk of the blend is egyptian and indian jasmine grandiflorum, the sambac is there as a backup singer.

For this batch I replaced the Robertet Sambac heart with Floral Concept sambac absolute. The floral concept is considerably more potent, it will be interesting to see what this smells like in a week. I took a little risk and just substituted it one to one rather than rebalancing with the new oil Jean Carles style. Fingers crossed, not too expensive an experiment.

For the EDP spray / public consumption version, some additional oils are added to adjust the muskiness, smooth things out a bit, add some mystery and extend duration.

Once again I'm not trying to sell anything here, but this is the one place where I think people might appreciate hearing about my process and maybe have thoughts/ suggestions/ encouragement whatever.

 

[Al Shareef Oudh]

Working on jasmine fragrances today. Just rebottled this into these tester vials - this is 100% pure Jasmine grandiflorum distillate distilled by yours truly from concrete I sourced from one of the suppliers White Lotus used for jasmine oils. This oil has been aging for at least eight years, probably a bit more.

Still smells pretty much like it did when it was fresh but it has been in the dark etc. Very fresh cucumbery explosive jasmine scent that is lifelike / dewy when diluted. I am using it as part of a Jasmine fragrance to good effect I think. If you have smelled the "emanation oils" of grand. from Chaitman, you will understand the general performance, as those were made in a similar way.

The second picture shows a bottle of Sambac distilled at the same time more or less in the same still. This batch of sambac had a kind of fruity aspect to it, the oil is (and was) darker than the grand (which was quite pale when fresh).




View attachment 38921View attachment 38922

I like what you are getting up to here,

 

[Mr.P]

I like what you are getting up to here,

Thanks, greatly appreciated

 

[ETC]

Civet Cola by Elkhaldi​

After receiving my samples, I eagerly sniffed the vials (just the outside, of course) to see if I could detect any hint of a scent that would help me decide which one to swipe first. From a pure interest point of view, I was fascinated by the idea of Musk Mélange and had already decided to spray that one first. However, I kept catching a whiff of something coming from the plastic wrapping around the samples. It brought back childhood memories, and I wasn't sure whether the scent was from one of the fragrances or just the bubble wrap. After further investigation, I discovered it was coming from Civet Cola!

Mahir and I had been discussing the composition of this blend, which includes a naturally constructed cola note. I admitted to Mahir that I generally dislike cola in fragrances, but he assured me that this one might change my mind. Surprisingly, it did, though not in the way I expected.

As I inhaled deeply into Civet Cola, along with the natural cola accord, my brain finally registered what had been drawing me in: Bubblicious bubble gum. I don’t know if my mind is playing tricks on me, but it triggered a core memory of begging my mom for money to buy things from the convenience store around the corner from our church on Sundays. I’d always get that strawberry Bubblicious bubble gum.

I hope my story doesn’t detract from the fragrance because Mahir is incredibly talented and passionate about his blends. Civet Cola is much more than just a cola scent; it’s expertly blended with civet and rare oud oils aged since 2015. The best comparison I could think of is an edgier version of Ensar’s EO4, but with a much better cola note.

Overall, I’m still not a huge fan of cola in fragrances, but this scent made me go through all my samples with cola notes to make sure I wasn't overlooking something. For me, a scent that creates a new side quest on this fragrance journey is just as valuable as a gem. The quest may be much more valuable than the treasure itself.

Thanks for these, Mahir. I’m grateful.

 

[Escentually]

@mesOUD - Qirose

Divine, as if it was custom distilled for me it fits my taste so well. Minty cool sugary Kinam breezes and indolic jammy Roses. Starts off more of a herbal and minty, slightly urinal cake rose. Sweetens up so much as it sits on skin. Like a rose hard candy if that exists. Other whiffs it’s like a deer musk and rose mix. I had to swipe this on right away and it was love at first sniff. Will give it a proper testing on a fresh palette here soon.

 

[Mr.P]

ASO istanbuli rose

Very pleased to get a whiff of this oil - very nice clean bright somewhat citric otto; none of the dull berry notes found in some turkish oils in my stash. Very distinct from the ruh gulab styles i have which are more fuzzy geranium oriented than lemony and citric. Akin to the Bulgarian in some ways, akin to Taifi in others. I'm not sure where I would've guessed it to be from if I was asked to smell it blind... i am reminded quite a bit of an av-at Turkish otto I got a while back, not sure how similar they actually are.

I recall the price was pretty good on this one, without question a benchmark rose oil for anyone wanting to add one to their collection.

 

[melkhaldi]

Civet Cola by Elkhaldi​

After receiving my samples, I eagerly sniffed the vials (just the outside, of course) to see if I could detect any hint of a scent that would help me decide which one to swipe first. From a pure interest point of view, I was fascinated by the idea of Musk Mélange and had already decided to spray that one first. However, I kept catching a whiff of something coming from the plastic wrapping around the samples. It brought back childhood memories, and I wasn't sure whether the scent was from one of the fragrances or just the bubble wrap. After further investigation, I discovered it was coming from Civet Cola!

Mahir and I had been discussing the composition of this blend, which includes a naturally constructed cola note. I admitted to Mahir that I generally dislike cola in fragrances, but he assured me that this one might change my mind. Surprisingly, it did, though not in the way I expected.

As I inhaled deeply into Civet Cola, along with the natural cola accord, my brain finally registered what had been drawing me in: Bubblicious bubble gum. I don’t know if my mind is playing tricks on me, but it triggered a core memory of begging my mom for money to buy things from the convenience store around the corner from our church on Sundays. I’d always get that strawberry Bubblicious bubble gum.

I hope my story doesn’t detract from the fragrance because Mahir is incredibly talented and passionate about his blends. Civet Cola is much more than just a cola scent; it’s expertly blended with civet and rare oud oils aged since 2015. The best comparison I could think of is an edgier version of Ensar’s EO4, but with a much better cola note.

Overall, I’m still not a huge fan of cola in fragrances, but this scent made me go through all my samples with cola notes to make sure I wasn't overlooking something. For me, a scent that creates a new side quest on this fragrance journey is just as valuable as a gem. The quest may be much more valuable than the treasure itself.

Thanks for these, Mahir. I’m grateful.

thanks for posting your impressions!

 

[Ahmaoud]

Coupled with the ouds I wore today, I also was craving musk, so I went for some Ghaliya Banu Hashim from An Najwa. I actually used a very small amount, much less than I'm used to using because after readings Lou's post, I started realizing I'm being way too heavy handed with it. I recall the first time I wore it, from my sample, and a tiny dot with a glass rod was enough to engulf me in the aroma.

Around Maghrib time felt like I wanted some of ASO's Zumurrud. I've wore it multiple times, and it always reminds me of what a green musk was smell like, however today I kept on visualizing aged musk pods, as if the oil was literally "juiced" from a musk pod. I also imagined if musk were a fruit and it grew on a tree, such a ripe musk fruit could be cut open to inhale the aroma of Zumurrud 🤤

 

[Taesik Yun]

Yaaseen - Plumeria Grande
Opulent, sweet, fruity frangipani-centered blend. tropical and boozy. projection is very strong and long lasting.

 

[Ofaruk]

Gul e lal by @OsmaniaOud. Also known as Poppy flower, this precious white floral is nothing short of a top notch single origin elixir, distilled some 30 years ago by a distiller who went out of business. It has the most gorgeous delicate touch of finest jasmines one can imagine. After smelling it for the first time, my memory directly made the association with vintage Cuir de Russie by Chanel. Some of Sultan Pasha’s attars also have this glamour, directly reminscent of the bygone era of old french perfumery. White, indolic, slightly sweet, honeyed sparkle are the words that comes to mind initially. Honestly speaking, I felt excited for an oil after a long while, both by the uniqueness and strange characteristics of this oil. Well done.

 

[Mr.P]

This is a simple rose fragrance - Bulgarian otto and absolute in a base of rose "spirits" (distilled alcohol extraction of wild roses). The stearoptene from the otto crystallized overnight as the liquid cooled a bit forming a disc shaped raft.

The smell is nothing outrageous or unusual, just a very fresh bulgarian rose scent combined with a kind of cosmetic and apple-ish note from the wild rose spirits (which smell a lot like rose water as opposed to rose oil).

 

[Localyokel]

A swipe of EO Civet Musk mixed with my unscented beard balm and worked in.

Hooooo... Musk, tripura oud, civet, sandal, spice, citrus?, the smell of freshly shorn sheep's wool, a hug from Uncle Omar.

I will most likely be anosmic shortly, but my definitions of "nuclear" and "beastly" are getting a redefinition today.

 

[Ahmaoud]

Super humid and hot day today, what do I wear?

Al Hashimi Special Reserve No. 2
An Najwa Ghaliya Banu Hashim
Al Hashimi Maroke Thaqeel

Slatherings of ASO's Ward Ta'ifi on my palm and spread onto my clothes

The result? A force field of incense-y, red tinged musk from Special Reserve No. 2, the cambodi fused with the civet and ambergris really shines here, feels like it's almost glowing red, with camphor amped up from Ghaliya Banu Hashim and the roar of musk macerated in hindi oud, with a sweet, almost cola like velvet green from Maroke Thaqeel. All were applied in careful quantities, making sure I wouldn't get nose blind to them. The final outcome was sensational and when I got out and back into the car, I started to enjoy the beauty of these aromatics together, enough so that I didn't want to smell anything else, this was enough! Brilliant way to cap off the weekend 🤤

 

[Mr.P]

Super humid and hot day today, what do I wear?

Al Hashimi Special Reserve No. 2
An Najwa Ghaliya Banu Hashim
Al Hashimi Maroke Thaqeel

Slatherings of ASO's Ward Ta'ifi on my palm and spread onto my clothes

The result? A force field of incense-y, red tinged musk from Special Reserve No. 2, the cambodi fused with the civet and ambergris really shines here, feels like it's almost glowing red, with camphor amped up from Ghaliya Banu Hashim and the roar of musk macerated in hindi oud, with a sweet, almost cola like velvet green from Maroke Thaqeel. All were applied in careful quantities, making sure I wouldn't get nose blind to them. The final outcome was sensational and when I got out and back into the car, I started to enjoy the beauty of these aromatics together, enough so that I didn't want to smell anything else, this was enough! Brilliant way to cap off the weekend 🤤

This guy means business