Saat Safa

As I live in Dubai, UAE, I have had more of a chance than most to see the Al Rehab fragrances in their local cultural setting. I am altogether aware that the vast majority of people who buy Al Rehab perfumes in the West will have had them supplied from online retailers, but I would like to share with you something about purchasing these fragrances here before I give my short review. For a start, buying an Al Rehab fragrance in Dubai will mean in all likelihood that you will need to visit the Perfume Souk area in the city near to the famous Gold Souk of Dubai. This is because Al Rehab is not stocked in any of the major or minor retail outlets and - unlike Rasasi, Arabian Oud, Swiss Arabian or the other local brands - does not have an outlet based in a mall. This also means that you will have to take a route through one of the older parts of the city, by the side of the Creek, along past the shops selling all sorts of knick-knacks, past the Asian cyclists carrying stacks of cardboard on the backs of bikes, past the East Africans trading with Afghans, past the shwarma and juice stalls, until you come to the Perfume Souk area. Here you find the Al Rehab shop at the end of a busy, crowded, furiously neon-lit street.... Now when you enter this shop, you will truly wonder how it is that some of these fragrances are so well recognised as being very credible dupes of some of the fragrances from the most admired houses internationally. Creed? Montale?.....Surely not. The Al Rehab shop is staffed by some very friendly elderly local Arab gentlemen. Very nice, and a Salaam Aleikum and a few words of Arabic goes a long way. But yet, the shop. My, my, my....More like a hardware store than a fragrance shop, it is not unusual for your total to be worked out on the back of an envelope and change to be plucked out of wooden drawer. Last time I went there I wondered if I could pick up a hammer and a box of masonry nails while I was at it!...Suffice to say that this is nothing like the image of sparkling, shiny Dubai portrayed around the world. Yet, there is charm in this as well - and most definitely value for money if this is a consideration at all. (As an aside, buying these 6 ml CPO vials costs me 4 UAE dirhams each, about $1.10, ie they are practically giving the stuff away.) So what are their fragrances actually like..... Saat Safa is a delicious oriental woody fragrance which is a delightful and modest entry into the world of Arabian ouds. More masculine than unisex, the rose that filters through gives a classic combination so characteristic of regional perfumery. There are literally hundreds of fragrances in the Middle East that use these notes in some shape or form, but the vast majority will smell quite alien to a Western nose as some note or another may be amped up. Also, the characteristic 'medicinal' or 'barnyard' vibe from many ouds may turn some people away. Not so with Saat Safa. They get the blend just right here and some of the other notes - moss, patchouli and amber - seem to make it much more acceptable to those not familiar with Arabian fragrances. The projection here is good without being oppressive and the longevity is as much as you could ask for. All said, Al Rehab Saat Safa is for me a Highly Recommended Buy, especially for those who are a bit daunted by ouds but still interested and don't want to make big spends on the acclaimed niche or top-tier designer oud fragrances. Having smelled a lot of oud, I would seriously recommend this little gem to test your appetite for oud....

I live in quite a multicultural area with a high middle eastern and islamic-african population, and some of the women who live and work in my city smell absolutely amazing,they waft past leaving the most wonderful lingering trails of smoky-sweet sensuous fragrance and I was looking for a perfume like that, I wanted to try something that, to my western nose, smelled exotic, luscious, mysterious, sensual...A Yemeni friend told me that it is customary to place dresses and scarves over a sort of frame and to light a block of charcoal in a metal bowl under the frame and place frankincense and other incenses onto the smouldering charcoal in order to infuse the clothing with smokey incense, which although sounds lovely also sounds like quite a fire hazard, so I decided to try and find a perfume instead! I went to one of the local stores catering to the middle eatern market and asked for a popular fragrance and Saat Safa was recommended to me as a starting point. I purchased a 12ml rollerball for an incredibly low price, it is an alcohol free oil based perfume. I was worried that as an oil this wouldn't be very strong or would have poor longevity and sillage - how wrong was I?! I could smell this before I even opened the box and it held great promise - incensey, woody - very woody, I believe this is the oud? I dabbed a small amount on my arm and this is strong stuff, I don't think I could cope with this as a spray I think it would be overpowering. At first I get quite a lot of very strong woody notes with a hint of a more incensey smell, this is heavy, dense, slightly but not very sweet and lots of wood. Over the next couple of hours this grows, develops, changes, it is like a dance where different notes come to the fore before fading into the background. The first couple of hours it is a very "full" smell, dense and rich. After a couple of hours some of this heady density has lifted and a higher clearer woody note emerges and takes the fore, with perhaps a hint of musk and rose in there too? This is less incensey after the first hour or two has passed and a more oud smell remains. I find this quite a cool smell, not cold and certainly quite heady, yet cool at the same time if that isn't too contradictory. This is a well constructed, deep and very pleasant smell, quite different to the western perfumes to which I am accustomed and I enjoy wearing it. This is strong so you only need a little - a dab on the inside of each elbow, a little on the throat and a touch on the chest and this will give you over 12 hours of scent with good sillage, projecting well up to a good 6 feet away, so not one for wall flowers, although it isn't overpowering to me I can see how it would be easy to go overboard. I would like if the heady opening lasted longer and it doesn't quite have the smokey-sweetness I was craving so I am going to try some other scents from this brand but I will definitely be using this bottle and I feel it will last a while as a little goes a very long way. The small bottle size and rollerball applicator mean this is good to pop in your bag for touch ups in the day although I honestly doubt you'd need them. I paid only about £3 for my bottle, so at that price I would definitely recommend giving this a go if you fancy trying something different.

I have just treated myself to a bunch of Al Rehab roll-ons (alcohol-free). (This is what happens when you are in perfume buying "Rehab" LOL) Saat Safa was the one I was magically drawn to try out first. I slapped on a few rolls here and there, a few more on the inside of my left wrist and went about my day (it's quite warm and muggy today here). As Cairo Rose said the very first impression is misleading. After less than one hour or so the fragrance has settled in nicely. I am reminded of chypre fragrances, oakmoss, amber, carnation?, rose and this is the interesting bit: just the right amount of cedar / birchwood / cumin (I can often not tell the difference). It's this very same component that can register as BO when overused. Here is it given the right dimension. If I was to draw a comparison to any other fragrances, I would describe it as somewhere between the drydown of Dolce Vita and Magie Noire, or a bit of Paloma Picasso. Bottom line: woody, spicy and very sexy. Might be unisex, but I cannot support the view that this is better for men than women. Anyone who likes strong chypres and classic fragrances like Magie Noire, Paloma Picasso etc. should have a sniff at this lovely affordable gem.

A lovely, rich and complex scent. Initially it's powdery and woody, with a hint of citrus but it's a lovely combination. I find it warm spicy with some floral notes kicked in. There is a dark rose like note that is creeping up and it's tied in with the jasmine. I like the fact that to my nose the rose smells dark. There is also saffron in the background and it goes very well with the other notes. It really smells like an expensive perfume and to my nose it is beautifully blended. There is some amber in there but it takes time to come out. I have never smelled anything like this kind of perfume before, it is pretty exotic and rich as I've mentioned before. For the price I am surprised at how good and expensive this perfume oil smells. ETA: This has now become my favourite Al-Rehab perfume. I love it so much and cannot get enough of it! Saat Safa is the only perfume I'd wear continuously for days on end. I even gave a bottle to the guy I am going out with as he liked the smell, both on me and as it is and he claims that it is great on him!

j'ai une vingtaine de parfums roll-on al rehab et saat safa est vraiment mon préféré, évidement tout dépend de la peau la mienne affectionne tout particulièrement les orientaux. saat safa m'a réellement bluffé, au départ je n'ai pas trop aimé, mais connaissant les huiles parfumées arabe j'ai attendu que le parfum se développe,et là! j'aime tropppppppp sur moi c'est un doux oriental chaud,épicé, poudré et honnêtement je ne verrai pas cela sur un homme c'est envoûtant et très féminin. mais encore une fois tout dépend de la peau,et la mienne est en amour avec saat safa,ma voisine vient de passer et me dit ouf! tu sens super bon tu t'es mise a paloma picasso j'ai dis euh non!je ne connais même pas et je ne connaîtrai pas vu le prix que j'ai vu sur internet. par contre elle a essayé saat safa sur elle et rien à voir, sur elle ça pue et sur moi c'est une pure merveille,comme quoi,un parfum travaille vraiment différemment d'une personne à une autre selon sa chimie corporelle.(ps:sur moi aucune odeur de oud par contre sur ma voisine oui!)