I recently placed an order with Attar Bazaar after getting curious about non-alcoholic perfume oils, and after reading that the company has been around for 30 years. The oils are affordable and there's a wide variety, with every order you get to choose 4 samples, so for the price of one bottle of juice I got to try 10 different scents.
While they are not "real" attars and most contain a blend of natural and synthetic fragrances, I'm impressed with the quality. None of them are loud and cloying, and all provide the persistence of oils while staying close to the skin. I'm rather sensitive to strong fragrances but so far none have given me a headache.
So for what it's worth I thought I'd give a few first impressions.
Egyptian Musk - a very clean, soft musk; nothing loud or animalic. Attar Bazaar considers this a "masculine" musk but I think it's solidly in the "unisex" category. Men can definitely wear it, but it's 50/50. I was expecting something akin to Mama Bear's Masculine Musk, though I still think I can pull this off.
Tunisian White Musk - Interesting. Another clean musk with very noticeable citrus and coconut notes. It smells quite delicious actually. I haven't decided if it's more suited to a man or woman. I might try layering it with Egyptian.
India Musk - Floral musk. Very thick (both literally and scent-wise) and smells very similar to the usual Indian interpretation of musk flora incense. Slightly animalic. This was the "loudest" one of the bunch.
Tunisian Na'im and Arabian Na'im - Both of these are very fresh citrus fragrances. They start out orange-y and dry down to a single-note frankincense.
Egyptian Sandalwood and Tunisian Sandalwood - Very "African/Arabian" interpretations of sandalwood (I can't detect the sandalwood, Mysore or Indonesian, but these are based on a definite interpretation of sandal that I've encountered before, similar to Yardley sandalwood talc). I've smelled scents like these before -- they're very different to the usual sandalwood blends, be they Indian or English. They definitely call to mind durbar tents and desert nights and dinner in the sultan's palace. Or as Attar Bazaar puts it, "the essence of ancient Cairo, the souk, plodding camels, thrones of gold." The Tunisian one is very similar to the Egyptian with the addition of citrus and coconut. Both become quite resinous in the middle and creamy/powdery in the drydown. I might layer one with a musk and see how it turns out -- they're different than what I usually wear but they're quite delicious once they develop on my skin.
Jannat Al-Ferdous - probably the strangest fragrance of them all. Who knew that a Sufi saint would blend a barbershop scent? Seriously, this stuff reminds me of something from Trumpers or Pinaud. A very powdery floral that's quite light and elegant.
Sherif - I got this as one of my 4 samples. Apparently it was specifically intended to be for men. It's actually a very sweet oriental with a thick, resinous character, a lot of spices and amber. After the drydown I can now see the "male" characteristics, but it started out reminding me of CK Obsession for women.
Persian Shafayat - Another sample, originally the "private blend" of Attar Bazaar's founder, sweeter and richer than Sherif. This is what I'd call a very full and elegant Arabian scent, and along with Egyptian Sandalwood, is the one which most evokes visions of the Near East. Very thick (literally and in the air) aroma combining resins, woods and prominent notes of amber and frakincense among other things I can't pick out. Unisex, but originally intended for a man. Men who like sweet, elegant aromas would enjoy it. And interestingly, although it's strong it's not in the least bit cloying if you apply sparingly, like all of these scents.
With winter around the corner I'm looking forward to mixing and matching these. I'm quite pleased even though they aren't technically "real" attars. I might do some research to see where I can go to get some samples of masculine attar blends for relatively cheap, but for now I can wholly recommend Attar Bazaar for those curious about Arabian scents.
While they are not "real" attars and most contain a blend of natural and synthetic fragrances, I'm impressed with the quality. None of them are loud and cloying, and all provide the persistence of oils while staying close to the skin. I'm rather sensitive to strong fragrances but so far none have given me a headache.
So for what it's worth I thought I'd give a few first impressions.
Egyptian Musk - a very clean, soft musk; nothing loud or animalic. Attar Bazaar considers this a "masculine" musk but I think it's solidly in the "unisex" category. Men can definitely wear it, but it's 50/50. I was expecting something akin to Mama Bear's Masculine Musk, though I still think I can pull this off.
Tunisian White Musk - Interesting. Another clean musk with very noticeable citrus and coconut notes. It smells quite delicious actually. I haven't decided if it's more suited to a man or woman. I might try layering it with Egyptian.
India Musk - Floral musk. Very thick (both literally and scent-wise) and smells very similar to the usual Indian interpretation of musk flora incense. Slightly animalic. This was the "loudest" one of the bunch.
Tunisian Na'im and Arabian Na'im - Both of these are very fresh citrus fragrances. They start out orange-y and dry down to a single-note frankincense.
Egyptian Sandalwood and Tunisian Sandalwood - Very "African/Arabian" interpretations of sandalwood (I can't detect the sandalwood, Mysore or Indonesian, but these are based on a definite interpretation of sandal that I've encountered before, similar to Yardley sandalwood talc). I've smelled scents like these before -- they're very different to the usual sandalwood blends, be they Indian or English. They definitely call to mind durbar tents and desert nights and dinner in the sultan's palace. Or as Attar Bazaar puts it, "the essence of ancient Cairo, the souk, plodding camels, thrones of gold." The Tunisian one is very similar to the Egyptian with the addition of citrus and coconut. Both become quite resinous in the middle and creamy/powdery in the drydown. I might layer one with a musk and see how it turns out -- they're different than what I usually wear but they're quite delicious once they develop on my skin.
Jannat Al-Ferdous - probably the strangest fragrance of them all. Who knew that a Sufi saint would blend a barbershop scent? Seriously, this stuff reminds me of something from Trumpers or Pinaud. A very powdery floral that's quite light and elegant.
Sherif - I got this as one of my 4 samples. Apparently it was specifically intended to be for men. It's actually a very sweet oriental with a thick, resinous character, a lot of spices and amber. After the drydown I can now see the "male" characteristics, but it started out reminding me of CK Obsession for women.
Persian Shafayat - Another sample, originally the "private blend" of Attar Bazaar's founder, sweeter and richer than Sherif. This is what I'd call a very full and elegant Arabian scent, and along with Egyptian Sandalwood, is the one which most evokes visions of the Near East. Very thick (literally and in the air) aroma combining resins, woods and prominent notes of amber and frakincense among other things I can't pick out. Unisex, but originally intended for a man. Men who like sweet, elegant aromas would enjoy it. And interestingly, although it's strong it's not in the least bit cloying if you apply sparingly, like all of these scents.
With winter around the corner I'm looking forward to mixing and matching these. I'm quite pleased even though they aren't technically "real" attars. I might do some research to see where I can go to get some samples of masculine attar blends for relatively cheap, but for now I can wholly recommend Attar Bazaar for those curious about Arabian scents.
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