Vintage style launched into the future
Thebes is a very special perfume for me. I have had the pleasure to know Sultan and enjoy many perfume experiences with him. I remember him smelling Guerlain Djedi for the first time, looking in awe and excitement: whoa, what is this?!
Sultan is daring, he smelled it and wanted to make it, not just enjoy it. This kind of fanaticism is not uncreative, it is part of studying, learning, being a student. But how do you make Djedi? Where to start? I remember Sultan making all sorts of study versions along the way: leathery ones, vetiver ones, floral ones, disgusting ones! So much trial and error.
Then one day it was over and he had made Thebes, amazing. It was so similar to Djedi, but as an oil. Achieving that must have meant a lot to Sultan, to know he could be close to his heroes, to understand the workings and juxtapositions of that great, enigmatic creation. Thebes is an incredible attar, a strange experience, a tombal experience.
With the arrival of Thebes perfume I was expecting the same homage, but as a beautiful spray. Wrong. Sultan is moving forward with big strides, is more mature, more confident, happier, less inward, more expansive. This whole collection shows it. Thebes parfum is no longer like Djedi, it is a rebirth, an exciting new day full of life, no more the beautiful gloom. This perfume is uplifting (maybe still strange to some), full of life, almost fun.
Everything is new: the decrepit leather is now spiffy, the dustiness is jolly, the vetiver is alive, sweet flowers replace sinister flowers... Is this the smell of the afterlife? I hope so.
Intricate, passionate and well-blended amber.
A complex amber perfume full of mystery. Like a trip through a souk with wafts of old-style cola, smokey olibanum and curious medicinal balsams.
At the same time, there is a sweet floral fleshiness that is elegant and charming, but with a touch of animal attraction.
A wondrous journey that transforms, many hours later, into a comforting, smokey cocoa/toffee powder on the skin.
Technicolor orris
Classical orris perfumes often have a cool, grey, rooty creaminess about them. Sohan d'iris by Sultan Pasha broke that mould with a rich, gourmand, musky orris.
Irisoir extrait is different again, presenting an exuberant, Technicolor orris: rooty & creamy, sweet spice, wildly fruity, young, boldly floral, friendly, suede & silk, outgoing, seductive, purple, retro & modern, exhilarating, intelligent, plump, angular, peachy, dry and juicy.
Old school glamour goes on a trip back to the origins of perfume.
Sacred Scarab opens with a luxurious aldehydic veil, taking us back to much more elegant days: charmingly spicy with a touch of civet and bitter green galbanum, yet quite comforting with sweet pink and blue florals with a refreshing watery aspect. At once rich and gossamer.
Soon (Egyptian) incense emerges and the florals are joined by a dark plum. It is now quite rich and spicy, but still with that fascinating aquarelle element. If we were to follow the Egyptian theme, one could easily imagine here a beautiful garden by a stream in ancient Egypt, with the scent of many spices and rich flowers in the air, as well as an inviting sweetness from dark ripe fruits on the trees (dates and plums). The skin of the queen is clean, yet still musky.
Later, the scent smells warm, resinous and comforting, but with a half-slumbering feline alertness. Later still, the perfume slowly fades with a beautiful toffeed myrrh incense.
Bitter sweet dreams
Exit the Chinese restaurant, up the moka and saffron stairs, and into an elegant boudoir laden with magnificent roses.
The air swirls with pungent, spicy woods... eyes start to close... and, as you go deeper, the narcotic dance of bitter green and jasmine sweet sends you off into a golden, Elysian slumber...
