Marrakech

I quite liked this scent, despite expecting not to. I have an extremely low tolerance for hippies, hipsters and hypocrisy, which made me instantly suspicious of this scent and everything around it. The only reason I even contemplated entering an Aesop store we because I’d smelled an Aesop bathroom fragrance at a friend’s house and was surprised that it was both effective and pleasant. I guess if you’re not into oriental scents, you won’t like this. If you like aldehydes or sweet fragrances, you won’t like this. But for someone like me who enjoys oud based fragrances of all sorts, this was an extremely pleasant scent. It reminded me quite strongly of Montale’s Dark Aoud, which maybe some of the previous reviewers are not familiar with. My main criticisms are based around sillage and longevity. They could be better, especially the longevity. And when it’s $85 for 50ml, it’s a bit expensive to keep reapplying all day. Aside from that, it’s a beautiful scent that’s worth owning.

Had the occasion to smell it on a perfumed letter, very pleasant and warm scent, long lasting too!

In the beginning Marrakech is strong, herbal, and slightly spicy with notes of anise, cumin, coriander, cardamon and cloves. The anise note quickly fades away, leaving the sturdier, woodier spices along with a slightly floral-soapy note and a hint of patchouli. The overall impression is dry and transparent, like standing near a homemade soap and potpourri stand at an outdoor craft fair, the kind that sells rough-cut soap with lots of little bits of unidentifiable plant matter embedded in it. After an hour there’s not much left except patchouli. I like patchouli, so can’t complain about the drydown too much. It’s simple and straightforward, and reminds me of perfume that my mother used to wear. Patchouli always produces considerable sillage, so in this phase there’s a nice cloud of it floating all around me. Close to the skin I can still detect a hint of the dry spices and soap. The patchouli gradually fades away to oblivion over the course of about 3 hours. If Marrakech was meant to evoke a North African spice market, it misses the mark. It’s a pleasant, light scent that’s more evocative of a neo-hippie soapmaker who’s afraid to go full-out headshop or wanted to save money by skimping on the fragrance. I’m not impressed.

I suppose it was serendipity that I first tested this the day after I went to the Renaissance Fair; because that is exactly what it smells like. Doc Elly's review is spot on. At the Ren Fair, I was in a soap and lotion booth for awhile, since my daughter and her friend were enamoured of testing everything. I found myself dabbing on a bit of the "Juniper Sage" lotion and then I absolutely slathered my hands in the "Sandalwood" lotion. There were other similar booths and also many featuring incense and handmade wood and leather products. And that general smell; sandalwood with airy spices and herbs (a tad smokey) is kinda exactly what this perfume smells like. It's very much a hippie-ish essential oil sandalwood rather than the creamy Mysore soap variety but a light soapiness is present in the scent. It's a nice soft, dry cloud of scent; projects noticably for awhile and lasts about 4-5 hours.

I wanted to try this one since a while as I've read wonders about. Then I found a corner shop for Aesop and tried it. Well... I remember trying a body cream from Aesop many years ago that smelled like furniture wax polish. This Marrakesh smells like cardamom and that's all. On my skin the cardamom really peaks out and it's not unpleasant, but very monodimensional. Sandalwood (I hoped for this) not seen around. There is a patchouli vibe, not bad, but no creamy sandalwood. A very simple scent, not airy, good if you want to smell spicy and organic, but not very interesting out of any "organic" life style. Longlasting but poor sillage.