Mokhalat Dubai

Yardley Roses soap circa 1980s.I am in love. The gods of random perfume buys have been kind. Edit: This thing has amazing longevity. I could still smell it this morning after a full night's sleep and a shower. It seems to wear quite differently on different people. On me it starts as a huge blast of cedar and patchouli and rapidly transforms to this huge, spicy and soapy rose delight. On my husband it opens with cedar and them shuffles along as a more subtle cedar and rose thing. Lovely but much quieter and woody on him. On me, it could clear a room of perfume haters; on him it is unobtrusive but persistent. This is what I love about the oils. It's always interesting.

This is a true spicy powerhouse. From the opening notes to the dry down, it is very nice. It is almost linear for the first two hours and then the blend o wood and spice is incredible. A little goes a long way and stays on my skin from shower to shower (24 hours). Some days I put a dot of Mokhalat Dubai on one wrist and a dot of Al Rehab Superman (I only buy the oils) on the other. A very mystifying blend! Fragrance 4.5 out of 5. Sillage 5 out of 5 (maybe even a 6...) Longevity 5 out of 5

Extremely strong and longlasting scent this one. Do not give up when you first put the roller on your skin... roll a little and rub it in well. It is about time for me to learn more about oud as I seem to like oud based fragrances and I am curious to know what aspects of a fragrance are the type of oud used and what are other notes mixed in. So Mokhalat Dubai comes across as a medicinal bitter herbal woody scent, slightly smoky and mysterious. I keep thinking it reminds me of some kind of wooden or herbal scent they had in Thailand in those massage places (I mean foot massage nothing naughty LOL). Brace yourself for a pungent opening... The fragrance gets warmer and softer after a couple of hours. I can see this working very well in a warm and dry climate because it is not sweet, rather "bitter and cooling". After a few hours and wearing a warm jumper while walking outside I noticed that the scent became warmer too on my skin. If you are after a more feminine or sweeter scent in the same direction you may want to try al Rehab Bakhoor Al bahrain which shares the smokey oud but combines it with a fruity accord. PS a couple of days later the scent still lingers on my jacket - now it reminds me of a dry forest, full of coniferous woods, pines, pine cones etc. Actually while walking in the park I came past some oak trees that were shedding their last leaves... there were gazillions of oak leaves and a very woody smell in the air. I thought of this fragrance again. It really has an amazing woody drydown that's worth waiting for. Mokhalat Dubai also combines well with Al Rehab Sultan.

This dark treacle-like elixir is potent. I was fully aware that this would be strong, so I put a small amount on my hand, liked it, so put more around my neck, then threw caution to the wind and applied it like crazy all over - and that wasn’t a disaster. I went out for a walk for an hour and came back to the most amazing smell in my house rather than on me. It starts with a strong citronella note (I wasn’t expecting so much citrus from such a dark brown beast). But there’s also a green camphorous smell throughout which intertwines around a bunch of spicy roses. It is a rose scent first and foremost which I welcomed. The distant dry-down leaves a honey-musk behind. It’s wonderful but still somehow just misses the mark. Often these Arabian budget curiosities manifest an odd skank which you just can’t put your finger on, but it never quit sits well with you. In this it’s the camphor note which is prickly, woody, herbal and spicy and is a little mothball-like which ruins this slightly. I really enjoyed this though. I get: camphor, rose, citronella, musk, spices.

Wood! Strong, strong wood!! In addition, there's a touch of rose and a good dose of green notes and cool spice. The spices here are not of the sweet and cuddly variety. Some would consider this to be quite a powerful masculine, and I can't imagine that I'll be wearing massive amounts anywhere near perfume resistant friends! Still, I LIKE IT. And there are several reasons why.... 1. Cedar. It's fresh and reassuring simultaneously. This is not all cedar, but there's definately a hint in the woody blast! 2. There is something about this moldy, mossy (?) base that captures the aura of Clinique Aromatics Elixer. Not the exact scent - mind you - but it's aura. Nice. 3. Mokhalat Dubai seems to me more versatile than one might think. I plan to layer it gently with fragrances that could use a bit of wood in their life!