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

Valentine’s Day is just a month away, so I decided to put together a little “anothology” of 10 of the most obviously V-Day perfumes of all: they are other full of aphrodisiac notes, declare romance and passion with their names, or wear their heart on their sleeves so to speak – with heart-shaped bottles and packaging.

N'AIMEZ QUE MOI
Caron introduced N’Aimez Que Moi in 1916 ”To keep up morale among the troops and their lady friends”. The names means “Love Me Only”, and meant to nurture faithfulness. So pour some of this extrait from an ancient Urn and imagine yourself as a soldier in the trenches smelling a letter from your fiancé back home smelling of a delicate, heart-twiching perfume among the roaring of gun fire and battle-dust. N’Aimez Que Moi is not just roses and violets – the base is soaring with longing in the finest Caron tradition. The parfum is available from the Caron boutiques in Paris and New York. To contact the New York boutique email the friendly and knowledgeable Cathy and Diane or call 1-877-882-2766

TOCADE
The name means “Infatuation with Love”. This modern classic from the late 1980’s is romantic though quite linear – maintaining a floral, powdery musky-clan accord of bergamot, rose, magnolia, vanilla and musk. What else there is to ask?

L
L de Lolita Lempicka is another fabulous fragrance from Maurice Roucel, who also created Tocade and Musc Ravageur. The main notes here are orange, cinnamon, immortelle and vanilla. But mostly vanilla. The bottle is heart shaped and decorated with sea motives and charms, and as we all know – men react irrationally to vanilla!

100% LOVE
The name says it all, but Sophia Grojsman says it with perfume. The main element is the seductive, deep amber note of rockrose (labdanum), adorned with roses and cocoa. 100% Love is sensual and earthy and feels surprisingly natural. It is also available in a more concentrated format, named 100% Love MORE (pictured to the left).


TANGO
This natural perfume is the newest from Mandy Aftel’s perfume house. Tango is as passionate as the Argentinian dance it’s inspired by, yet, like the dancer feet in the stilettos - it is classy and elegantly restrained.
Tango opens with the mysterious, rubbery, smoky notes of toasted seashells and myrrh, and gradually smoothes into a creamy floral bouquet of champaca and tuberose.
To make it even more Valentine-ish, wear it in the heart shaped pendants that are offered for a limited time via Aftelier.com.

CHAMADE
A heart shaped bottle for a perfume with a heartbeat. Chamade is the drumroll of surrender – and in this perfume it is surrender to love. The bottle is shaped as a heart, and the stopper is a spear of an arrow. Chamade pulsates with cassis and greenery (galbanum, hyacinth) and heady florals (ylang ylang, jasmine) that are tamed and surrendered by earthy, ambery base notes (oakmoss and the most effortless aphrodisiac of all that Guerlain uses so well – vanilla).


ODE A L'AMOUR
This was the first perfume I ever picked “blind”. I ordered it from the Yves Rocher mail-order catalogue when I was quite a novice in interpreting ad copies and lists of unotes that I never heard of. I was intrigued by this offering of Mirabelle plum, cassis, grapefruit and amber and was determined to try it. When the smooth pink bottle that resembles an abstract conch arrived - I was thrilled to discover that I like it and found it similar to how I imagined it to be (quite a revelation for the time, actually). It was equally sweet and refreshing, youthful and sensual and I wore a lot of it back in the day.
You can now get it in crème parfum for only $2.95 or as a heart shaped candle for $3.00. Other body and bath products are available, including an iridescent body lotion.

POTION D'AMOUR
An erogenous mix of rose, magnolia and jasmine, paired with citrus top notes and a woody base of cedar, benzoin and vetiver. Nick Jennings, the nose of Sharini Parfums, is a French natural perfumer, and uses only organic essences and alcohol in his perfumes.



SHALIMAR
It wasn’t until I watched Inside Man in the theatre that I finally understood the Indian connection of this perfume. The film opens with the most smooth-voiced Indian pop song, and I couldn’t help think of Shalimar and of Indian sweets – full of butter, vanilla and rosewater. Shalimar, however, is more than just a vanilla scent. It’s a complex love potion that was inspired by a tragic (aren’t they all?) love story of an Indian king and hi wife, to whom he planted the gardens of Shalimar – and after her death, raised the monument of Taj Mahal. Shalimar in pure parfum is something that is to be experiences at least once in a life time. While the base is the smoothest, richest and best quality vanilla (or at least it used to be) – there are other elements involved, such as birch tar and castoerum and bergamot, and of course – rose, jasmine and iris. The flacon itself is a beautiful gem all on its own.

THE KISS
Natural perfumer Lesle Faye’s The Kiss captures the agony and the ecstasy of passion’s fiery embrace. With notes of Mimosa, Oak Moss, and Frangipani. The Kiss is available in three sizes and forms:
Roll on $45
Atomizer $75Crystal Flacon $125


Tune in to SmellyBlog in the next couple of weeks to get more ideas for what to do and wear, smell and give to your sweetheart(s) on Valentine's Day.

Parfum Sacré is a majestic marriage between the Sacréd and the sensual. Through a veil of incense smoke and dark peppery dust and voluptuous rose emerges blushing.
The scent wafts around like threads of incense smoke – myrrh, frankincense, pepper and dry rose. Rather than the powerhouse of condensed resins and spices that so many orientals are famous for, Parum Sacré wrapes arounds, wafting in and out as it envelopes you with its dream-like quality.

The rose evolves backwards – instead of blooming, drying and dying, it grows out of the smoke and becomes younger, as if the petals’ thirst was clenched by the mere action of applying a perfume. Perhaps it is your own moisture that is now watering this green, lush rose, with its crisp dewy petals – as notes of violet leaf and iris make it even greener.

The powdery aspect of these notes takes over as the perfume dries on the skin and takes on the texture of a fluffy, powdery snow as it falls on a furry coat and gets caught in curly eyelashes and fluffy plume without melting. After dancing in the snow most of the night, you will wake up the next morning still surrounded by this magic cloud of powdery snow of incense, rose, musk and vanilla.

Top notes: Pepper, Frankincense
Heart notes: Rose, Orris, Violet
Base notes: Myrrh, Musk, Vanilla

p.s. It’s hard to believe that this creation by Jean-Pierre Bethouart for Caron has happened so recently – 1990. But at least something good happened in the 90’s perfume wise and is still with us!

p.s.s. I have a soft spot for Parfum Sacré and loved it right away, because it reminds me of the dry down of my first perfume, Abishag, from the Israeli Museum. The latter was, unfortunately, discontinued. The top notes also reminds me of my own Fete d'Hiver (also a spice-incense-and-rose-scent, but the total dry down and evolution is quite different).


Image: Window Frost 3 by Miss Plum