Attar/Mukhallat of the Day

[Goodness Nose]

two daps of Dark Indo patchouli from RisingPhoenix and one dap of Bulgarian lavender from EB. the way the lavender opens reminds me of peppermint. the way candy canes smell. then, it opens into its illustrious florals. the way the patchouli opens with its total lack of greenness lends to a cocoa-esque sparkling leather. the way they open together is probably my favorite non-oud right now.

 

[Goodness Nose]

trying @Al Shareef Oudh "Jumaana" today. I've had this for a while have sniffed it a couple of times, but haven't shared my impressions before. Interesting take on a Jasmine fragrance - the jasmine is unusual and does not bring typical absolutes or ruhs of sambac, auriculatum, or grandiflorum to mind. It is a unique airy very tropical and fruity smelling jasmine, and I believe I have a small sample of the jasmine oil that was used in this blend (posted about that earlier). There's something modern about that jasmine layer on one level, while the blend overall is primal thanks to the oud and other heavier materials it is composed of. I have not reviewed ASO's notes on this so I am not sure what's in it... there is an oudy aspect, a quite noticeable carmelized sugar aspect, soft / diffuse tropical floral aspect... sugary heavy oudy jasmine. The notes merge into a "cosmetic" type dry down (can't come up with a more precise association). This aspect is pleasant enough but a bit more feminine/ makeup-like than I am comfortable wearing personally.

I'm heading over to the ASO site to see what's in this... (website mentions musk as well)

i was given a sample of this by Clyff6ix! i reeeaally liked the jasmine in this one.

 

[Bay Oud]

Parfum de Ciel by Kyarazen layered with some siberian deer musk maceration from Mesoud. I am always drawn to this attar by Kyarazen on colder days where I need to focus on some tasks. The deer musk maceration adds so much more depth and makes the dry down even more enjoyable.

 

[players02]

today i swiped a pure white ambergris tincture i have tinctured in december of 2020, evaporated the alcohol in december 2021, retinctured it again, evaporated it again a couple months later, then retinctured it again in 2022. evaporated the alcohol again in 2023 and retinctured it again LOL one might ask why? becauce i feel that with the evaporation leave a lot of the bad notes(fecal etc) even tho this specific amber didnt have much of that. anyway...the aroma today is mindblowing! very very sweet, absolutely ZERO animalic / fecal not even a trace of them. just pure sweetness, some yellow flowers and rocky beach pebbles kind of salty in a good way aroma. really shocked at how this evolved. i wish i had tinctured much more.

Can we see a photo of this? I'm wondering if it's clean like EO's Jamaican Ambergris. 🙂

 

[language scent]

Can we see a photo of this? I'm wondering if it's clean like EO's Jamaican Ambergris. 🙂

sure i will when i get home. it is a pure ambergris tincture

 

[language scent]

Can we see a photo of this? I'm wondering if it's clean like EO's Jamaican Ambergris. 🙂

The black on the left is very thick tincture a half gram is inside the liquid of each. The white is the lighter color one and it is a gram of white ambergris inside the liquid which is 10ml and the jar to the right is grey ambergris that I have had a couple years brewing that I will eventually heat so that certain constituents will dissolve in the alcohol then I will filter it, evaporate alcohol then retincutre it and repeat this another two times before eventually just putting it in 10ml alcohol and letting it brew for years to come like the other gems.

 

[players02]

The black on the left is very thick tincture a half gram is inside the liquid of each. The white is the lighter color one and it is a gram of white ambergris inside the liquid which is 10ml and the jar to the right is grey ambergris that I have had a couple years brewing that I will eventually heat so that certain constituents will dissolve in the alcohol then I will filter it, evaporate alcohol then retincutre it and repeat this another two times before eventually just putting it in 10ml alcohol and letting it brew for years to come like the other gems.

Kept in a cool dark place? Also why not seal the rest of the bottles with parafilm tape?

Would be interesting to smell a drop or two of that.

 

[language scent]

Kept in a cool dark place? Also why not seal the rest of the bottles with parafilm tape?

Would be interesting to smell a drop or two of that.

It’s been in a dark place. The paraffin is not needed as even when I try to open the vials the cap stuck from the wax of the amber. I just treasure the white really much so I put the paraffin. It really isn’t needed.

 

[Mr.P]

Rose perfume just for daily enjoyment - had to add a few drops of the Hassyan Ruh al Ward from @An Najwa - such a nice oil 😍. Also included some of Mesoud's rose centifolia absolute as well as Peyan Bertrand absolute

 

[Mr.P]

Doing my demo time at the market. A customer expressed interest in Amber fragrances and happened to pick up my demo bottle of benzoin tincture. Give me a chance to reflect on benzoin some more - this was made from yamada matsu Siam benzoin (20% in ETOH). It's a really interesting material and worth experimenting with. It forms a sticky barrier on your skin, has some preservative qualities, smells like a mixture of vanilla, amber and light musk and civet. The latter part surprised me and this animalic aspect was what captivated the interest of the customer. I'm going to see if I can come up with a tasty simple benzoin dominant amber for this customer and others like her. 🙂

 

[Al Shareef Oudh]

Doing my demo time at the market. A customer expressed interest in Amber fragrances and happened to pick up my demo bottle of benzoin tincture. Give me a chance to reflect on benzoin some more - this was made from yamada matsu Siam benzoin (20% in ETOH). It's a really interesting material and worth experimenting with. It forms a sticky barrier on your skin, has some preservative qualities, smells like a mixture of vanilla, amber and light musk and civet. The latter part surprised me and this animalic aspect was what captivated the interest of the customer. I'm going to see if I can come up with a tasty simple benzoin dominant amber for this customer and others like her. 🙂

View attachment 41132

Those bottle stickers/labels give a very Japanese vibe, if that was your intent you got that bang on, 100%. Looking at them makes me conjure a Mr. Miyagi figure for the man behind the table. (I know you are Italian), you have got the minimalistic vibe squared off, well-done.

 

[Mr.P]

Those bottle stickers/labels give a very Japanese vibe, if that was your intent you got that bang on, 100%. Looking at them makes me conjure a Mr. Miyagi figure for the man behind the table. (I know you are Italian), you have got the minimalistic vibe squared off, well-done.

There's a story behind all of that. It's more about the Wabi Sabi aesthetic as it relates to natural perfumery, and this is more of a line of perfumes than my brand overall.

I have some good friends from Japan who helped me with some aspects of the brand idea, and my daughter studied Japanese in an immersion program for 6 years when she was young so we spent a lot of time learning Japanese and studying the culture.

Very much enamored of many aspects of Japanese culture, hoping to make fragrances that reflect this. 🙂

 

[Mr.P]

Making an ambergris extract. I have read about using sugar or sand to get effective grinding of ambergris in a mortar and pestle, and this is what I have done in the past. I had read some folks here saying that they just ground directly with no problem so I tried that... the outcome was meh, should've stuck with the old methods. Quite a bit sticks to the mortar and pestle as the old books warn. A pinch of sand or sugar would've kept all of that from sticking. Now I have to try to scrape it off or dissolve it. Part of the problem is I'm doing this on such a small scale that the residue on the mortar represents a significant percentage of what I put in there. had I been grinding up 3 or 4 g it would seem inconsequential.

 

[Al Shareef Oudh]

Making an ambergris extract. I have read about using sugar or sand to get effective grinding of ambergris in a mortar and pestle, and this is what I have done in the past. I had read some folks here saying that they just ground directly with no problem so I tried that... the outcome was meh, should've stuck with the old methods. Quite a bit sticks to the mortar and pestle as the old books warn. A pinch of sand or sugar would've kept all of that from sticking. Now I have to try to scrape it off or dissolve it. Part of the problem is I'm doing this on such a small scale that the residue on the mortar represents a significant percentage of what I put in there. had I been grinding up 3 or 4 g it would seem inconsequential.

View attachment 41144

The mortart looks decent so you should be able to use your solvent to wash it off with minimal wastage.

Not all ambergris are same. The very old white ambergris can be bone dry and wouldn't stick like that.

Never the less, better than sugar, is sand, especially white clean beach sand.

 

[AlHind Oud]

That's more sticky than it looks. I had the same experience so I just prefer to break into tiny pieces and macerate, over the time the chunks gets dissolved in the oil or just grind carefully. You can also use a hand held cheese grater if you need to powder it down.

 

[Xerohome]

White Kyara by Agar Aura
simply stunning. a spicy gourmand woody cocktail with the right amount of musk. one advise, if you have green kyara from AA you don't need this one.

 

[Ahmaoud]

Making an ambergris extract. I have read about using sugar or sand to get effective grinding of ambergris in a mortar and pestle, and this is what I have done in the past. I had read some folks here saying that they just ground directly with no problem so I tried that... the outcome was meh, should've stuck with the old methods. Quite a bit sticks to the mortar and pestle as the old books warn. A pinch of sand or sugar would've kept all of that from sticking. Now I have to try to scrape it off or dissolve it. Part of the problem is I'm doing this on such a small scale that the residue on the mortar represents a significant percentage of what I put in there. had I been grinding up 3 or 4 g it would seem inconsequential.

I wonder if the technique Ken from Craft Incense (or maybe it was Dr. Incense) shared when it came to grinding Frankincense might help here, exposing the material to some dry ice and then proceeding to grind it ?

 

[Mr.P]

I wonder if the technique Ken from Craft Incense (or maybe it was Dr. Incense) shared when it came to grinding Frankincense might help here, exposing the material to some dry ice and then proceeding to grind it ?

I would think so especially if you had stored the mortar and pestle in the freezer!

 

[Mr.P]

The mortart looks decent so you should be able to use your solvent to wash it off with minimal wastage.

Not all ambergris are same. The very old white ambergris can be bone dry and wouldn't stick like that.

Never the less, better than sugar, is sand, especially white clean beach sand.

In this case I am using natural santalol as the carrier. Just for the heck of it I put a pinch of turbinado sugar in the mortar and it did a pretty good job removing and absorbing the residue. I won't to try to mix this into the santalol - maybe just make a tiny little vial of tincture since alcohol will be better for rinsing out the mortar than santalol.

 

[Shiningrobes]

Ive learned so much since joining this site and reading comments, looking through ingredient lists, sampling and diving into the archives. Not to mention gaining access to so many high quality materials through site vendors and references to outside vendors. I’m so broke right now that I can’t buy anything new and am instead diving into the large amount of materials I’ve gotten in the last few months. I’m consolidating knowledge now for when I can afford more materials and start making my own attars. I have a couple of things ready and waiting to scale up when the time comes. In the meantime I’m playing with accord notes and scent combos. Right now I’m absolutely in love with:

Oakmoss, civet and tuberose-
The tuberose I have now has an earthy component that really pairs well with the oakmoss and the civet and oakmoss is just so weird and perfect together. The challenge is making something with oakmoss that doesn’t just smell like a chypre. Going to explore more with maybe orris or one of my fave combos of orris, osmanthus and vetiver. A real heady, overpowering heavy hitter that could round out the oakmoss/ tuberose/civet in small dose. This will probably end up getting an oud/musk component but I want to explore all the different directions it can go for now.

Patchouli, musk, immortelle, vetiver!!!!!!-
I love patchouli and I love the immortelle drydown and have played with combining the two in the past. Adding musk to the patchouli is mind blowing on its own. The fact that patch and immortelle are both ‘musky’ just lets me accentuate my favorite aspects of all three. The patchouli is already old but this makes it smell ancient, golden, precious. The vetiver is so subtle here and I would be happy leaving this as is, but today for some reason I decided to add a microdot of ylang complete after applying and wowzers. The ylang gains a spicy note and somehow brings back the butterscotch, bitter maple of the immortelle opener and prolongs it. Not sure if that’s going to be the final top note or if it even needs one. Somehow I stumbled on the perfect proportion of the main ingredients and I may not end up tinkering with it. Any sweetness comes solely from the patchouli and the whole is drifty and diffusive while the skin scent is pure carnal thump. The skin scent is almost offensively intimate.