Al-Hashimi - Rawdah
Color: Golden, dark yellow.
Viscosity: Fairly viscous—neither a heavy oil nor watery thin.
Presentation: Beautiful, typical Al-Hashimi packaging, with 1g in a high-recovery vial. The label includes the name and distillation date.
Smell: Now we arrive at the most important part, albeit the most subjective.
Even just opening the lid of the wooden box where I store these 1g vials, I am first greeted by the scent of this oil. Without even removing the cap, I catch hints of white florals intertwined with their stems—jasmine-like but not quite jasmine, evening stock-like but not quite stock. The florals rest on a bed of cream-colored agarwood vapor, reminiscent of what I’ve experienced in woods from Brunei.
When applied to the back of my hand with a toothpick, the richness of the aforementioned florals explodes—not in terms of projection, but rather as if they have become more concentrated. These florals comprise a mixture of fresh blooms at their most pristine and flowers that have begun to wither slightly, releasing a subtly musky scent.
There’s an additional note related to these florals that feels intriguingly "dirty." It’s not musky, jasminal, nor animalic in the traditional sense. It can only be described as coital—almost like a natural take on the “night with a lover” perfume genre that gained popularity in the niche fragrance world for a time. This genuinely fascinating note was unexpected and unlike anything I’ve encountered in other oils thus far.
Additionally, there’s an element reminiscent of high-quality sandalwood oils, contributing a slightly citrusy, creamy, and edible quality. The writeup for this oil mentions a bubblegum note, and... yeah I can sort of see that.
All of these notes rest upon a base of this extremely satisfying vaporous agarwood resin.
This is easily the best oil in my very limited collection. Quite frankly I desire more of this. If I could find oils with a similar profile at ANY price point, I'd do it.
