Areej Le Doré Attars – Part III: Layering Attars With Western Fragrances

Vintage Shalimar, Opium, and Lagerfeld cologne, modern Salome, Ambre Precieux, Tom Ford‘s Tobacco Vanille, eau de parfums versus eau de toilettes from all eras — these may not seem like automatic choices to combine with Indian-style soliflore attars from Areej Le Doré‘s new History of Attar Collection, but that is what I did. And the results were fascinating! In fact, they were significantly better than my experiences in layering various Areej attars with each other — to the point where I’ve discovered a few new fragrance loves.

Based on my experiences, I’d strongly argue that layering the Areej attars with Western mixed or blended fragrances is successful in a way that layering the attars with each other is not. I think the latter is a mistake whereas the former demonstrates how the attars can either fix major structural and raw material problems in a bad scent formula, provide positive olfactory additions to a good fragrance, significantly improve the concentration and body of lighter scents, or some combination thereof. Today, I’ll share with you my various experiments in both genres.

Photo: my own.

Areej Le Dore History of Attars Collection. Photo: my own.

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Areej Le Doré Indian Attars – Part II: Gulab & Motia

Gulab rose attar and Motia jasmine attar will be the focus of Part II of my look at Areej Le Doré‘s Indian Attar Collection. As a side note, for the sake of time-management, length, and brevity (to the extent that I can muster such a thing), I’ve decided to move the scent descriptions and results of layering four attars, three attars, and various duos into a separate Part III to be posted another day.

Kannauj attar producers in India. Source: bbc.co.uk

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Areej Le Doré Indian Attars- Part I: Tuba, Champa, & Genda

Areej Le Doré has released a five-piece Indian Attar Collection, each focusing on a single flower combined with Mysore sandalwood and prepared in the centuries-old Indian bronze pot method of distillation.

Today, in Part I, I’ll provide a broad introductory overview to the collection, cover the particular methodology and raw materials that were used, then share an olfactory description of three of the attars. They will be the tuberose, champaca, and marigold attars. Part II in several days time will describe the rose and jasmine ones, Gulab and Motia. Part III will cover different attar layering combinations, including with Western fragrances, and what the result smells like.

Areej Indian Attar Collection. Photo: Areej Le Dore. [Photo cropped by me at the top.]

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Rogue Perfumery Chypre Siam

Chypre Siam is a whimsical, creative, and original take on the classical chypre genre. Manuel Cross, a former chef of 25 years, whisks up Thai cuisine with the zingy, zesty, bitter freshness of South East Asia’s Kaffir lime, aromatic green basil, the heat of fiery red chili peppers, and a touch of delightful lemongrass in lieu of the traditional French top notes. Then, he deftly swerves back to the classics with lush, indolic florals in the middle and verdant oakmoss in the base along with a load of skanky civet, amber, dark nitro musk (musk ketone), and dark, occasionally medicinal, smoky leather.

I really enjoy the fun, original opening of Chypre Siam and its vibrant character that demands attention and respect. Yet, I find myself somewhat ambivalent when I consider the fragrance as a whole from start to finish.

Photo by Weerapong Chaipuck. Source: deMilked. (Direct website link to Mr. Chaipuck’s photos embedded within.)

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