Wrapping up the Resin Review section of the Attar Guide with the final chapter of resin-related reviews, with everything that falls between K and T, following on from Review sections 0-A and B-I. But before you dive in, in case you missed it, why not have a glance at this brief primer on all things resiny here? It gives you the lowdown on the differences between myrrh and sweet myrrh (opoponax), what benzoin smells like, and the intricacies of the kingliest resin of them all, frankincense. It also explains what amber is, exactly.
Kalemat Amber Oil (Arabian Oud)
Type: mukhallat
Kalemat in the eau de parfum format is probably Arabian Oud’s most popular ‘mainstream’ fragrances. So how does the oil version stack up? Well, it sticks pretty closely to the curves of the original, the only real difference being the compression of some of the flightier notes in oil format. In other words, Kalemat oil has a much denser, doughier texture than the original, and is both rosier and sweeter. In general, though, the friendly, golden-fruited amber of the original has been faithfully translated.
I cannot therefore explain why I love Kalemat so much in its original eau de parfum format and find it so mind-numbingly dull in the oil. I suspect it is because gooey ambers like Kalemat, being as stodgy as a bread-and-butter pudding in the depths of winter, need a bit of air and space between its molecules to make it work. When you squash something already so densely, jammily sweet down into an even more compressed space, you end up with a stock cube’s worth of it. And even the memory of that is enough for me to cry out for some ventilation.
Photo by Danika Perkinson on Unsplash
Little Egypt (BPAL)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
Company description: Honeyed myrrh and sweet flag
Little Egypt is a bright, resinous honey scent with a sharp green calamus note running through it to keep things fresh. All the honeyed, sticky sweetness of myrrh has been drawn out and emphasized in this scent, but none of its anisic or earthy-mushroomy nuances. This makes for a very sweet blend indeed, but the inherent smokiness of myrrh resin, plus that crisp calamus note, does a good job of holding back the syrup. Myrrh fanatics may want to hunt this one down.
Luxor (NAVA)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
Company description: Egyptian Musk, Vanilla Bean, Amber, Frankincense, Patchouli, Dark Rose, Egyptian Sandalwood
Luxor is another NAVA blend that, for all its exotic notes and resins, smells as faint and as simple as an Airwick one might pick up in the local hardware store. In other words, it is about as exotic as a roll of toilet paper. How does a company dedicated to resurrecting the glories of ancient Egypt through use of some of the heaviest, most strongly-scented resins, gums, woods, and spices in existence manage to turn out so many perfume oils that smell like weakly-scented candle oils?
Note that they are not bad per se – far from it, many of them are very enjoyable. But anyone looking for the gutsy, full-force assault of true frankincense, patchouli, or sandalwood materials will be very disappointed. Even the worst mukhallats are more color-saturated than this. (Also, be an informed consumer – sandalwood does not grow in Egypt).
But if you are determined to love NAVA anything and don’t mind overlooking the outrageous marketing guff in the descriptions, then there is enough room in Luxor to accommodate a fantasy of ancient Egypt – as long as you accept that it will be your imagination, and not the scent itself, doing all the heavy lifting. Luxor is a soft, gently resinous-woody amber thing that is neither distinctive nor exotic. On the positive side, you will be bothering nobody with your perfume. Because if you can hardly smell anything, then neither will anyone else.
Mabrook (Sultan Pasha Attars)
Type: mukhallat
Mabrook is a very smoky blend of frankincense and labdanum. As it develops, it leans almost entirely on labdanum for an effect that is leathery, balsamic, smoky, resinous, and almost tobacco-like. Very much in the vein as La Via del Profumo’s Balsamo della Mecca, and equally as mystical, Mabrook would make for an excellent oil for layering with Western perfumes to add depth and smokiness.
Minister (Solstice Scents)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
Company description: Sandalwood, Amber, Cassia, Elemi, Sweet Smoke & Somalian Frankincense
Minister is similar in tone to Solstice Scent’s other incense blends – Incensum, Inquisitor, Basilica, and Scrying Smoke. It differs mainly by way of its use of a sour, piney Australian sandalwood in the first half of the scent, which fights rather unpleasantly with the bitter-lemon frankincense and elemi notes.
Once the sourness abates, however, Minister is a satisfying ride, especially when it turns into a creamy incense-sandalwood duet spliced with woodsmoke. The drydown is remarkably similar to the drydown of another Solstice scent, Hidden Lodge, making me wonder if some of the house bases aren’t simply re-purposed from one scent to another.
While nice in parts, Minister is one of those scents that confirms my belief that indie brands like Solstice Scents and others should more rigorously evaluate all their scents in one particular category to identify areas of overlap and redundancy. Minister is, frankly, too similar to (and not as good as) other Solstice Scents perfumes in the woods-and-incense category to earn a spot in the permanent line-up. A good pruning would allow more light to reach the perfumes that deserve it.
Photo by Tijana Drndarski on Unsplash
Morocco (BPAL)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
Company description: The intoxicating perfume of exotic incenses wafting on warm desert breezes. Arabian spices wind through a blend of warm musk, carnation, red sandalwood, and cassia.
I must be anosmic to something in Morocco because I can barely smell it at first. The parts of it that I do smell are very nice indeed – a warm, resinous musk with a clove-like carnation and a lightly soapy sandalwood in the background.
It smells exotic in a vague, formless way that will please anyone who finds the pungency of real resins to be a bit de trop. Quite honestly, while I like Morocco and wear it quite a bit, there is no escaping the fact that it smells more like a stock oil one might use for making soap or candles than a proper perfume.
Morocco is a homespun fantasy of orientalia rather than anything truly of the orient. It is terribly faint. When I smell it, I imagine the imprint of a cloth soaked in rich spices and incense pressed lightly against a sheet of paper, then the paper held to my nose to smell. In other words, it is a secondhand impression of a smell rather than the full whack. I would normally find that frustrating, but Morocco’s laid back laziness holds a certain appeal.
The drydown is a soft sandalwood that smells not (strictly speaking) of the wood itself but rather the lingering scent on one’s hands after washing with Mysore sandalwood soap. This may sound like I am damning Morocco with faint praise, but I am not. There is a time and a place for a subtle, creamy-golden take on the woody theme, and if that is what you are looking for, then Morocco is a solid contender.
Mughal Amber Oud (Rising Phoenix Perfumery)
Type: mukhallat
A magisterially austere affair, Mughal Amber Oud pairs a funky Hindi oud with a smoky, ashy labdanum for a result so parched it sucks all the moisture out of the air like a lit match. The oud note is first to hit the nose, clustering its damp, leathery sourness up front. But this dies back quickly to reveal a labdanum note that is briefly toffee-ish, then increasingly dusty. Soon, the labdanum dominates the blend, filling all the available air pockets in the scent with a sensation of punishing dryness.
Mughal Amber Oud smells like hot sand, Omar Sharif, and the ashes left in the grate of a coal fire. Highly recommended to people who love their ambers to be as desiccated as a desert – complete with visions of drift weed and abandoned cattle pens.
Mukhallat Maliki (Al Haramain)
Type: mukhallat
Mukhallat Maliki is built along the same lines as Attar al Kaaba, i.e., a big rosy amber thing, but less sweet and thick all around. It also features a dose of either bergamot or lemon up top, which freshens it up a little.
There seem to be coffee grains swimming in my tola, but oddly enough, I do not get any notes of coffee in the actual fragrance (whereas I do in Attar al Kaaba). The base is a soft, vanillic amber with hints of rose. I can’t smell any oud, synthetic or otherwise, in this. It is a hair more subtle than Attar al Kaaba and might be more office-appropriate. However, in general, these two mukhallats are so similar that there is really no need to own both. Choose solely according to your tolerance for sweetness.
Mukhallat Saif al Hind (Agarscents Bazaar)
Type: mukhallat
Mukhallat Saif al Hind purports to be a blend of Hindi oud oil, Ta’if rose, amber, saffron, and musk, but to my nose, it completely skips the Hindi oud. Instead, this is essentially a medicinal saffron-rose combo overlaid on a bed of leathery labdanum that smells like a combination of salted caramel and sheep tallow. The combed-from-goats-hair fattiness of the labdanum is undeniably delicious and lends the mukhallat an attractive buttery smoothness. But for the money, I recommend sourcing a good quality, vintage Cretan labdanum elsewhere and blending it with rose and saffron oils yourself. In other words, this is good, but overpriced.
Photo by Roméo A. on Unsplash
Nankun (Sultan Pasha Attars)
Type: mukhallat
Nan-kun, meaning ‘Southern Wind’ in Japanese, is a famous coreless incense manufactured by Shoyeido. Costing in the range of $150 for thirty five sticks, Nan-kun is a truly premium-grade incense experience featuring agarwood (oud wood), cloves, camphor, and Hinoki wood. The experience of burning Nan-kun goes beyond a simple breakdown of notes to a meditative, transportative experience that relaxes the mind and soothes the soul. Although hard to describe why it should be so, it smells identifiably Japanese, even for people who have never been to Japan or taken part in Japanese kōdō rituals.
Sultan Pasha’s Nankun goes some way towards capturing the Nan-kun burning experience, especially in the combination of the dry, spicy clove and star anise notes with the green, camphoraceous and woody nuances. The one thing it is missing is the crisp smoke notes one gets when burning Nan-kun incense sticks, an aroma that comes close to the pleasurably sulfurous smell of a freshly-struck match. The mukhallat does eventually gain a small degree of smokiness in the later stages of its life, but it is a wisp of sweet, transparent woodsmoke rather than the matte, almost charcoal black effect of the smoke in the incense. Nankun mukhallat was infused with smoke by placing it close to or over a burner with sinking grade oud chips in it.
Highly recommended to fans of high-end Japanese incense and incense ceremonies, meditation, yoga, and so on. For a truly holistic smelling experience, wear this while burning some of Shoyeido’s Southern Wind itself.
Osirian Purnima Bastet (NAVA)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
Company description: The personification of Isis, daughter of RA and Goddess of Love. Bastet’s Amber is the underworld helm of this incense perfumed with soft wisps of amber smoke, NAVA ICONIC Rose Oudh brings a smoke and NAVA floral throughout this OP.
As far as I can tell from NAVA’s rather Byzantine method for categorizing their perfume oils and series, Osirian Purnima Bastet is a mixture of three basic accords – the rose-oud accord from the Icons series (now discontinued), the Bastet amber accord, and the Osirian Purnima incense base accord, which consists of myrrh, the NAVA Kashmir accord (red musk), the NAVA Hessonite accord (patchouli), the NAVA Santalum accord (sandalwood-type oil), and NAVA’s Eternal Ankh blend (vanilla-amber).
You would be forgiven for thinking you need a PhD to decipher this product description. But all it really means is that NAVA has a collection of pre-made bases that they simply recycle and configure differently from scent to scent. A bit lazy, don’t you think?
As one might expect from the mixing of so many pre-made bases and accords, OP Bastet smells complex, rich, and slightly muddy, like compacted silt at the bottom of a pond. Many people pick up on a central rose-oud axis here, but to my nose, this smells astonishingly like a pint of warm malt ale, full of yeasty sourness and rich, beery molecules all piled in one on top of the other.
In fact, this is pure eau-de-pub, by which I mean that gust of warm, stale air that rushes out at you when you open the pub door the morning after the night before. However, many resinous spicy rose fragrances do have this oddly beery tint – I find traces of this in several artisanal rose perfumes with lots of cardamom, such as Smolderose (January Scent Project), Calligraphy Rose (Aramis), and Pharaoh’s Passion (Diane St. Clair).
Here and there in the thick, beery miasma, there are glimpses of a berried musk, resin, burnt wood, and something darkly soapy. However, such is the density of this wall of aroma that it is very difficult to make out the shape of any one thing clearly.
On balance, I guess you could say that OP Bastet wears like the color purple. It smells not really of rose or oud, but of syrupy white flowers and gummy red musk poured over a smoky resin base. Its distinctly beery-cardamom-rose flavors melt quickly into a caramelized, burnt wood base. It is distantly related to Memoir Woman by Amouage and vintage Poison by Dior, which share an accord of syrupy white flowers laid across an ashy floral incense, a waft of cigarette smoke blurring its outline. Like those perfumes, OP Bastet runs the risk of being a Bit Too Much, but there is no denying that this is a perfume with presence, darling. I really rather like it.
Oud Absolute (Abdul Samad al Qurashi)
Type: mukhallat
The name is a bold middle finger to the concept of truth in advertizing, but since this is on the cheaper end of the ASAQ scale, I won’t ride it too hard for that. Oud Absolue is your basic rosy amber-incense oil with a chemical woody buzz in the base presumably slotted in to create a picture of oudiness. (Well, more a photocopy than picture, but still.)
Having said that, I really cannot fault the pleasantness of the blend. The topnotes are an electric fizz of bergamot, sweet orange, and lemon, which, when combined with the rose, amber, and oud, forms a low grade impression of Estee Lauder’s Amber Mystique. Since I often recommend Amber Mystique as a great all-rounder for someone who wants a vaguely Arabian-style fragrance, I will extend the same courtesy to Oud Absolute.
Quibbles over the name aside, Oud Absolute would make for a great all-rounder for someone who wants a snippet of something sweet and resinous wrapped up in a digestible form. The sweet powderiness of the florals is neatly curtailed by that woody amber. Sillage is excellent.
Ozymandias (NAVA)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
Company description: Royal Sweet Frankincense, Amber, Royal Amber Resin, White Pepper
Ozymandias is a mild, sticky white amber with a texture vaguely reminiscent of furniture wax or saddle soap. The sound it broadcasts is muffled, the resins and spice underneath straining to make themselves known through a thick layer of milky-soapy varnish, like the dim glow of fruits sott’ alici or mostarda. Once the strangely gluey coating melts away, the green, peppery nuances of the frankincense start to burn a little more brightly. Overall, pleasant if a little underwhelming.
Photo by Nick Nice on Unsplash
Petrichor (Mellifluence)
Type: mukhallat
As a fan of the petrichor effect (the smell of the ground after rain) in perfumes such as Guerlain’s Après L’Ondée, I had high hopes for the Mellifluence take on it. And indeed, the tart lime and pink pepper notes in the opening combine with the saline, mushroomy myrrh that Mellifluence uses to form a brief petrichor effect, full of watery, earthy nuance.
But there is an error in construction here. For some reason, the attar maker has decided to emphasize the fungal dampness of the myrrh with the dusty, dour nuances of oud or deer musk, causing all airiness – essential to the petrichor effect – to be squeezed right out of the scent. On the positive side, once the sharp lime dies down a bit and the sweeter benzoin and nag champa notes rise to flesh out the hollowed cheekbones of the myrrh, the blend becomes less angular and therefore more comfortable to wear. Overall, though, Petrichor is an opportunity missed.
Prince Bandar (Agarscents Bazaar)
Type: mukhallat
Although labdanum is not specifically listed, Prince Bandar is a thick, syrupy, and almost goatish labdanum poured all over the tangy, fermented rotting wood of oud. It has a treacle-like consistency that reads as simultaneously bitter, sweet, syrupy, and sour, leading to an interesting experience for the wearer. The wet funk of fermented wood points to the use of real oud oil, but the creamier, toffee-like sweetness of the surrounding accents make me think much more of labdanum than ambergris. In overall feel, Prince Bandar reminds me very much of several mukhallats by Abdul Karim Al Faransi, especially Oud Cambodi, which, despite the name, is not a pure oud but an oudy mukhallat with lots of labdanum.
The syrupy oud-amber combination develops a dry, leathery facet, further deepening the suspicion that this is labdanum rather than ambergris-based. The leather comes slicked in a medicinal haze of something ointment-like, like a pair of army boots rubbed with lanolin and wrapped in gauze bandages. The leathery facet grows stronger as time passes, edging out the fermented wood and syrupy amber a little, forcing them to recede. There are hints of a creamy rose lurking at the corners.
Many hours on, the same dry-ish musk and cedar combination used by Agarscents Bazaar elsewhere makes an appearance. The faint funkiness in the musk, as well as its dark, woody character, serves to bring the oud notes forward more firmly, coaxing it out from the corner to which it had retreated.
Overall, Prince Bandar a rich, dry but also creamy amber oud with a strong musk and leather character in the drydown. It is dense and rich enough to provide the impression of value for money, but smooth in a way that will please those with less adventurous oud palates.
Whether it is worth $385 for a quarter tola is debatable, but if you have the money to burn and just want something that smells pleasantly rich and enveloping, then this is a good option. However, for that level of investment, I would much rather hand my wallet over to Rising Phoenix Perfumery, Sultan Pasha, Ensar Oud, Al Shareef Oudh, and any number of attar artisans at work today and let them have at it.
Pure Incense (Sultan Pasha Attars)
Type: mukhallat
Pure Incense demonstrates a prune-like darkness, a sort of balancing act between bitter and sweet that is almost edible. It makes my mouth water. The panforte-like bitterness recalls the sticky ‘burnt hydrocarbon’ of Norma Kamali’s Incense but without the sometimes stomach-churning dirtiness.
The mix of frankincense, myrrh, copal, and elemi creates a resin stew that shifts constantly between herbal (bay leaf), spicy (cinnamon, clove), dusty, sticky, smoky, piney, and balsamic. If you are Catholic, one sniff of this will bring you to your knees. Recommended to fans of the original Norma Kamali Incense, Tom Ford Sahara Noir, and Sonoma Scent Studio Incense Pure.
Pyramid of Khafre (NAVA)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
Company description: Dark Amber, Limestone Amber, Lavender, Chai Spice
A touch of the NAVA candlewax coats the opening with a balmy film, briefly obscuring the basic shape of the fragrance. What emerges soon thereafter is a gentle lavender and spice combination knitted lightly over a watery amber accord.
I am not sure what limestone means as an accord in perfumery (if anything) but it surely denotes something mineralic or acidic. This rings true for Pyramid of Khafre, whose amber accord is initially metallic, with a porous texture suggestive of tiny holes burned in the resin by acidulated rainwater.
However, as time wears on, the amber accord grows warmer, eventually settling into the soft, resinous sweetness we associate with classic ambers. All in all, Pyramid of Khafre is a nice spin on the classic amber model, and one that is more suited to hot weather than most.
Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash
Pyramid of Menkaure (NAVA)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
Company description: Dark Amber, Balsam, Tangelo, White Amber
Pyramid opens on a bitter and soapy high note that bothers the nose as surely as if you had just accidentally inhaled a cloud of marine-fresh laundry soap flakes while loading the washing machine. This is due almost entirely to the balsam note, which I take to mean fir balsam. The problem with pine and fir notes in perfumery is that their piney freshness is now so closely associated with laundry detergents and bathroom cleaning sprays that it can come across as ‘chemically clean’ even if the material used is itself a natural. Here, therefore, the overriding feel is that of chemically-enhanced pine.
Does it get better? Yes, or more accurately, it gets more bearable. A warm amber nudges the fir balsam in a more perfumery direction, taking down the harshness a notch. A winey, pleasantly-bitter chypre tone develops, giving the sharpness of the blend something to aim for. Finally, when the fir balsam dies away completely, a soft butterscotch accord slots into place.
For me, personally, Pyramid of Menkaure is difficult to wear or even assess objectively, because it gives me a massive headache every time I test it. But for fans of confrontationally bitter or balsamic green oils, have at it.
Regolith (Mellifluence)
Type: mukhallat
Regolith is so potent that it is wise to step back and let it settle for a while before placing your nose to skin. The first wave of molecules hits the nose like a snifter of brandy or rum set on fire, flaring the nostrils with a plethora of really disturbing aromas, among which are fuel, pure alcohol, rotting dried fruit (raisins, plums), and something unhealthy, like the sickly air inside a room that has been closed up for centuries.
But then, a sugary spark of labdanum and myrrh ignites the concoction, turning it into something so edible you might be tempted to gnaw at your arm. The change in tempo is head-spinning. Suddenly, the basic structure takes shape – a fruitcake amber sodden with cognac, raisins, chocolate, and sugar crystals that crunch when your teeth close in on them.
How something so initially disturbing can be so delicious only moments later is beyond me, but there you go. Anybody who ever loved the original Amber Absolute or even Norma Kamali’s Incense should have a little supply of Regolith in their collection. It is not a replacement or dupe for either by any stretch of the imagination. But they share the same balance between inedible and edible – that wild swing between claustrophobia and exaltation.
The oud oil is an innovation on the Amber Absolute and Norma Kamali Incense model, but I suppose it is also what updates it. The damp wood rot nuance of oud works well here because it pushes back on the plushy sweetness of the amber. I’m a fan.
Resine Precieux (Sultan Pasha Attars)
Type: mukhallat
Resine Precieux is a smooth, affable amber with a strangely attractive muffled ‘sound’. Despite the presence of asafetida – a pungent resin with onion and garlic aspects when smelled in the raw – this blend is noticeable for its gentleness. Although packed with seemingly every resin under the sun, it is neither smoky nor sharp. Instead, the overall texture is balmy, almost muted, as if the resins were glowing softly through a thin layer of white wax. This lends a ‘candlelit’ glow to the composition, making it tremendously easy to wear.
Resine Precieux feels honeyed but in a soft, light manner that avoids the cloying heft of the material itself. Imagine a slice of honeycomb, pale and waxen, its holes filled with resin, cacao, and caramel, backlit by a fat church candle. This is the attraction of Resine Precieux.
There is a deliciously dark, stewed fruit note in the background that is part plum, part dark cocoa – like the opening of Tobacco Vanille but less clovey. Far into its drydown, Resine Precieux begins to manifest the drier aspects of tobacco and labdanum, for an outcome not a million miles away from the ashy leather syrup of Rania J’s Ambre Loup. Resine Precieux’s smoked sea-salt finish is nigh on irresistible.
Rouh al Amber (Majid Muzaffar Iterji)
Type: mukhallat
In many ways, Rouh al Amber is the archetypal Arabian attar – just ‘Middle-Eastern’ enough to smell exotic to someone who isn’t looking for anything more than a trope. This is a simple blend of medicinal amber, a bright, lemony Taifi rose, and a dab of blond-ish woods. I doubt any of the materials are tremendously expensive, but the overall effect is admirably unsweet, clear in intent, and reasonably exotic.
For the price, therefore, Rouh al Amber is an excellent everyday option for those who love traditional Arabic pairings of rose and amber. Furthermore, because it leans heavily on the medicinal amber of traditional Indian canon rather than sweet Arabian-style amber, it retains a leathery dryness that makes it wearable in even the sludgiest of summer heat.
Photo by Gadiel Lazcano on Unsplash
Sahraa Oud (Fragrance du Bois)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
Sahraa Oud is a soft, waxen orange-tinted amber scent hiding a sliver of smoking oud wood within its folds of flesh. It is unctuous, golden, and slightly fuzzy, like an oil lamp seen a mile away through a fog. Its lack of definition should bother me and yet I remain staunchly unbothered. Scents such as Theorema (Fendi) and Ambre Soie (Armani) were built in a similar soft-focus manner to transmit a feeling of comfort through a haze of burnished half-light. The result, in Sahraa Oud, is soft and effortlessly luxe.
About half an hour into the proceedings, a winey, medicinal rose breaks free from the ambery morass. The soft, rosy tartness prevents the syrupy amber elements from sticking to the roof of one’s mouth, rather like the strawberry jelly component in a PB&J sandwich. If the oud is there, then it is well hidden. Perhaps it is behind the saffron leather that emerges hand-in-hand with the rose.
The real star here, however, remains that waxy, toffee-like amber. If you feel like upgrading from stuff like Theorema, Ambre Soie, and Ambra Aurea, then this is somewhat in the same wheelhouse. Is the tiny smidgen of oud oil hiding out here somewhere worth the extra squeeze? Only you and your pocketbook can decide that. For me, it is a no. Sahraa Oud is really nice but doesn’t distinguish itself enough from its peers to warrant the additional investment.
Salem (Sixteen92)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
Company description: Damp leaves, church incense, worn leather, dry birch woods, clove bud absolute, bonfire smoke
Insanely atmospheric, Salem really does conjure up the feeling of stumbling across an old stone chapel in the middle of a wind-whipped New England forest, dry leaves swirling around one’s ankles. The scent hinges on the use of a smoky birch note, which, when joined to the realistic church incense accord, smells like black leather smoking out over scorched resins.
The opening is acrid, due to Sixteen92’s signature black leather accord, which tends to run everything in an acid (rather than alkaline) direction. The Sixteen92 leather note is similar to that of Solstice Scent’s Library and Inquisitor, for reference. But it is also faintly fatty, the underside of the leather dotted with yellow globules of coagulated animal fat.
Salem seems to be a scent that improves with age, however. When I first received my sample, I found the leather note both bitter and goaty; now, a full three years later, it is smooth and sharp in all the right places.
It is worth noting that the realistic church incense at the start eventually gives way to something a little more headshoppy in nature. But on the whole, I think that Salem works fantastically as an atmospheric set piece. It is properly moody and almost cartoonishly witchy. I visualize the scent as a wine-stained mouth in a pancaked Goth face, her sneer hidden by a wall of pitch black hair.
Scrying Smoke (Solstice Scents)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
Company description: Natural and Meditative Melting Frankincense Resin, Frankincense Smoke, Vanilla, Sandalwood, Cedar, Petitgrain, Vetiver, Labdanum & much more
Scrying Smoke is all about the frankincense, a resin whose natural lemon-and-lime piquancy is emphasized here by pine, bitter orange, and a rich Coca-Cola note. The gustatory sourness of the frankincense is subdued somewhat by the dusty spices of labdanum and cedar, giving the scent a rather dour, unsmiling character. A stripped down, even more morose version of Messe de Minuit by Etro, this should go on the list of anyone who’s beginning to look into incense as a theme. And if you have a particular fetish for frankincense, then Scrying Smoke is an imperative rather than a suggestion.
Smenkhare (NAVA)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
Company description: Oriental Amber, Nokturne, Agarwood, Guiacwood, Ho Wood, Labdanum, Black Pepper EO, Balsam Peru, White Frankincense, Amber Musk
Despite the impressive roll-out of exotic-sounding resins and balsams, Smenkhare is a rather understated affair. In fact, I would call it homely rather than exotic or Middle-Eastern in temperament.
Boiled down to its essence, Smenkhare is a smooth honey-amber blend with a faint prickling of black pepper for interest. I recommend it to anyone with a specific fetish for honey scents, but to be honest, it doesn’t offer much over and above the baseline established by Kim Kardashian’s perfectly good Honey fragrance.
Photo by Tim van Kempen on Unsplash
Sorcière Rouge (Alkemia)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
Company description: Bakhoor incense from a 13th century recipe, Tibetan agar-wood, and Dragon’s Blood infused with Rock Rose and dark amber.
Sorcière Rouge opens with sharp, earthy herbs over a vegetal, spicy amber. The oud note is similar to that used in another Alkemia blend – Hellcat – which is to say more than slightly pissy, indicating a use of synthetic civet or honey to ‘skank’ up the oud note. Slowly, the perfume becomes earthier, warmer, and sweeter, sanding down some of the sharper corners.
But Tibetan agarwood? Poor Tibet. Shrouded in mystery due to its general inaccessibility to most Westerners, it has conveniently become the repository for every type of ‘oriental’ myth that happens to fall into the cracks between India and China. Rest assured that the reference to Tibet in Sorcière Rouge has nothing to do with provenance of the oud (since the oud here is most assuredly grown in a lab rather than in Tibet) and everything to do with the concept of traditional Tibetan medicine, which uses precious herbs, oud, and real deer musk in prescriptions to heal patients.
And indeed, Sorcière Rouge does feature all the dusty, astringent feel of a Chinese or Indian healing shop, where one might buy little packets of mysterious powders and unguents with which to treat common ailments. Whether this effect is a pleasant or desirable one is, I suppose, up to you.
Still (Henry Jacques)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
Still features a candied floral note threaded through a dusty seam of resins and woods. Although I do not have the notes, it smells like iris, rose, cinnamon, Peru balsam, opoponax, benzoin, and frankincense over a sandalwood base. It reminds me of several perfumes by Maria Candida Gentile, notably Sideris and Burlesque, but also of a sweet, powdery cologne that an old boyfriend used to wear that might or might not have been Jaipur (Boucheron). Still tugs at my heartstrings, making it difficult to evaluate objectively. But high quality as it indubitably is, it is far from unique and perhaps therefore not the Henry Jacques on which to blow your wad.
Tabac Oranger (Sultan Pasha Attars)
Type: mukhallat
Tabac Oranger is a thick, labdanum-driven amber that emphasizes the dustier, more tobacco-like facets of rock rose extract. The effect of the orange and rose oils at the start is breathtaking, their juicy brightness merging seamlessly with the ashy tobacco undertones of the labdanum to produce a river of delicious, near edible aromas. It becomes smokier and more sweetly ambery as time passes, sadly shedding the orange-tinted tobacco hues of the start.
Tinderbox (Arcana)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
Company description: The essence of a baroque case filled with tempered firesteel [sic], flint, and linen charcloth: resinous black amber, woodsmoke, sweet mallow root, frankincense, cubeb, and sandalwood.
Tinderbox is great for people who love the grungy smells of undergrowth, with lots of smoldering resins and cedar. It opens with a cutting note as metallic as fresh blood, creating the sudden sensation of a rusty blade drawn across your tongue. This is not unpleasant per se but may be jarring to anyone unused to confrontational accords in perfume.
The metallic smoke note dominates for about half an hour, before dying down to reveal a sweet, almost meaty woodsmoke note and the soapy-fattiness of frankincense resin as it starts to bubble on a censer. It smells like herbs and freshly tanned skins thrown on a campfire to scorch. The base is a musky mishmash of creamy woods (a sandalwood material of some description), woodsmoke, and the lingering trace of sharp metal. It is similar in many ways to Holy Terror.
I like Tinderbox very much and often use it as a smoke layering note for other fragrances. On its own, I would have to be in a Lisbeth Salander kind of mood to wear it. Then again, since I feel like a murderous bad-ass with a chip on my shoulder at least once a month, Tinderbox is right down my alley.
About Me: A two-time Jasmine Award winner for excellence in perfume journalism, I write a blog (this one!) and have authored many guides, articles, and interviews for Basenotes. (My day-to-day work is in the scientific research for development world). Thanks to the generosity of friends and acquaintances in the perfume business, I have been privileged enough to smell the raw materials that go into perfumes and learn about the role they play in both Western and Eastern perfumery. Artisans have sent vials of the most precious materials on earth such as ambergris, deer musk, and oud. But I have also spent thousands of my own money, buying oud oils directly from artisans and tons of dodgy (and possibly illegal) stuff on eBay. In the reviews sections, I will always tell you where my sample came from and whether I paid for it or not.
Source of samples: I purchased my samples (and bottles) of Arcana, Majid Muzaffar Iterji, Sixteen92, Arabian Oud, NAVA, BPAL, Mellifluence, Solstice Scents, Alkemia, Agarscents Bazaar, and Al Haramain. My samples of oils from Rising Phoenix Perfumery, Abdul Samad al Qurashi, and Sultan Pasha Attars were sent to me by the brands or a distributor. My samples of Henry Jacques and Fragrance du Bois came to me courtesy of lovely Basenotes friends.
Note on monetization: My blog is not monetized. But if you’d like to support my work or show appreciation for any of the content I put out, you can always buy me a coffee using the little buymeacoffee button. Thank you!
Cover Image: Photo by Cristi Ursea on Unsplash
