Gulab Attar
Areej le Doré (2022)

When rose petals are distilled into pure sandalwood oil, the result is an oil known the world over as ‘attar of roses’, or sometimes even Attar Gulab, as here (Gul means rose in Hindi, although the word is sometimes also loosely interpreted as ‘flower’.) Attar of roses production takes place over nine months of the year, mostly using Bourbon roses (Rosa bourboniana) rather than rosa damascena (which, technically, is used to produce Ruh Gulab, or rose otto, i.e., an essential oil distilled in much the same manner as an attar, only not into a base of sandalwood oil or another solvent. Ruhs are 100% pure essences, rather than 50% fragrant hydrosol, 50% sandalwood oil).

Anyway, technicalities aside, describing what rose smells is probably as redundant as describing what coffee or chocolate smells like. These are smells hardwired into our core memories. But if I told you that while rose itself has over 300 compounds, the main ‘flavor’ compounds you are smelling are citronellol, geraniol, and eugenol, does that at least help you decode a bit of the mystery of what makes a rose a rose?

For me personally, learning that roses can be broken down into the main building blocks of lemon-lime (citronellol), green-minty (geraniol), and clove-pepper-spicy (eugenol) was critical to me understanding what I was smelling when I sampled my first rose outside the cannon of commercial perfumery eight years ago, which was Al Ta’if Rose Nakhb Al Arous from ASAQ. Now with more experience, I know that the chances of Ta’if Rose Nakhb Al Arous being a pure rose otto are slim to none, but still, this particular oil upended my set-in-stone idea of roses as being soft, sweet, and feminine. In contrast, the ASAQ smelled like freshly peeled lemons and spicy black peppercorns. Smelling it slapped me awake.

I mention this as preamble to describing this Gulab attar. If you go into it expecting a big, rich, or sweet affair, you’ll be disappointed. This is a very traditional rose attar scent, its noise undistorted by the oil format. It smells high-toned and delicate, with undertones that split off into tart-lemony and peppery-minty directions (without getting sidetracked). Not surprisingly, due to the citronellol and geraniol compounds, the rose itself is a volatile creature that flares brightly and then immediately begins to soften away into a barely there smudge of rosiness. When it reaches melting point with that beautiful sandalwood base a scant hour later, it smells very close to what most people’s fantasy of what an attar might smell like, in other words a rosy sandalwood scent with a very simple yet moving beauty to it.

A thoroughly disappointing outing from Areej le Dore, and for fragrances in general. I'll write one review and post it on all six attars, since I was foolish enough to buy the whole set.

The scents...not even going to say much about them. Whatever the flower is as indicated in the name is what you get. If, for instance, you've smelled rose absolute, then Gulab smells like that, slightly diluted with the sandalwood base. They are all very potent straight from the bottle, and some, like Champa, to a nauseating degree. Applying to the skin and letting it die down a bit helps with this, but still leaves you with an underwhelming, single note. They're very boring across the board. The sandalwood oil is weak, and lasts but a mere 2-3 hours. I applied these mostly to the top of my hand to avoid any surface wear. The site, of course, advertises 12+ hours. The others last longer, but nowhere near advertised.

Aside from the weak and boring scents presented, the entire approach to this release is disappointing, and feels like a con. The descriptions are full of immature mumbo jumbo like descriptions of "whipped cream and bananas". They speak of the eternal journey you may go on when the indolic notes caress your cilia. Common with fragrance marketing of course, but poorly executed, like a Fragrantica review.

But wait, there's more! The drivel relating to traditional copper deg distillation and amount of petals required, etc, just doesn't really matter when you release something this unimaginative. These are supposed to be the ingredients that a perfumer uses to make a fragrance. In that regard, I have tried using them to add a note to a different fragrance, for instance placing some oil on my skin and then spraying a Gulf Collection Roja on top. It seems to have minimal effect, and certainly not worth having it in your collection for that. Otherwise, there is no use for these.

Further, we see Areej le Dore starting to use other lowly tactics to market. If you've ever purchased clothing from luxury brands, you will likely have seen the tag that says something to the effect of, "each garment possesses individual characteristics that make it unique. Variations in coloring and stitching are what make these garments stand out." Right. Marketing jargon to consumer translation is "we have poor production and quality control measures in place, and refuse to lose a dime on bad products that make it through, despite the exorbitant markups." In this case, it applies to the bottles, which may or may not have air bubbles in them. All of a sudden, that's an art piece. Sorry Adam, these Chinese glass bottles are not art pieces. The cheap sticker labels they placed on them are already peeling straight out of the package.

This is an enormous strike against the brand. Realistically speaking, several Areej le Dore fragrances aren't even that great. The compositions and progressions are interesting, and the quality of the ingredients is superb. I certainly appreciate that aspect. But rarely have I said "this smells amazing". The oud releases from the brand, however, are impeccable if one enjoys that family of scents.

The lids on these attars sure are nice, though.