Dubai DXB

This is an interesting one. Dubai was a blind buy for me, and I don't regret the purchase. I don't love the scent, but I like it, and I am intrigued by its uniqeness. It has some weird notes that makes me want to sniff it over and over again. I love to follow this scents evolution on my skin. At first it is very floral, citrusy and herbal. After about 5-10 minutes the weird and fascinating notes of very dry stone, sand and metal appears on my skin. It doesn't exactely smell yummy, but it is intensely interesting. The next stage of the scent is very leathery, woody and earthy. I guess this is where the oud, musk and patchouly kicks in. This is also where the dryness start to dissappear, and a wonderful warm desert heat comes through. Could it be the incense? I think so. I don't know if I will be wearing this scent a lot. I think I have to become used to it first, because it is very different. I wonder how the scent will smell in a cooler climate, during fall or winter. It is a very hot and humid summer where I live at the moment, but fall is soon upon us. I will try it on then and see if it changes the scent at all. EDIT: The longevity of this one is amazing. Sprayed a little Dubai on early yesterday, and could still smell the base, quite intensely, when I woke up this morning. The base is really yummy, by the way. Warm, comforting and has a wonderful discrete oudh note. Not to strong at all. Just very pleasant.

I find the oud in this to be mild, and that's a good thing. I'm so tired of OUD OVERDOSE and typical rose+oud combinations. Although I do smell the oud, what really stands out to me in this fragrance is thyme. The oud smells more like an unwashed leather vest than it's typical rotting log/barnyard vibe. Kind of a mineral, metallic tang of sweat. There's also some bittersweet orange zest going on, brightening up the whole thing and soft violets. I don't know if I'd say this is "truly unisex" as it has something akin to certain classic masculines. Crisp, dry, herbal and aromatic.

-If you already know the other creations of mister Ghislain for Histoires de Parfums, It is very close to Petroleum but with the rose more pronounced. The overall effect on skin is the sent of a stone after a day under the desert sun, very mineral, very original. For me it's the best of this brand.

This is nostalgia in a bottle for me. I have never been to Dubai, but this fragrance reminds me of Middle Eastern and Indian markets that I shop at. I am part Indian and this even reminds of the smell of some of my relatives/family friends haha. I never thought a perfume would be able to recreate that smell for me. This scent totally caught me off guard. I can say that I definitely like the smell of it! I have to say the predominant note here is oud which I was not sure if I knew the smell of before I bought this. I always kind of stayed away from oud fragrances, because I was not sure if I had ever smelled it before or even like it. Well apparently it is a scent that is familiar to me. I also get a lot incense and rose, with a touch of jasmine. There is also a light musk floating in the background. Its starts out quite strong but calms down within a half hour or so. It is an awesome scent that I glad I bought to at east experience it. It was a riskier blind buy for me, but I got it on clearance for a steal and could not pass up the chance to try it. The only part I'm not sure of about this scent is how often I will be in the mood to wear it. Since, it really does remind me of going shopping for groceries with my aunt when I was a kid lol.

I bought this on sale for super cheap based on the first review posted on here. I love the idea of something that smelled "very mineral"...and I was not disappointed! I've never smelled oud before so I'm going to assume that is (as others have said) the predominate note and honestly, I'm obsessed. For the first few minutes it's a bit strong and not entirely pleasant, but after about 20 minutes it turns into the perfect scent. To me it smells like what i've always envisioned my dream man smelling like so, I probably won't wear it out too much... but I have been obsessively spraying my elbows at night before I go to bed because it's so lovely and makes me feel warm and cozy inside. I'm debating buying a few more bottles just incase it disappears. As for longevity... I can still smell this a day later after a shower. It's intense!