Dubai - Fakhama The Spirit of Dubai 2016

A journey to the Orient.
The rose remains clearly perceptible, but to me it does not come across as feminine, as it is accompanied by oud, coffee, spices and a beautiful vanilla sweetness. In the drydown, Fakhama becomes creamier, slightly balsamic and develops this typically oriental warmth. It smells luxurious, elegant and above all distinctive - definitely not something you encounter on every street corner.

“Fakhama” (فخامة) means in German:

Luxury, splendor, elegance or grandeur

Sometimes I feel that reviews are largely influenced by the initial ones. I just can't explain it any other way sometimes. I hope that everyone evaluates the scent subjectively for themselves and doesn't let themselves be too influenced, because with Dubai - Fakhama it would indeed be sad to present it so negatively; because this is definitely not what this fragrance is!

Let's get into it:

- Dubai - Fakhama opens beautifully fruity, sweet; yes, the dried fruits come through strongly and create a really lovely bubble of an oriental dessert. After this fruity-sweet start, a beautiful rose joins in, which is nicely sweetened by the Oud - which does not smell animalic or fecal at all. Rose, Oud, and the sweetness of the fruits share the space quite well, although the fruity aspect fades a bit after a while.

- The rose then takes over a bit and blends with a lovely spicy saffron note; velvety, yet intense. A slight earthiness from the cypriol adds to the background, balancing this fruity sweetness. In the drydown, a slightly animalic civet comes in, giving the fragrance a nice twist; yes, in this form it is already unique and somehow exciting; it is also well balanced with the amber and caramel.

- The longevity and sillage are definitely above average; you can't really complain about that, typical of SoD.

Overall, and you can hear it for yourself, we have a beautiful rose-oud here that is quite intriguingly designed, yet very wearable in everyday life. It is not a fragrance that challenges you massively, but can really be worn well by anyone; and still brings something special. The fruity sweetness at the beginning, the beautiful rose-oud-saffron combo in the heart, and the slightly animalic drydown with civet.

Yes, maybe one would have expected more edges and corners, or perhaps another typical rose-oud constellation, but let's be honest, we somehow complain about everything. Viewed in isolation, it is simply a beautiful fragrance that deserves much more attention; at least from my perspective.

I specifically acquired it because of the lavish fragrance pyramid and because it was degraded to a stinker in the community.
Unfortunately, I didn’t smell anything. A weak rose-oud scent that I have smelled many times before. It would probably make much more sense if I listed what I didn’t smell from the fragrance pyramid.

Besides the rose-oud combination, which also appears very flat or smooth, the only notable element is the caramel, which brings a bit of warmth. There’s also something cool in there, but I can’t specify where it comes from.

After 3 hours, the entirely skin-close scent had completely vanished.

I find the bottle typically grandiose for Nabeel. Here, the advantages of the Fakhama are definitely to be sought.

The price of 425 euros is outrageous for the poor performance.

I have had Fakhama as a decant for a while and have now tested it 3 times. Normally, I really like the Dubai series from Nabeel and I believe that it competes with Roja, Xerjoff, Tiziana Terenzi, Kemi, etc. Unfortunately, this also particularly applies to the price here.

I can really agree with PallasCC's opinion. Fakhama is a rose-oud scent that has been done countless times before. Fakhama is somewhat different due to the use of fruits, which makes it softer. However, this also leads to Fakhama slipping very much into the mainstream niche area. It could also be a scent from Initio or Parfums de Marly. I simply do not recognize the huge fragrance pyramid here: rose, oud, fruits, and vanilla are the only notes of this incredible pyramid that I could identify. Unfortunately, this did not change during the further course of my tests.

The longevity, however, leaves nothing to be desired. I could smell Fakhama for a good 11 hours. The sillage is perceptible for 4-5 hours at arm's length, after which Fakhama slowly becomes intimate over the next few hours.

Now a bit about the bottle: I had Majalis from Nabeel in my collection and must say the bottles are very nice, but not high quality. The top is just plastic, which doesn't even fit perfectly. The logo was also attached crookedly on mine. The outer packaging is a case in which the logo is again incorporated with a kind of gold leaf. Unfortunately, this starts to peel off after a short time because the bottle rubs against this logo with its own case. The bottle could also belong to a €100 perfume, I expect more here.