Salamah Attar
Amouage

I just received, a 12ml "Black Bottle" and I have to say I love it. It opens with a very green Bergamot, reminiscent of that old guy style hair pomade opening in Penhaligon's Hammam Bouquest, but here the Taifi Rose joins the Bergamot at its hip, with a wonderful bouquet tamping the citrus harshness somewhat. The sweet hay accord wafts just below balancing the three, with the oud joining for the ride, before ending with my favorite accord; a gently liturgical frankincense.
I wasn't paying attention to the difference between Attars and Perfumes, so the application of the potion is different than the spritz and go perfumes I am used to (applying the Attar from the glass wand seems a ritual that should be done in a room finer than mine), but the application lasts all day. I'm in love! But since this is so special an occasion, I'll also long....

I actually quite liked my sample of Salamah, despite a few problems. First of all, the opening is quite harsh. The bergamot is so overloaded here that it feels startlingly green and waxy, like ivy or privet hedge. It throws the balance of somewhat. There is a lovely Taifi rose that follows, big and jammy, and after smelling the Taifi rose in Homage only very faintly, I am relieved to see the appearance of the real thing at last in Salamah. I think I was so happy to find a lush rose that I forgave the opening harshness.

The drydown was really lush: a nice, big white pillowy musk and sweet hay notes, mixed with a small hint of frankincense. There is also a not insignificant amount of faintly medicinal oud here too, although on my skin, this showed up right at the end, as the scent was gasping its last breaths. The rose lasted a good amount of time but I found myself wishing it could have lasted a bit more, that's how much I enjoyed that note.

Overall, I really liked Salamah. Actually, I liked it a great deal more than the guy who sent me the sample, who was rather shocked that I liked it this much! He himself found a disinfectant note that he found got in his way of enjoying it, but although I noticed something vaguely sterile in the musk and oud notes at the end, it wasn't enough for me to find it unpleasant or distracting.