Vallee Des Rois

Thank you Fragrantica for responding and putting in base! I purchased at Harrods years ago. This perfume is why I became a Fragrantica member, in search of my lost and discontinued love. I searched for years in vain, looking at blogs, and snapping up ebay bottles. Years ago, some cheeky miss at Harrods sprayed this on my arm as I was passing through. Another squirted a bug-repellant on the other side. A couple of hours later my nose was glued to my wrist--the VDR wrist! I purchased that day. Two weeks later, I literally threw all my other perfumes out. I do regret that moment (okay, that was not wise considering those would be vintage now....); however, this perfume became my everything scent, my day-to-day, my nighttime, my seduction, my lucky charm. When it was discontinued I stockpiled as many bottles as I could, and I have the parfum extrait, and edp. This scent stops people in their tracks and full of compliments, and I have found almost nothing like it except perhaps for Alahine, Joop Joop! And SL old formulation Chergui. But they are shadows and wisps of this, faint echoes. This perfume stays for days, will scent your clothes forever, lingers on items you touch, turns heads. I love myself when I wear it, and feel invincible. If you notice, I'm avoiding the notes and that's because the notes here to my nose are so complex and well-married. After writing a few reviews on Fragrantica and elsewhere and becoming more knowledgeable about which ingredients smell a certain way I'm truly left flummoxed by what makes Vallee des Rois. Most people that I've given a sample to say "tuberose" and "aldehydes," but I would say otherwise, or, in addition to....it has orange blossom, a bit of incense, rose, woods and resins, and honey--though is not sweet. The perfumer, Mira Takla, is an Egyptologist who created this seemingly one-hit wonder and disappeared for a time. For those wanting to know more, here is an excerpt from Cleopatra's Boudoir": c1988 Vallee des Rois by Mira Takla: The name means "Valley of the Kings" in French. Created by British Egyptologist Mira Takla as an approximation of the perfume that the ancient pharaoh Cleopatra herself wore containing 90% of ingredients used in Ancient Egypt. It was sold exclusively at the perfume hall in Harrod's department store in England and the Galeries Lafayette in Paris.... It is classified as a floral oriental fragrance for women with a mixed floral bouquet layered over a woody, resinous and powdery drydown. Top notes: fruits, green notes, citruses Middle notes:rose, jasmine, orange blossom, tuberose, ylang-ylang Base notes: benzoin, heliotrope, labdanum, patchouli, sandalwood, styrax, tonka bean, vanilla, vetiver. She further adds that it is "A unique perfume at once combining the mystery and opulence of ancient Egypt with the chic elegance of an haute couture French perfume. Vallee des Rois is the creation of Mira Takla - sophisticated, intelligent, born and raised in Cairo." Parfum gives other/additional notes. In all the bottles, particularly the extrait, a grainy, particulate mass is left behind, and I'm convinced this uses a lot of natural versus synthetic materials. The materials never ghost. You will smell this all day on yourself. However, this is not "an elevator killer"--people will notice, but it's subtle and they need to be relatively close though it trails well. The bottles themselves are beautiful, and the scents differ. My favorite is the dagger-shaped perfume. I LOVE LOVE LOVE, more than all the Amouages, the Guerlains, the Unums, the Papillons or Tauers.... it's a 10/10. Silage, longevity, sexy, elegant, different, East-meets-West 10!

From what I can tell these are the various concentrations that exist: A 7,5 ml splash extrait in a bottle similar to the main one pictured here (an abstracted falcon?) I think there might also be a 15 ml pure parfum extrait in the bottle pictured above but I have to check this; A 7,5 ml eau de parfum spray in a "dagger" shaped bottle; A 50 ml spray eau de toilette in the long tall bottle pictured above (gold cap with blue molded glass ball on top); A 50 ml eau de parfum in an oblong spray bottle with painted on chain gold necklace on the front; And a 30 ml pure parfum extrait splash which comes in the bottle pictured above as the main image of this page...I am detailing these bottles and concentrations because I got confused myself. This is a seriously beautiful perfume in my opinion. Sort of a cross between a spicier Poison and Loulou (Loulou which came out a year earlier) but it is a quite specific perfume and difficult to describe or even compare to anything. It does somehow have the mysterious dense intensity that I also perceive in Youth Dew. At this point there are versions available for sale on eBay and Etsy (edt, edp, extrait) and they are not cheap. But as strange as it may sound, especially for someone who doesn't have much money, I think they are worth the mildly astronomical prices they are being sold for (I say "mildly" because I just saw a 50 ml spray bottle of Hermes Doblis extrait from the 2004 limited edition of 1000 being sold on eBay for 50.000,00 euros -- fifty thousand). I got confused with the concentrations for Vallee Des Rois, it's important to ask the seller if you are not sure and look at the listing on the perfume box in images (edt, edp, parfum). There is also a box set of three bottles, on gorgeous blue-green shiny fabric (lined with) -- I have seen conflicting accounts as to the contents, in any case a 50 ml edt and a 50 edp both sprays and the little dagger shaped spray bottle of 7,5 ml but I think this is the edp and not extrait...The boxes are made from very soft, almost recycled material in a beautiful blue with gold lettering. Search Google for Cleopatra's Boudoir and Vallee Des Rois for a full description of the perfume's creation. Apparently the formula was composed in France by an anonymous perfumer and then bottled in Egypt. "Head-shakingly -- in disbelief and awe / wonder / fascination / appreciation / gratitude -- good" in my opinion in all concentrations.......an amazing total package from name to fragrance to bottle and packaging.....expansive......evocative........timeless even.........Look for / smell for a delicious 'stewed fruit' or 'raisin' like note that gives the whole thing it's ancient cast and richness....

This formula on my skin is soft and very sensual, I get amber aldehydes, ylang ylang, a whisper of tuberose, animalic jasmine, resins, incense, amber, fresh rose, honey, something vaguely green and creamy and finally a pinch of civet. I sprayed the edt on my other wrist and in comparison the edt is more aldehydic with more prominent green & citrus notes. The edp and the edt of VDR are sisters not twins, the edt is bigger, brighter and raunchier whereas the edp is more silky, sweeter and sits closer to the skin. A vintage lovers dream. I’m very happy I finally have a full, albeit small flacon of this. Who would wear this ? Queen Akasha (Queen of the Damned 2002) Princess Ahmanet (The Mummy 2017)

Absolutely Spectacular fragrance I've been wearing since 1992. I'm on my last bottle, if anyone has this for adoption, please reach out to me. Thanks

Really proud to own tow edp bottles. The smell is bizarre, yet familiar, I didn't know how. The real Oriental scent. Happy to see my Valee finally here on Fragrantica. If you don't know who Mira Takla is, well, she is an Egyptian lady, who is a big collector of historical antiques, she is really obsessed with her Egyptian heritage that she inherited genetically (lucky her), and she just wanted to creat a perfume that contains a real/raw/natural ingredients that was really documented to be used in old Egypt. And this was not a "selling scheme", the liquid inside my bottles is of a great natural quality.