Al Haramain is a Saudi perfume house founded in 1970. From what I understand, as of right now there isn’t a distributor in North America. However, the brand ships internationally.
I’m reviewing two perfumes in the Prestige Collection.
Obsessive Oudh with notes of musk, amber and oud.
This is barnyard oud. It’s animalic and musky. It has blue cheese, mushroom and decay. There’s a dry, cedar-like aspect that if anything, really adds to the “barnyard-ness” of this perfume’s opening. It dries down to a furry musk that reminds me of cat’s fur after lounging in a warm, sunny window.
Usually, I don’t like these oudy-ouds. But, I like this one. It’s great alone but it also adds depth to florals like roses or gardenias.It’s one of those highlights the fungal funkiness in oud without being too intense; yet, it isn’t “candy coated”. It’s unapologetically oud.
Give Obsessive Oudh a try if you like oud perfumes or animalic musks. Or if you like perfumes like Phoenicia Realoud, Amouage Oudh Al Khaloud and a variety of other Arabian ouds sold in fancy bottles, especially the attars.
Victoria’s Final EauPINION – Funky, fungal oud and musk.
The 3.4 oz bottle retails for €195.
Arabian Treasure with notes of cinnamon, cardamom, geranium, mint, clove, patchouli, amber and labdanum.
Arabian Treasure opens as a spicy geranium which comes across as a very luxurious shaving cream. It becomes a sweeter amber that reminds me warm cinnamon sugar cookies. I pick up benzoin which almost smells like cherries and bread dough. Amber is the main theme of Arabian Treasture. It’s a sweeter, creamier amber with a cooler, green herbal opening.
If I had sniffed Arabian Treasure 10-15 years ago when I was in my intense “amber obsessed” phase, I would have became hysteric with joy. It’s funny because the English tagline for the perfume is “End of quest!” And it would have ended my quest. In an alternate universe where I discovered Arabian Treasure in the early 2000’s, I wouldn’t be writing about perfume now. This would have been it for me¹.
Give Arabian Treasure a try if you love amber perfumes (sweeter and less resinous ambers). Or if you like perfumes like L’Artisan Ambre Extreme, Histoires de Parfums Ambre 114, Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier Ambre Precieux, Montale Blue Amber and/or Tauer L’Air du Desert Marocain.
Victoria’s Final EauPINION – A really good amber.
The 2.4 oz bottle retails for €195.
Both of these have above average projection and longevity. They last over 12 hours.
If you wanted to add “classic” Middle Eastern style perfumes (woods and amber) to your wardrobe, I’d recommend something like these two. This style has been copied/emulated time and time again in the European (and now American) market. This saturation has made these sort of notes/accords/genre seem “dated” and that’s ludicrous. It’s only dated if you fall for marketing hype. But, good perfumes are always beautiful².
Both perfumes are available at Al Haramain. Samples are also available for purchase.
¹But, thankfully that didn’t happen. And thankfully I got over that amber obsession and moved on.
²This is a rant I’m going to save for another day.
Want more reviews? Try…
Guerenland – Video review of Arabian Treasure.
Fragrantica – Member reviews of Obsessive Oudh.
*Disclaimer – Samples provided by the brand. I am not financially compensated for my reviews. My opinions are my own. Product pics from the brand. Lisa Bonet pic from www.fanpix.net.
OH MY! You had me at barnyard! And then you said decay and that had me drooling! I think I need to try that Obsessive Oudh! I probably would layer it with a floral though (I love a skanky tuberose or orange blossom, or even lily (Lys Epona <3)), or with something gourmand because I love my skank sweet. 😉
Arabian Treasure is not for me… I love a sweet amber in theory. But in reality the labdanum just turns them sour on me.
I’ve sampled it alone and then I moved on to white florals. And trust me, it layers soooo nicely with white florals and roses (like Sonoma Scent Studio’s). It’s also very long-lasting so I find that a little dab from the sample goes a long way. A full-size bottle would last FOREVER.
Yeah, there’s lots of labdanum in it. For me, I go in and out of phases of loving these sort of ambers. I really, really burnt myself out on them about 10-15 years ago.
These both sound gorgeous, especially the second one. I admit it sounds a bit disappointing there’s not more of the geranium, but hey, amber is lovely so I wouldn’t complain too much. 😉
The geranium is prominent for sure. I must admit that when something lasts on the skin this long, it’s hard for me to continue to pay attention. The base notes tend to leave more of an impression just because they’re there for like 8+ hours.
That’s a good point!
When it comes to longevity, a note like geranium just can not compete with the sort of basenotes in this 🙂 Those are the sort of notes that last FOREVER.