Al Lail

I think Pasha is redefining what attars can do with this by recreating a classic chypre feel and evoking memories for me that were long forgotten. This is special. It opens with citrus and a heavy narcotic, boozy smell but booze that's been infused with cask woodiness. It's not a spirit though, it's more gentile, like a fine wine with peach nuances and gloriously floral but doesn't smell of anything predominantly. It's a vague blossom but not neroli, orange flower or petgrain there's no waxiness or fatty effect. Jasmine but with non of the indolics or tropical banana sensation, and none of the volume of tuberose. Basically it's floral but I'm not sure how? The base is deep and animalic to of set the brightness and it's vaguely, almost smokey, like a stale clean bomfire smoke that's been infused into fabric. I can't say I've ever smelled anything like this an yet it's so familiar, setting olfactory synapses firing.

For jasmine lovers: AL LAIL (La nuit). Al Lail or The Night is a jasmine bomb. Just a touch of it and you get the feeling of being surrounded by jasmine flowers. The base is rose-sandalwood-musk and it opens with fresh lime and then appears a fruity jasmine. There is also peach, orange and patchouli and it seems Sultan was inspired by La Nuit de Paco Rabanne to create this. I own this vintage bomb from the 80's and I can say they have the same feeling, but while I would wear the one of P. Rabanne in winter, I love applying a tiny touch of this attar at night in summer, to have the impression to be in a jasmin garden at the time flowers are blooming.

This opens up with some citrus and then the civet and jasmine take over in a overwhelming forceful way. The civet is in the driving seat with jasmine sitting next to it but you are in no doubt who the boss is here. In the back seat you get hints of peach and patchouli and slight sweet notes. It's basically a floral civet bomb. I quite like it actually but don't think I could wear it as it projects like a beast. I applied a small amount to my left wrist and rubbed it in, and it could knock you out if you were in the same room as me. Now it reminds me of Roja Doves Diaghilev and Sultans Encen Chypre. But in Diaghilev the oakmoss suffocates you with the civet with the forals been in the backseat. With Encen Chypre this accord is in the mix but dialled way back within the forestry notes. Here the civet and jasmine is just amplified way up, as I said above I like it but it's just too much. In Encens Chypre this accord is quite lovely as it is balanced and part of a chorus. I find it amusing how some of Sultans attars are quiet and restrained in the projection department where others like this are louder. This though is a bomb. It does like the above mentioned scents have a classic old school feel to it.

Interesting to see the main notes being voted on, in this one. I get Jasmine, some more Jasmine and a touch of Jasmine. ;-) there’s a lot more to it but the you get the idea. Jasmine is the star here, though it’s never bossy, indolic or gagging... it’s incredibly delicate and tender. There’s something deeply emotional about this attar, as with all Sultan’s best. He describes a scene, holding his mother’s hand as a boy, smelling the Night blooming Jasmine and it all comes back now: not just the Jasmine, not just the night, with the fruit trees dreaming in the background— you can somehow smell it all: the mother’s love, the small boy, the overwhelming world pausing to show beauty. Some would call this a Chypre and it has certain qualities of a Chypre. Leans feminine. Just to get it out of the way for anyone reading one of the other reviews here: Not generic, not cheap smelling, not air freshener. It’s nearly impossible to imagine anyone feeling that way about this scent. Good performance for a modest-projection attar.

Once the cap was removed, I immediately had an animalic feminine vintage flare, from the early 80s. This attar perfectly embodies what you read in the description. Initially sparkling, bitter citrus fruits are accentuated, and in my head the aroma of the typical disinfectant you find in the toilet of an airplane floats. This soon fades and is completed with dense and hard peach, white flowers, beeswax, musk, roses, sandalwood. On my skin it is all rather acidic which turns to bitter as with many other dry sultan bases. but without oud. Personally it doesn't disgust me but I appreciate the smell more the following day. Definitely feminine. Not for teenagers.