Al Attar Al Thameen Al Bahy Rasasi

Angua has made me quite curious with her comment - being no stranger to heavy, oriental bombshells - and I owe her a sample of this fragrance. Since several other lovely samples were waiting for their first test, it was time for a little testing session in my office together with my dear (Parfumo) colleague Dusnatli. She was the one who applied the first drops of this representative from the house of Rasasi, and after the first sniff, she raised her eyebrows in disbelief, whispered a desperate "cow stable" into the room, and held out her wrist to me.

After my unpleasant experiences with the similarly promisingly named yet overwhelmingly cow stable-smelling Dhan al Oudh Safwa (I’ll just say "near-death experience"), I was at least not seriously surprised that there are perfumes that authentically recreate the scent of animal shelters. Indeed: this offspring from the house of Rasasi, despite its pleasantly sounding ingredients, "smells" distinctly and very authentically of cow stable, though this time not as harsh and piercing as its predecessor, but rather sweet-floral-fruity, almost fermented underneath... yet not any less repulsive.

Nevertheless, I reapplied this fragrance that same evening in my quiet little room to see if the initial negative impression would persist. It does! While the stable aroma doesn’t hit me quite as forcefully, it is still unmistakable. Accompanying it is a very sweet, floral-fruity note that induces in me, which has rarely happened before, a slight gag reflex.

Fortunately, the fecal note significantly dissipates over the next half hour, but it remains subtly present alongside the flower-fruit mixture for another hour. If anything, a hint of rose is somewhat identifiable, later transitioning to a bit of patchouli and vanilla in the base.

While this base with its sweet fruitiness doesn’t exactly suit my taste, it is bearable. However, it fails to reconcile me even slightly with the stable smell from the top and heart notes. Generally, I have no objections to a slight animalistic touch if these notes give a perfume the finishing touch or an interesting edge. But when it smells distinctly of stable for quite a long time, my tolerance threshold is exceeded. One good thing came from the test: even though I will still be happy to test them further, I am temporarily cured of my compulsion to blind buy Arabic fragrance creations.