Wearing Aqaba brings a feeling of freedom and an open horizon. Discovering a large body of water in the middle of the desert... Coming across an abundant loot from a Spice Caravan… Finding a city like Aqaba and conquering it… Like Lawrence of Arabia, it’s a Westerner conquered by the East; or the East bottled by the West, if you will.

Aqaba is enjoying the golden rays of a mercifully quiet desert sun upon yellow sand, covered with a large azure blanket of skies and finding the open sea to ahead, with refreshing unknown possibiliites. It is seductive and warm yet that does not mean it should restrict itself for being worn only indoors on cold winter days...

Although it is heavy and luscious, rich with spices, resins, balsams and flowers – it radiates certain lightness that is warm and soothing - creating the imaginary sensation of lying on a warm, fine, yellow sand, enveloped by sunlight and warmth that is comforting, almost healing… It radiates a golden expanded feeling of abundance, reminiscent of amber jewels, copper and golden frankincense tears.

The perfume opens with fruity peachy notes, as well as pencil-like, smoky-dry cedwarood notes, spices (primarily clove buds), it has a generously rich, golden heart Egyptian jasmine, orange blossom and roses, and base notes of olibanum, myrrh, and sandalwood.

Aqaba has the beautiful, dark oriental notes of frankincese and myhrr, the traditionla Biblical seducers, as well as rose and spices. Most of the ingnredients smell like they’ve been just lifted off a passing Spice Caravan. However, despite this array of heavy notes, Aqaba gives a luscious, bright impression that is evocative of the contrast between the dry yellow desert sands and the jewel-like, rich blue hues of the tropical Red Sea.

Aqaba is reminiscent of Asja in its combination of cloves, fruit and resins and the modern rendition of the classic Oriental theme– yet it is a much more complex oriental (albeit not particularly original). It is almost as heavy and rich as Opium, Youth Dew and Cinnabar (and in that sense evokes the old times...) but is so light-hearted, luscious and fruity that you simply cannot think of it as old and passe...

As much as Aqaba is an old fashioned Oriental spicy perfume, I find it refreshing in the modern market that is overflown with new perfumes that are mostly unoriginal, fake, overly synthetics, watered down, and lacking character. Though Aqaba is a tad too sweet and juicy for my taste nowadays, it is a wonderful scent to wear when the weather is still cold - to remind me of desert lands and exotic spices. For the oriental lovers amongst us, Aqaba is a perfume you must try.

Aqaba can be obtained directly from its creator, via Miriam Mirani's webstore. According to the website, the notes are:

Top notes: Peach, White Cedarwood, Cloves, Cinnamon, Cardamom
Heart notes: Damask Rose, Egyptian Jasmine, Bulgarian Rose
Base notes: Myrrh, Frankincense, Oakmoss, Tea Leaves




Images:
Gulf of Aqaba Bay from EgyptAdventures.com
Lawrence of Arabia from IMDB.com