Rose
Unbuffered Toenail05/20/2025
ClaireV
969 Reviews
ClaireV
1
You get what you pay for
As with most Nemat attars, Ruh Gulab is very good once you get past the off-putting topnotes, as well as any preconceived notion of what rose should smell like. The shocker with Ruh Gulab – a name that translates to ‘soul of the Damask rose’ – is the cloud of bitter, sharp, soapy, and stale notes that bloom malevolently, like a nuclear mushroom cloud, on the skin upon application. In fact, imagine all the undesirable facets of rose you have ever smelled, and you have just visualized the awfulness of the first half hour.
However, get past the rocky first bit and you land in rose heaven, specifically, a warm bath of pure, sweet Turkish rose that is almost syrupy in its richness. There is a hint of rose jam too, although it never strays into gourmand territory. The freshness, sparkle, sweetness, fullness – it is all there, and perfectly balanced so that no one single facet dominates. Doubtless, this is not a pure ruh of rosa damascena given its relatively low cost, but for that brief stretch in the heart when it explodes into your consciousness as a pure ruh gulab, it is fabulous. The base, which arrives a little sooner than one might wish, is a soapy musk of no distinction. Still, this is worth the price of admission for its Damascus rose heart alone, and for the myriad of layering possibilities.
However, get past the rocky first bit and you land in rose heaven, specifically, a warm bath of pure, sweet Turkish rose that is almost syrupy in its richness. There is a hint of rose jam too, although it never strays into gourmand territory. The freshness, sparkle, sweetness, fullness – it is all there, and perfectly balanced so that no one single facet dominates. Doubtless, this is not a pure ruh of rosa damascena given its relatively low cost, but for that brief stretch in the heart when it explodes into your consciousness as a pure ruh gulab, it is fabulous. The base, which arrives a little sooner than one might wish, is a soapy musk of no distinction. Still, this is worth the price of admission for its Damascus rose heart alone, and for the myriad of layering possibilities.
