Oriental Essence - Rose de Shiraz Rituals 2019

Writing wildly and chaotically was certainly not Hafez's thing, nor Goethe's style.

Rituals launches names onto the market every year, or are they fragrances?
Cultural citizens then show that they are in the know...

The saleswoman has done her homework, I think, well, obviously she is a temporary worker, a student, German studies in her 7th semester, the East-West Divan was already on the syllabus.
She can locate Shiraz, as Rituals has explained everything perfectly in the brochure.

I am pleased to read such a romantic description of a Persian garden in the advertising text. A walk through a fragrant grove ... who wouldn't want to undertake that?

I spray quickly and am not there.

I have never been there either. The city of Shiraz is in the south, eight hours away from Tehran.
You can't do everything, I tell myself. Maybe next time.

I visited Kashan, which is the center of Iranian rose production...

a French fragrance, which leans more towards niche than mainstream, is called "Kashan Rose" and has never touched me either.

Mr. Partoo, the perfume specialist from Esfahan, told me that rose soliflores are not popular in Iran.
Anyone who wants to smell like roses reaches for the oils or rose water that are available everywhere.
"I expect more from a perfume than just the depiction of a rose," my cousin also told me, whose favorite scent has been "Obsession" by Calvin Klein for years.

Why I happened to meet a man in Tehran who asked me if I was familiar with the French city of Grasse, I don't know...
but it was probably another happy coincidence.
It happens.
Maziar was in Grasse in 2016 as an interpreter with an Iranian delegation to finalize a contract for a Franco-Iranian perfume business.
But it never came to fruition.
Trump came.

At least the Dutch have a positive view of Shiraz. They sell a friendly rose fragrance as Ritual. In the Rituals store.
No, it doesn't smell like spices, it is not "Isphahan" by Yves Rocher or "Opium" by Yves Saint Laurent.
It is also not an "Attar," so a heavy fragrance oil from Arabia.

Because beware, Arabic perfumes are a completely different ballgame. They have nothing to do with this light rose scent and also politically...
no, I will leave that now.
Anyone who wants to delve into the topic should read further with Michael Lüders.

However, the rhubarb is quite inappropriate... okay, I can't stand this note. I would probably find the scent better without this greenish-sour component.
Did Goethe ever write anything about rhubarb?
In any case, he wanted to learn Persian to read Hafez in the original.

Hafez's poems are regularly recited at his grave in Shiraz.
The trend scouts from Rituals might have been there.
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I think the idea of choosing a Persian city to sell a pleasant, generic rose scent is good.
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It was Bush who called Iran a rogue state...
let's strike that sentence.

But I will leave it, as I will not edit this text.

These are just my personal thoughts on the product.
Clichés and rituals.

Here well placed.

I bought a fragrance in a perfumery in North Tehran that is not listed (maybe someone wants to submit it, it's called "Téhéran" and is by Leila Hatami.)
Leila Hatami is known from many good Iranian feature films, e.g. "Nader and Simin, A Separation."
"Téhéran Eau de Parfum" is produced in France and sold exclusively in Iran. It is a fine, elegant, understated scent. Think Chanel, not Al Haramain.

There apparently is no significant perfume industry in the country.
What a shame.

However, almost every expensive label has a store depot in Tehran; I have rarely seen so many noble brands in one place.

Division of society, on both sides.
Oh come on,
Rituals are quite likeable.
The tea is from organic farming, the base of the Shiraz perfume does not smell like Cashmeran.

One doesn't need to know who Hafez was and that the rose was Mohammed's favorite flower, hence it also carries the nickname "gol Mohamadi."

But of course, it doesn't hurt either.
Visiting Shiraz is still on my bucket list, but so are Vancouver and Reykjavik, Lima and Augsburg.

The Rituals scent is now quickly checked off.

If any company needs suggestions for an oriental-sounding perfume name, please contact me.
I also buy any nonsense if it has something somewhat graceful written on the bottle. After all, I collect...

and have this longing within me.