Al Haramain Ode of Oudh, Tajibni & Mystique Musk

Mystique Musk. Photo: @Katerina__Russia on Instagram. Source: Arabicoils on Instagy.com (Direct website link embedded within.)

Mystique Musk. Photo: @Katerina__Russia on Instagram. Source: Arabicoils on Instagy.com (Direct website link embedded within.)

An unexpected surprise greeted me when I tried an attar and two eau de parfums from Al Haramain‘s Prestige and Premium Collections: a common theme of refreshing aromatic, herbal, and leafy greenness that tied the three fragrances together despite being in very different genres. It also made them more interesting than I had expected, particularly for an oriental blend from a Middle Eastern company, and even more so for an oud-based one. In my experience, Arab oud fragrances tend to follow certain stylistic conventions or formulas, but Ode of Oudh was a refreshing change and I mean that in the literal olfactive sense as well as metaphorically. Mystique Musk similarly felt more creative than its genre or note list had led me to expect. Both of fragrances are from the Prestige Collection which treads a lighter and quieter path than the Premium Collection attars which have the typically dense, forceful, or powerful aesthetic of their genre. The Prestige Collection follows a slightly more European aesthetic but without completely giving up its oriental roots, and the result is a nice mixing of styles.

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Unum Opus 1144: Divas & Powerhouse Classics

Source: Pinterest via Pierreherme.com pinterest.

Source: Pinterest Pierreherme.com

Fans of floriental powerhouses in the classical tradition, take note, Opus 1144 is one for you to try. It is a bold, complex fragrance with a divaesque character that harkens back to the great Guerlain legends, Shalimar and L’Heure Bleue, in their most concentrated vintage parfum form, as well as to modern creations by Mona di Orio and O’Drui. At its heart, it’s structured much like a millefeuille dessert where tart, lemon curd custard lies sandwiched between layers of dark, smoky styrax and balsamic-coated, musky leather, all dusted with vanillic powder in a haze of jasmine and iris floralcy.

Jean Patou couture, circa 1969. Source: pinterest.

Jean Patou couture, circa 1969. Source: pinterest.

Opus 1144 is many things, sometimes all at once. It is a lilting choral extravaganza where grand, bold opulence and monumental density dip into airiness and delicacy without ever losing strength. It’s a chiaroscuro of light and dark, masculinity and feminine, gourmand and oriental, hard and soft, acrid and sweet, cloying and beautiful — and I’m not completely sure what to make of all that, no matter how many times I wear it. In all honesty, there are many times in the first four hours when Opus 1144 leaves me simultaneously repelled and riveted, drawn in compulsively and with great admiration, but also put off and hesitant. One thing is undeniable: it’s something that any fan of the classics and of powerhouses in the floriental genre should try for themselves.

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O’Driù Eva Kant

O'Driu press release image via Source: www.mangaforever.net

O’Driu press release image via Source: www.mangaforever.net

Perfume as modern art. That is both the goal and inspiration for many of O’Driù‘s creations, and Eva Kant is no exception. It is a fragrance intended to represent the most elusive, seductive woman in the world of (Italian) comics, the partner to Diabolik. I don’t read comic books, so I’m afraid the references go over my head, but I can tell you that the O’Driù line often accomplishes its goal as both modern perfumery and art. I think each one is highly original, extremely creative, and wholly transportative to a much more organic world centered around Nature, frequently in its purest, rawest sense.

I’ll be blunt and say that several of the perfumes are far too much like art for me to actually wear them for myself, but I respect their innovative nature enormously. All too often we bemoan the lack of uniqueness in the perfume world, the factory assembly-line nature of things put out by both big and small houses, but I doubt you’ll ever encounter anything that smells like an O’Driù perfume. Anywhere. Continue reading