If you've been keeping up with my fragrant adventures, you know that for the past couple of months I've pretty much been avoiding the hard-core stuff, i.e. anything I have to spray on, and most alcohol-based perfumes. As I've described in earlier articles, there's a little alarm bell in my gut that goes off when I consider or come near my hard-core fragrances. It's like the Robot in Lost in Space flailing his hooks and warning: Danger, Will Robinson!
It was always too late for young Will, who would stumble wide-eyed into whatever danger the Robot was going on about. But since I have (finally) figured out that I should listen to my inner Robot, I've been able to keep out of danger. At least, with regard to scent. The Robot warns me not spritz on any of the hard-core stuff. The intuitive information I'm getting has something to do with the act of spraying and with the perfume formulations themselves. What that "something" is exactly, I don't know. These are qualitative data and I am no scientist.
I have been able to wear perfume oils, essential oils, and naturally scented lotions. They don't send my intuition/Robot into alarmist mode, and they seem to be in harmony with where I am right now. The cool thing is I don't miss the hard-core stuff, because I've been able to find some great-smelling soft-core scents. They may not have all the trappings and gilding of fancy commercial perfumes, but they smell darn good. And they cost a lot less than the mainstream and niche perfumes that make up the bulk of my collection.
Actually, I am finding that there are quite a few soft-core scents to talk about, but I want to focus on just two today. They're oils from the same company, Attar Bazaar. I've been buying the company's oils for some time, and while I've always liked them, I can't say I've ever loved them. Possibly because I wasn't paying close enough attention to them, and because I was submerged in another fragrance aesthetic, which clouded my nose and my vision.
In fact, it wasn't love until just recently, when I bought their Jannat Al-Ferdous and Sudanese Black Rose. That was when I discovered that, Hey, I might be able to live with soft-core scents and be content. Why? Well, because more than any other oils I've worn, these two smell like "real perfumes." They avoid the head shop/health food store/street corner vibe that many oils have. They are exotic, but not so foreign that they shock. They have surprising depth and richness for relatively inexpensive scents. And they don't dry down to an obvious and ho-hum musk or sandalwood base.
One of them, Jannat Al-Ferdous, smells like an aldehydic-chypre on my skin. The other, Sudanese Black Rose, is one of the most intoxicating and relaxing rose scents I have ever experienced. With these two oils Attar Bazaar nailed two of my favorite scents - chypre and rose.
The Attar Bazaar website does not list complete notes for their oils, but they do offer descriptions. Here's what they say about Jannat Al-Ferdous:
"This ancient fragrance was first blended by a Sufi mystic who ascended into the unseen realms. He later recreated the scent he experienced when he approached the Divine Throne, thus the name: "Gateway to the Highest Heaven." A classic scent in the East. Exceedingly light, elegant, and sometimes shattering. Ruling planet: Uranus."
I don't find it light per se, but it does sparkle up top. Then it smooths into a wonderful chypre, with what I think may be a rose heart. It smells like a good quality French perfume. And yet it doesn't. It's elusive. I catch whiffs of it all day and find myself wondering what smells so good. Hours into the scent I catch some surprising spice notes. This one has more facets than most perfume oils. It's non-linear, and it actually develops. Elegant? Yes. Shattering? If you're lucky. If this is how Heaven smells, please count me in.
Here's what they say about Sudanese Black Rose:
"From very dark, ruby red rosebuds, a nighttime delight: flashing, exciting. Captivates body, mind and soul. One drop is sufficient for the whole night. Ruling planet: Venus."
This is the one that everyone calls a Goth rose. Whatever that is supposed to mean. I know, I know, something dark and deep and mysteriously black yet still red. Well, if you want to call this Goth, you should go ahead and do so. The color I see when I wear this oil is blackish-red. But it's not sad or depressing in any way - this is the color of light seen through a piece of thick, ruby Tiffany glass or the sheen of two-tone silk woven with black and blood-red threads.
This is a darkling rose, but it opens up juicy and fresh and thickly soft like velvet. I find it to be underpinned by a touch of sweet vanilla and the barest pinch of earthy patchouli. I wonder sometimes if there is a hint of coconut in it as it also has a rich, buttery feel. Some find smoky frankincense in it, but I don't. If there's incense, I think it's myrrh with its resinous green twang.
Whatever is in it, this oil makes me feel veerrrrry good. This is, in fact, one of the sexiest roses I've ever worn (and I have many, many rose scents). I wear more than one drop, and I don't wear it only at night. Some day the right man will notice. Captivating? Definitely.
You can find Attar Bazaar oils in lots of stores and here, at their website . At some point I will swing back around to look at several other of their offerings (their Tunisian Patchouli, for one, is fantastic).
In the meantime, anoint yourself and enjoy!
