Al Hareem by Yas ..The Royal Name of Perfumes

Yas..The Royal Name of Perfumes is an Emirati company that was established in the early 1999. The name Yas was derived from the name of the Bani Yas, one of the most prestigious and highly respected tribes in Arabian Peninsula. The Bani Yas consists of about 20 subsections. Both of the royal families, the Al Nahyan and the Al Maktum, are descended from this significant tribe. 

All YAS Perfumes outlets have been given a magnificent corporate look fitted with an amazing design in Italian Marble and Rich Mahogany throughout each store.  
In addition, YAS Perfumes is characterized by the manufacturing of outstanding high quality Arabian Perfumes which are made from a mixture of exquisite top quality natural products presented in luxurious crystal bottles. 

Yas as a comparatively young perfume house established about 30 outlets arround the Arabian Peninsula but the most in the UAE which is comparatively not much. They are not that present as other houses. Also the degree of brand awareness seems not to be too high. Untill now I could not find one online offer of Yas Perfumes nor a perfume review.

Interesting is that Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi as one of the most expensive hotels offers an ultra-luxury once in a lifetime all-out package with a hefty value of  1,000,000 US Dollars in which one of the 12 including points is to make your own perfume with experts from Yas Perfumes. So if you don't know how to spend a million dollar on your vacation here the complete offer ;-D. It is something like All-Inclusive for the rich, unimaginatives ones.
But the fact speaks for itself that of all perfume houses Yas has been chosen by Emirates Palace though I think there are better ones which has could been chosen.

So let's take Al Hareem to pieces.

On their website, Yas titles it: "Al Hareem Men" with following description:
"Another floral perfume of Yas collection. Al Hareem is a symbol of truly elegance and luxury. Fresh distinctive fragrance that suits men of different ages."

I have a completely different impression of Al Hareem! First I don't see it as a men's fragrance at all but unisex. For some of you who know me, know that in my opinion a men's perfume can almost never be just for men. For me every men's perfume is unisex as long as it doesn't smell completely like an after-shave.
But this one is really not masculine.
I also don't declare this fragrance as floral, though it has a floral heart note but different floral as I use to know. Maybe out of the reason that I didn't smell any Lavendar perfumes in the past. As I couldn't find anywhere the selected ingridients of Al Hareem I have to tell you what I am smelling:

Top Notes: Vanilla, Sandlewood
Heart Notes: Lavender, Sandlewood, Musk
Base Notes: Sandlewood, Musk

It is indeed a distinctive fragrance, very exceptional. There is no sweetness but a very pleasant bitterness, very warm, deep and powerfull. It is an arabian spray perfume with an oily touch and lasts very long quite like a pure oil.

Al Hareem was one of my first arabian perfumes and will always be special for me.

Inspiration Award

(Thank and link back to the person that awarded this to you)
Thanks to Blue Pearl, one of the dearest and most inspirational bloggers herself. I feel flattered and of course happy, who doesn't wish to be an inspiration ;-) Happy espacially because I am finding inspiration in my scented little world and so it is even more beautifull to inspire others too.

(Link posts by you and fellow bloggers that YOU find inspirational)

The bloggers I have choosen are generally inspirational to me so take a look to discover. As for myself I am generally inspirational too :P

(Give the award to 10 fellow bloggers)

The ten bloggers I have chosen are inspirational in different ways, each of them in an unique way:

Colors of my Life by Shahirah Elaiza

Rationality

Bringing Modesty back into Fashion

In the Shade of Islam

How To Live Like an Omani Princess

A blog of Alice

This Blog Really Stinks. (A perfume blog)

UNDER YOUR ABAYA

Beauty of Islam

Starry-Eyed

L'Eau d'Issey - my personal splash and all-time love

For the perfume world it was in 1993 when Miyake, an exceptional Japanese personality, who title himself as an artist not a designer, what he i.a. actually is, launched this fresh-flowery fragrance, which was so different as everything else untill then. It became a classic and won several awards since then.
For me it was somewhen in the late 90ies, when I discovered L'Eau d'Issey. Actually I do not remember exactly when it was, the important thing for me is, its beauty and importance is still the same as back then.
Even now when I am writing about it, I have the smell in my nose! Or is it my head? Where do we memorize scents? I have read so many times that it is not possible to memorize smells and here I disagree completetly, at least for myself.

Top Notes: Lotus, Freesia, Cyclamen, Rose Water
Heart Notes: Carnation, White Lilies, Fresh Peonies
Base Notes: Musk, Amberseed, Tuberose, Osmanthos, Sandlewood, Cedarwood

Obviously it is a very complex fragrance and so it is full of contrast as well. On one hand it is an aquatic scent, on the other flowery. It is completely fresh but also woody. But woody as nothing else comparable, because all the warmth of the woods is cooling given to the aquatic dominance.

I have read many reviews on L'Eau d'Issey and it is amazing how different the impressions are. The descriptions are going from finding it from too powerfull to almost too weak, oriental?, too aquatic even reminding of funeral wreath?. The funeral wreath as a description made me confused, it sounds so sad and I disagree, but have to admit there is something melancholic about this scent. But melancholie doesn't have to be sad necessarily?!
Considering that this is a scent which depends on skin chemistry like no other, not everyone has the luck to get the gorgeousness of it.

For myself L'Eau d'Issey activates several feelings and pictures. There is this natural beauteosness reminding me of beautifull, exotic watterfalls, then also there is the melancholy I mentioned but also a very powerfull feeling reminding me on the splashs while exercising during my swim practice.

Since today is the first really warm and sunny day here and a starting signal for my favorite season it is a good occasion to take a spray of L'Eau d'Issey, pack my picknick-blanket and go for some daydreaming of waterfalls and lotus flowers in the green countryside ;-)

Which perfume is your all-time love or activate special feelings?

Kalemat by Arabian Oud - FiFi Award 2010

Kalemat by Arabian Oud is an unisex fragrance inspired by the smell of bakhoor. Bakhoor (Arabic بخور) is the Arabic name given to woodchips soaked in fragrant oils or in most Arab countries it is the name given to scented bricks. These scented chips/bricks are burned in incense burners to perfume the home and clothing with a rich thick smoke. The ingridients of bakhoor are mostly agarwood (oud), sandlewood, frankincense and other natural oils in different mixtures.
At my first visit to UAE I actually deeply fell in love with the exotic smell of bakhoor which you can smell almost everywhere.

Kalemat is the fragrance which won the  FiFi Award 2010 in Dubai for the most popular perfume of the year. The significance of the award is represented in the fact it is the first online consumer voting within the region to choose their favourite perfume within the Arab World.

So beside my love for bakhoor it made me even more curious to test this popular perfume. And indeed it captured me though it is not  as good as the real bakhoor smell.
Unfortunately I noticed later that it just doesn't work on my skin. I didn't test it extensively and not on my own skin. I should have know it better, as I noticed couple of times in the past that my skin is not on friendly terms with frankincence as it is getting to be too herbal.

Top Notes: Frankincence,  Basil
Heart Notes: Cedar Wood
Base Notes: Vanilla

So I personally will stay true to bakhoor and when I want to smell of it I will scent my clothes exposing to the smoke of bakhoor like many Arabs do. I always claim that in fact I am probably Arab, kidnapped and brought to Europe and given time I adopted to the surrounding conditions by getting blond :-D

May I introduce Lady Vengeance (Juliette has a Gun) - nice to meet you!

Scents of Arabia has obviously its main focus on arabian perfume but now and then you will find some reviews on exceptional (at least for me) 'french' perfumes as well, like today.

Juliette has a Gun is a relatively new perfume label created by Romano Ricci in 2006 who has perfume in his genes as his great grandmother was the grand fashion dame Nina Ricci and his grandfather Robert Ricci who created the perfume legend "L'air du Temps".
For his label Romano choosed the grand parfumeur  Francis Kurkdjiian who created two of the six fragrances.
The whole concept from the name itself, the logo, the design, the marketing philosophy and finally the fragrances are inherently so consistent that I can't find a comparison which would convince me that way. A great job was done.

Juliette has a Gun was mainly inspired by Shakespear's Juliette but here is a modern Juliette with a gun in her hand who is indepentdent , self confident, at times dangerous and obtain whatever she needs but remain still feminine and romantic! Amazing are also the several fragrance names of this collection:
- Not a perfume
- Miss Charming
- Lady Vengeance
- Citizen Queen
- Calamity J.
- Midnight Oud
I came to the conclusion that the most names were perfectly choosed to describe the scent.

Interesting is also the fact how the fragrances are composed in a unique way uniting the familiar notes compositions like in Lady Vengeance: rose-patchouli-vanilla with a syntetic ingridient in this case Cetalox. Usually I don't like syntetic ingridients in perfumes but this one is giving exactly that kick what Juliette here actually is: a mix of the conventional and the modern Juliette! Further the Cetalox is not unpleasent in the nose like it actually sounds.
Lady Vengeance is actually the one I found for myself most suitable though I am not vengeful at all. I am using the gun just to bluff arround ;-)
As I already said the notes composition is familiar but this interpretation is very special. It gives you the right dose wearing it: you are not too young and not too old, not too provocative and not too shy...
You can wear it on your trip into the countryside almost tasting the scent like chocolate filled with strawberry cream or to a tango night wearing your bright red dress with compatible red lipstick and feeling ultra-feminine!

Here I have the same opinion like Romano by himself: for me a perfume doesn't have just to smell nice! While inhaling it, you have to have pictures in your head, the skin has to prickle!

The marketing strategy is also to approach the perfumery as an art, presenting these perfumes only through limited distribution such as concept stores or specialized perfumeries - precisely a niche perfume!

Juliette has a Gun offer a sample kit of all of the six fragrances on their website for just € 6,90 and free shipment all arround Europe!

Exploding Flowers - "Banafsaj" by Syed Junaid Alam

Syed Junaid Alam is one of the Bahraini perfume houses which are worth to be mentioned at all.

"It all began back in 1910, when Syed Junaid Alam, a true visionary and a focused entrepreneur was fascinated by the eternal romance between the region's people and the ideals of nobility, beauty and opulence. Later this fascination turned into his inspiration.

Initially drawn by the attraction of Bahrain's flourishing pearl industry, the founder of the company, Syed Junaid Alam discovered a treasure of traditional natural oils and production of some of the finest perfumes, oils, incense, accessories & selections of Oudh wood from different parts of Asia. And by 1910, he started his dealings in essential oils and traditional fragrances. Thus, was born Syed Junaid Alam W.L.L."

I discovered a perfumery of Syed Junaid Alam last year in Abu Dhabi first and was keen on the beautifull fragrances to very affordable prices. Though the perfume shop and its interior aren't comparable to the noble shops like Al Qurashi, Arabian Oud or Ajmal it is anyway worth visiting it and discovering what's behind the veil.
So it occured that I bought a few gifts for my family among them "Banafsaj" for my step-sister. Back home I noticed how wonderfull this fragrance actually is, so on my last journey to the Emirates I run into a Syed Junaid shop and bought it right away for myself this time.

This fragrance is a explosion of exotic flowers. Never before I experienced such a flower fragrance.

Top notes:  Rose
Heart notes: Jasmine, Rose
Base notes: Amber, Musk

Interesting is that this scent does not evolve from top to the base notes. It is from the beginning the same explosion what it remain at the end. It is a long lasting and powerfull scent, so it is advisable not to spray more than once or twice.
The other interesting thing is how the scent is composed, how the flowers are united with the amber and the musk to give it that ultra-exotic touch. The amber and the musk are like a coat keeping thousands of flowers present. The flowers which are mentioned actually are just the rose and the jasmine but I would swear that there is more than a yard of wild, purple orchids contained.

Aside the wonderfull fragrance, the bottle is quite amazing. The cap is created in form of a wild purple flower and on the bottle is beautifully tendriled.

Giveaway "Zahra" by Swiss Arabian

Zahra by Swiss Arabian is an ultra-feminine, fruity-floral, sweet fragrance. I would declare it as a soft-oriental perfume with a delightfull sweetness which is very present.
The ingridients are rose, jasmine, marigold, mimosa, saffron, red berries, oud, sandlewood, musk and vanilla.

Though the red berries are the only fruit which is mentioned, in my nose there are much more fruits, exotic, yellow fruits and the fruitiness predominates.

On the first sniff I liked it, but while I am wearing it I notice that it is just not me! So I have decided to give it to you :-) if you want.

I have applied it twice so it is almost full and I still have the package.

So the giveaway is about one bottle "Zahra" perfume oil 30ml!

The rules are the same like the last time.
You can participate when you blog about this giveaway and send me a link of your post here in the comments.

You have time untill March 27th when the winner will be draw by lots and announced here.