Attar/Mukhallat of the Day

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Babylon : 15ml 30%
I named it this because of the feeling it gives. Imagine entering palace of the golden gate, in Al Mansur’s in the round city, Baghdad. You’re welcomed by the beautiful gardens, full of flowers separated with big, sweaty slave guards staring at you, a cool, green breeze tickles your nose.
You catch a whiff of the palace’s incense as you enter it. The singers (قيان) welcome you , dripping with rose water and musk, you enter the feast hall, and your nose is hit with the sweetness of saffron, the fermented fruits of the oud aren’t far from thick, undiluted Babylonian wine. You’re then taken to the library, with its chairs made of old, dense sandalwood, and the antique books, and dusty books enter your nose smoothly.
As you leave the palace the trail behind you tries to pull you back in…

This new perfume I made is completely improvised, and it turned out better than expected.
The ingredients are
Indian traditional oud, a green camphor resinous Malaysian, thick, sweet fruity Cambodian oud.
Mysore sandalwood, Kashmir 192121 (Kashmir saffron in rosy sandalwood), Bangladesh ginger lily.
Siberian musk macerated in Kashan rose, and jasmine sambac absolut from India.

At first you get this floor cleaner type of scent from the jasmine which I didn’t like, I hope it goes away with aging, then you get a warm welcome by the rose and musk and ginger lily, the rest is all fitting so welll that you can’t figure out the blended notes separately.
It’s all smooth, velvety floral Oud from start to finish.

I’ll smell this again tomorrow morning with a fresh nose, then again in a few weeks.
Edit; changed name
 
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Mr.P said:
I made a very interesting attar. I'll share the details - not trying to be self-promotional, this isn't for sale. Perhaps the ingredients will inspire someone. this one I made as an exercise, starting with somebody else's ingredients and a fragrance I wasn't so crazy about. I iterated it a dozen times into something that I find pleasant, and after sitting overnight I am really surprised at how pleasant it is and I'm glad I forced myself out of my olfactory comfort zone.

Basically a floral bouquet of jasmine, rose, violet, sweet cassie, and ylang, a generous dose of orris butter, over a base of mysore and indonesian sandalwood (vacuum distilled Indonesian to add some sandalwood top notes!). Other notes include clove, ambrette seed, bergamot, amyris, tonka. This also has some of my amber perfume added for that unique sweet heart note, and the amber contributes patchouli, vetiver, styrax, benzoin, CK, Peru, Tolu, clary, cypress, sweet orange, vanilla, and labdanum among others. Probably my most complex scent so far. One thing I've learned… Violet leaf is a beast. No amount of discretion is enough when it comes to this material and it makes up the smallest part of the blend, which is about 35% sandalwood, 25-ish % florals, 5% citrus, 35% everything else.

This has a very cosmetic like scent as part of the mid notes - kind of interesting how traditional it smells. I think that comes from the violet and the orris.


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Sounds like a ambery goodness. I wish I was as brave as you are. When I experiment I usually make measely 1-2 gms - fearing things will go terribly bad. 😀
 
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Damascus (An-Najwa, 2024)

Note: Whilst writing these notes, apart from roses, I did not know what is in this soliflore. I wore it 5 times whilst recovering from flue.

To me Damascus (An-Najwa, 2024) smells like a rose soliflore. Initially slightly watery rose with less intensities of various tops notes - namely minty/mentholic, citrusy, and camphoraceous (& jammy mid) notes - typically found in rose and geranium oils. The astringent and slightly honeyed and smoky smell of rose buds, green leaves are there too. Slowly the honey gets more prominent. But the bitter/astringent rose facets counterbalances it. Behind all this I noticed a slightly white floral type creamy qualities – could be coming from jasmine, or aquas and green ouds (more on the oud later).

There is an ambrein/cleaner ambergris type humid air and a sweaty but clean skin qualities in the background. Need to try my rock rose oil neat, but somehow at this point it reminds me the trail of a Spanish rock rose oil I bought many years ago! Underneath, I get the gentlest vinegary sour rose facet. In some cases that vinegary rose smell, for example can be amplified in the presence of ambergris and similar diffusive materials. But thankfully here it is not – suggesting oils were carefully produced, perfumer carefully controlled it or both.

This is just a speculation on my part, I think Muhammad Jaabir (the perfumer) toned down the most volatile rose notes and the aforementioned sweet (and potentially prominent vinegar note in some rose oils) because their intensities could potentially cloud/fog other subtler facets of roses - namely it's fizzy, incensy, softer herbaceous and musky facets.

Underneath the rose party, I get a soft greenish oudy notes with associated subtle aquas fruity notes - so far, I found similarities with jamrul, dragon fruit, rambutan, some berries, plums, violet candy. The reduced intensities of jammy and raspberry-like sweet notes (that are prominent in some rose oils from Turkiye, Bulgaria and few other places - s.t., terroir and distillation methods) helps in displaying those aforementioned slightly ephemeral aquas fruity qualities.

For me ambergris plays a very important role in it. For 2 hrs there is this silvery and post-rain clean sea breeze (read with very little saltiness) that feels almost metallic - but all of it comes across as a hum. As expected, the aforementioned clean gris smell is more prominent in cooler weather. In warmer times, the ambrein/labdanum-like trail is more prominent instead. A bright but subtle lemony note reminds me of the top notes of F. sacra and elemi with the clary sage like astringencies. At this point Damascus reminds me of the heart note of Spell 125 (Papillon), albeit with less intensity and very little (if at all) punchy qualities.

After 2 hours, a gently green, sweet and fizzy and subtly vanilic Indo-Malay oudy smell becomes very clear to me. More specifically, this part reminds me of some Malinau, Maluku, Malacca and Letye oils I experienced in recent years. Depending on the region and distillation parameters, almost all rose oils display some incense, sweet and musky qualities at difference degrees. In Damascus the rose incense is prominent with the other two playing supporting roles. The inherently gentle vanillic incense and balsamic qualities of the oud(s) add finer touches. In the end (4th hour onwards), we are left with that Indo-Malay oudy trail (at reduced intensity), a subtle musky quality (found in some rose ottos and absolutes) supported by the cleanest ambergris hum.
 
Ashfaque said:
Sounds like a ambery goodness. I wish I was as brave as you are. When I experiment I usually make measely 1-2 gms - fearing things will go terribly bad. 😀
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I made 12 iterations in a total volume of less than 1 ml each before the larger batch of 11ml concentrate! Dilutions at 10%, and I use a micropipette to work in very small total volumes.
 
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I have a tiny sample of a castoreum tincture from Apothecary’s Garden. I swipe it right before going to bed. There is something so calming about castoreum. Sweet comforting and warm notes of leather and tabaco with hints of vanilla and raspberry.
It calms me down and I start to relax. Especially with the scenery where I live. Imagine snow outside and the cold weather.
I probably wouldn’t do this in the summer but it is just perfect in the colder months

If I keep swiping it like I do recently it probably won’t last till next week since i only have like 1ml but sometimes you have to enjoy scents bevor they are gone
 
I made another batch of amber fragrance but using a couple of different new oils - one is a Cypress oil from The Essential Oil company in Portland, the other is a select grade of Tonka absolute from Fraterworks. (@Al Shareef Oudh you might be interested in this tonka although I know you have access to excellent tonka already. This one is syrupy, like the sample you sent).

This batch of tonka is liquid, whereas the tonka absolute used in my last batch was a solid crystalline powder. While it is clearly tonka, a different facet is emphasized in this extraction - something intriguing about the scent even though I'm not sure I prefer it to the other one.

Also in my last batch I used a very old Cypress oil from 1994, not a sustainable material, so I tried this fresher Spanish Cypress and it's excellent - seems to fill the same role in the fragrance. Cypress is amazing stuff I just love it.

Ingredients: benzoin, styrax, vanilla, tonka, ambrette, rose otto, balsam Peru and Tolu, vetiver SFE, Aceh patchouli, labdanum absolute, sandalwood, clary sage, cypress, bergamot and sweet orange.

I am a fan of this type of amber...
 
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I received an order from An Najwa on Sunday, and since then I've worn nothing apart from his Ruh Khus 2023 and Ruh Khus Ateeq. I'm enamored with the scent. It's the first scent I wear when I wake up and it's the last scent I apply before I go to sleep. Verging on near obsession, I'm constantly finding nuances and changes in this material. I find myself applying it upwards of 5 - 7 times a day, switching between one on each arm or devoting a whole day to either.

With Ruh Khus Ateeq from the cap I get a faint leather-y smoke-y cigarette like note, resting in a fields of dense green velvet like material. It smells like a perfume all on its own. On the route to the dry down, these blue notes same to be popping in and then vanishing. I'm reminded of Oakmoss but with some of the resinous quality toned down, I smelled some I had, it's not entirely it, but it has that sort of feeling. Finally settling down to a sweet and woody base, and the scent is just an emotion!

Ruh Khus 2023 is no slouch either! Incredibly clean for the age, there's a lot more sweetness at the top and the base. At moments the earthy elements dominate, and other times the green grassy aroma shines. It keeps on changing, at times giving you the same scent, but somehow different. I'm not really sure I'm accurately sniffing it, even the time of day seems to influence it. At the dry down, the scent reminded me of the dry down of Guerlain's Vetiver partially, the newer version, with the square, as opposed to rectangular bottles. Not sure if I'm being influenced by a past memory, or whatever else, but I'm getting enough complexity from each wear that I'm not desiring to wear anything else. I will stop of course, but the whole experience has been the most pleasant of surprises. I've been wearing Ruh Khus to bed for weeks at this point so maybe that's caused this. However applying after a shower, liberally on the arms, neck and chest, gives yet another experience, enough variation that'll never get boring!

And yes, I am wearing Ruh Khus Ateeq while writing this.
 
Is it okay to mention a perfume that's not an attar? If not, let me know and I'll delete. But I thought the ingredients might make it interesting to some of you.

Sampling my first Di Ser, the Japanese all natural perfume house. It's their new fragrance, Kumo no Koromo, a commemoration of Tanabata, the star festival holiday. Aromatic and richly woodsy, it features a rare specimen of Japanese todo pine with intensely earthy, sweet, and resinous tones. Combined with a collection of warm, spicy resins, pure kyara agarwood, and supporting woodsy notes of hinoki, cypress, and sandalwood. Kumo no Koromo celebrates the reunion of two lovers, stars in the sky who are separated by the Milky Way and allowed to reunite for just one day during the festival.

Notes: Bergamot, neroli, todo-pine, hinoki, Himalayan cypress wood, star anise, cypriol, agarwood, patchouli, sandalwood, vetiver.

Di Ser perfumes are infamously quiet and wear very close to the skin, likely a nod to Japan's very different fragrance aesthetic.

It's beautiful.
 
SophMarie said:
@Ahmaoud Now I'm really kicking myself for not thinking to add some Ruh Khus to my last order from @An Najwa . I've never smelled it by itself and several people have commented how good his is.
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Shiningrobes said:
I may have to add some to my order
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It wasn't a love at first sniff for me, and I'm the sort of person who sniffed Guerlain's Habit Rouge and instantly fell in love with it. It also takes a while to open up on the skin, from the bottle it doesn't smell that brilliant nor the applicator, but once you've applied it to your wrists and crook between your neck and shoulder on each side (apparently Roja Dove's favorite place to apply fragrance) it really starts to shine. But again the first time I tried it was quite an overwhelming experience.

It layers quite well with Bilquis 2 (which makes sense if you saw @Saudalhajri 's blend), and I know of several people who combine it with Ruh Gulab. I think it would work well with white florals, and perhaps even good Crassna oils. Perhaps a more camphoric lavender or lavandin, only because its strength might be able to maintain floral facets without getting trounced, and apparently both are good for sleep.
 
People, do any of you enjoy oud-based perfumes? Until yesterday, all my oud experience had been with oils, primarily bought from members of this forum or Ensar. I like/love them. Yesterday I sampled an oud perfume and had in instant revulsion. It just seemed wrong to have have oud in this strong, thin, alcohol form. After a few minutes I washed it off.

I'm too embarrassed to give the name of the perfume. It's a universally, highly praised Agar Aura work. Obviously I'll try it again. And again, till the vial runs out. But do you ever have these automatic revulsions, whether over form or ingredient? I'm curious about your experiences.
 
SophMarie said:
People, do any of you enjoy oud-based perfumes? Until yesterday, all my oud experience had been with oils, primarily bought from members of this forum or Ensar. I like/love them. Yesterday I sampled an oud perfume and had in instant revulsion. It just seemed wrong to have have oud in this strong, thin, alcohol form. After a few minutes I washed it off.

I'm too embarrassed to give the name of the perfume. It's a universally, highly praised Agar Aura work. Obviously I'll try it again. And again, till the vial runs out. But do you ever have these automatic revulsions, whether over form or ingredient? I'm curious about your experiences.
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I’ve never tried anything go from Agar Aura personally so I can’t comment. But in general I hate any perfume (alcohol based spray) that has oud as the main note, or has a name like “Oud wood” or anything similar.
It always turns out like they’re trying too hard to be “Oudy”, very strong, harsh on the nose, makes my chest tighten every time. And it’s almost always a synthetic oud accord not even oud.
Agar Aura uses real oud AFAIK so it should be good. With alcohol based fragrances you should never spray and smell right away, you’ll be smelling alcohol vapor which will dry and scramble your scent receptors and lungs, stopping you from smelling anything for an hour or two.
Spray it, count to 30, then smell.
 
Santal misk - al hashimi

I'm very fortunate that I was gifted a sample of this with my order

This is my first time smelling musk oil without any other ingredient (apart from the sandalwood obvs). Tbh the smell was a bit too funky for me from the bottle, but on the skin it's a whole different story. Man it is addictive
 
Saudalhajri said:
I’ve never tried anything go from Agar Aura personally so I can’t comment. But in general I hate any perfume (alcohol based spray) that has oud as the main note, or has a name like “Oud wood” or anything similar.
It always turns out like they’re trying too hard to be “Oudy”, very strong, harsh on the nose, makes my chest tighten every time. And it’s almost always a synthetic oud accord not even oud.
Agar Aura uses real oud AFAIK so it should be good. With alcohol based fragrances you should never spray and smell right away, you’ll be smelling alcohol vapor which will dry and scramble your scent receptors and lungs, stopping you from smelling anything for an hour or two.
Spray it, count to 30, then smell.
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You've ID'ed my first mistake. I sniffed immediately and the scent of weird, thin, alcohol-and-oud overwhelmed me. It was disgusting. And I should have known better. Though I don't love alcohol-based fragrances, I been using them a lot lately. Thank you for this!!

The perfume is Layali, which is oud, white rose and davana, and often described as brilliant. So I do want to keep trying, and you've given me a good starting point. I have very little Agar Aura experience but have the oud-sandalwood oil Kyara to Byakudan and love it.

Many thanks 🙏
 
Zubayr said:
Santal misk - al hashimi

I'm very fortunate that I was gifted a sample of this with my order

This is my first time smelling musk oil without any other ingredient (apart from the sandalwood obvs). Tbh the smell was a bit too funky for me from the bottle, but on the skin it's a whole different story. Man it is addictive
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Oooh. I received a sample of this too. Exciting! 😍
 
SophMarie said:
You've ID'ed my first mistake. I sniffed immediately and the scent of weird, thin, alcohol-and-oud overwhelmed me. It was disgusting. And I should have known better. Though I don't love alcohol-based fragrances, I been using them a lot lately. Thank you for this!!

The perfume is Layali, which is oud, white rose and davana, and often described as brilliant. So I do want to keep trying, and you've given me a good starting point. I have very little Agar Aura experience but have the oud-sandalwood oil Kyara to Byakudan and love it.

Many thanks 🙏
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Oh thank god, I thought it was Kinam Urjuani because I adore KU scent so much lol
haven't tried Layali but I've read mix reviews, some prefer oil over spray if that helps.
 
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