AAMAL I The Further Development of Turath (?!); smoky, fruity, oriental...
In my opinion, Aamal is the better "Dubai - Turath | The Spirit of Dubai," even though it is a bit more challenging than Dubai - Turath and places its accents on different themes despite the unmistakably similar fruity DNA... quite exciting, as Aamal is essentially the story-wise 2nd Gen of "Dubai - Abraj (Eau de Parfum) | The Spirit of Dubai."
Now, without further ado, let's get into the review. Generally, I was surprised that no one has really reviewed this fragrance in detail, but we will change that shortly:
- As with other SoD fragrances, it is extremely difficult to really pick out individual notes. With "Aamal | The Spirit of Dubai," you can actually smell the dried fruits from the very beginning; combined with a subtle, beautiful rose note and a directly perceivable smoky note, along with a good portion of spiciness coming from the cardamom.
- As the fragrance develops, a lovely saffron note becomes noticeable along with the cinnamon. The scent settles a bit; the initial smokiness and the "apparent fruit-smoke chaos" - which many seem to perceive here - becomes rounder, and only now do I detect a subtle coffee note that swims in the background along with the cypriol and especially castoreum. Don't get me wrong, it is not "animalistic" in the sense of being aggressive or stinky, but rather subtly present and very tolerable in combination with the woody accords.
- Gradually, an earthy-mossy, slightly leathery base forms in the background, on which the fragrance will linger for a long time. In the drydown, the fruits remain subtly detectable, and this smoky impression persists, but now on this slightly earthy-mossy, minimally leathery base.
- I don't need to say much about the performance; it performs effectively long and well; both aspects are definitely at the top.
Overall, Aamal is simply a beautiful oriental from the 2nd Gen. It is not the best from the house, but definitely not as bad as it is talked about here. You just have to know that you are getting a smoky-fruity scent with a lovely sweetness and a slightly mossy drydown that somewhat resembles "Dubai - Turath | The Spirit of Dubai." Expectation management is also extremely key here; definitely test it beforehand, as the fragrance costs a pretty penny!
