Dawn

The opening is instantly captivating, just like the dawn sunrise it is meant to represent. The first sniff I took made every muscle in my upper body tense up as a smile went straight across my face and my eyes went wide - just like I would looking at gorgeous sunrise. This is an oud+leather+amber perfume, specifically, but it's mostly the oud and leather featured throughout the active life of the fragrance. Carlos Benaim does not make these accords sit and wait for a dry-down. They are apparent from the first second of this fragrance hitting your skin, and the combination of those with rose and fruity pepper top notes is just divine. Unfortunately, just like the sun peaking up over the horizon, the beauty doesn't last long; I wish this opening went longer... a lot longer. It's so good. Once these dry down to the heart notes, the leather and oud gain power and you are also greeted by frankincense and amber notes. If at this point you are thinking "so far the way you've described this perfume makes it sound like old news - we've had this perfume from many houses before," yes, you are correct. But, what makes The Dawn stand out is just how silky smooth and elegant it is. How ever Benaim did this, or what materials he used, is particularly noteworthy because the frankincense, leather, oud, and amber are fully present in all of their smokey, resinous, fruity, funky, animalic, woody, slightly-fetid characteristics but none of these characteristics are the least bit challenging like they are in most other perfumes of similar styles. I cannot say it any other way except plainly and simply: this is one of the prettiest Arabian leather oud ambers I have ever smelled, maybe the prettiest. It captures a sunrise so perfectly: smooth, colorful, powerful yet gentle, seamless, and cool like a dawn sunrise is supposed to be and slowly growing in warmth (not instantly hot like most Arabian leathers and/or ouds). Final dry down going to a skin scent is a fantastic combination of oud and amber. Just like a fully risen sun, these final accords are golden and warm. In the class of Arabian perfumes - leather oud, oud, oud amber, etc. - The Dawn is summa cum laude. Totally stunning. There's one issue with it, and it's an enormous issue...: its enormous price tag. As of the day this review is being posted, 100mL costs $1,990.... I don't care how good a perfume is, that's simply ridiculous.

The Perfect Incense Dawn is a beautiful introspective journey starting with a pink pepper opening some delicate roses and frankincense reminiscent of mosques and churches. It has touches of amber / labdanum a hint of vetiver and moss in the base a delicate but noticeable oud and woody ambers in a sandalwood / frankincense direction. It’s introspective and a bit cerebral with all the balancing going on into the later dry down. Great for solitude, a cup of tea and a good book. Thoroughly enjoy this and it’s quite a treat to wear as you can truly appreciate the art here it’s not much less of a technical marvel than The Night maybe this is actually better? That’s a hard question to answer as I do love them both. The trifecta of rose, frankincense and labdanum is just pitch perfect. It is the most elegant of the desert gems IMO, it’s also by far the most subtle option. The price for years for me was a point of contention but at discounters you can get this for $550 - $700. At that price the argument changes how many of us blind buy a $300 fragrance nowadays or how many $200 fragrances do you have that you never reach for? I’d rather splurge for a best in category such as Dawn for an incense than a sample set from an artisanal brand (recently paid $165 for a sample set with shipping total disappointment) or a blind buy from some hyped up niche. There we have summed this up a phenomenal incense fragrance for an astronomical price. A true indulgence for the connoisseur.

This was really tricky for me on first wearing, as it's a bone dry blend of faintly animalic oud and glinting unburnt frankincense. As more of a myrrh fan, I initially found this to be a little bit too graphite-like for my liking, but I do still somehow feel this fits its name and theme very well. There's a stalwart serenity to Dawn which, despite its inclusion of the much feared pink pepper and saffron, doesn't come off spicy but does use its very austere incense note to create an image of light filtering through a window with dust floating in the air. Even now I'm a little shocked at the pairing of frankincense with oud (which I shouldn't be as oud has often been burned as incense throughout history) but the dryness of the former and animalic quality of the latter produce a sensation of something that started to decay but was then fossilised in a state of suspended animation. It is of course evocative of stone buildings and tiled plazas... sun, dust and silence. Bringing up the rear is a fairly nondescript woodiness which takes over after about 8 hours. Perhaps it's sacrilege to say, but I wouldn't have minded if the rose got a little bump in this... Incense milled into a mountain of dust.

Al-Fajr (Dawn) is Olibanum perfection. This one and Sultan Pasha's Ame Sombre are the best compositions that explore the Frankincense accord, at least to me. This one is more on the Orthodox church, cold olibanum smell, backed up by some earthy soft oud in the base, dry vetiver, and moss. I don't get a strong Oud as in Al Layl(The Night), nor the same Hindi fermented type, here it's more of an earthy variety, that is cleverly blended with vetiver and oakmoss. I also don't pick up the rose in here. It very much sings a perfect song about Olibanum, and it also has that oily almost texture to it like you'd burn the resin and pour the oil on yourself. This does absolutely not justify its price tag, but I love it and it does for me. Sometimes is better to let your nose and senses decide rather than the rational part of your brain. Because it's not as animalic nor loud as Al Layl, or Al Waad, this can be worn more easily without offending innocent bystanders.

This is the most realistic incense I have ever smelled in my life. It smells IDENTICAL like when you enter to a church. Dusty, woody, dirty incense. It is there from the beginning and it will stay with you until the end. It is amazing that incense will remain the same all the time while other notes will come and go. The opening is not animalic as The Night, but you can immediately feel the rose, smoke, oud and pepper. Pepper definitely softens the animal opening so it’s lighter than The Night and The Moon initially. Dry down is a smoky, incensy labdanum. And through the labdanum you can feel the oud incense. It's a cold fragrance. A bit dusty from vetiver. It stays on the skin for 12+ hours, and it stays on the clothes until you wash it. Dawn will be around you, but it's not too strong so it can be worn at slightly higher temperatures without bothering anyone. I am very happy to have this masterpiece and to finally have a full Desert Gems collection.