Amouage Al Mas attar – photos
by jrd4t on Mar.22, 2010, under Fragrance Bottle Photos, Fragrance Reviews
I recently placed an order with Zahras (horrible website, but fabulous service and products!) – a bottle of Amouage’s newest attar, Al Mas, some oud wood, some bakhoor, and a big gaudy burner. It arrived relatively quickly considering it literally went halfway around the world from Bahrain to here. It was packed well, and a nice collection of samples was included.
I bought the Al Mas unsmelled, but had high hopes for it. I was not disappointed! It’s definitely Amouage through and through, but it’s unlike their other offerings. I’ve heard reference to it smelling similar to Montale’s Red Aoud and though it’s by no means the same, I could say that if you love Red Aoud, you’d probably love this too. It has all the wonderful roses, frankincense, and oud you’d want to find, but it has a great, bright oud top note that has almost a tart, fruity characteristic to it. It’s quite unisex as well – I couldn’t see anyone having difficulty wearing it. There’s a nice dose of what seems like an earthy musk that carries through and ties everything together nicely.
The drydown is very good as well – its woody structure comes to the front and that oud opening dies back revealing a sandalwood, musk, and amber base. Being an oil though, the evolution of the scent can develop over many hours, making it that much more intriguing. There are some notes that come out in the development that remind me of something else, but I can’t put my finger on it right now. I’ll have to update when it finally comes to me.
The packaging is incredible too – surprisingly much nicer than I’d expected. It’s a gorgeously veneered box with a deep red wood, with purple (how’s that for royal!) felt lining, and a great weight in the hand. I stuck a picture of it next to a bottle of Homage at the bottom here to show how much larger the box is, along with the variation in color (it’s actually much deeper in color than it seems in the photo).
UPDATE notes: a little later, I’m getting what seems like water note – odd. Not aquatic in the usual sense, but a light air of water. A tiny hint of furniture polish too, but in a good way if that makes sense.
April 2nd, 2010 on 10:36 am
Thanks for a great review and amazing pictures ! Amouage perfumes are really in a class of their own. Zahras Perfumes company is great I use them too.
April 10th, 2010 on 2:35 am
I ordered an Amouage Attar from Zahra after having read this post. The parcel contained a white “Amouage Attar” case that had been opened, no cellophane and tamper evident hologram sticker, and a black dirt mark on the side that won’t come off.
Inside the box the bottle was smaller than the cavity of the case because this box is actually meant for a 12 ml bottle and my order was a 6 ml one. So the gap was stuffed with a silica moisture pellet sachet.
Also, I had asked for other Amouage attar samples – not a single one in sight, just cheap and nasty saples with names like “Sacrifice for her”.
As for the attar, it’s anyone’s guess what it is.
So, dear Zahra customers, good luck with your Sacrifice.
April 10th, 2010 on 11:50 am
Sorry to hear about that! They should have taken better care of your order. I would be pretty annoyed as well, especially considering the cost of Amouage attars.
For the size though, I don’t believe Amouage makes the smaller size, so they would have had to decant into another bottle and then placed into the white packaging, which is the standard container for the 12ml attars. Did the bottle have the Amouage logo on it? Curious…
Stinks about the samples too, since it’s pretty much impossible to try them from this side of the earth otherwise!
April 10th, 2010 on 7:35 pm
Thanks for your comments j!
It looks like the one in the white box in the last photo and the bottle has the logo. To be fair, the scent seems to match the description and it’s good. But is it the genuine article? I should have gone through authorized dealers like Selfridges or Harrods.
April 26th, 2010 on 8:57 am
Hey there Daisy – I have to agree with Zahra below. Drop them a note and I’m sure they’d be happy to help… I’ve had nothing but the best experience with them! I placed another order after this one and it arrived super fast and had a few awesome samples. I say don’t give up on ‘em!
April 24th, 2010 on 11:30 pm
Dear Daisy
I am sorry you were not happy with our packaging. I wish you had emailed us directly, we go out of our way to ensure your satisfaction.
The item sent to you was made and packaged by Amouage. We do not decant perfumes and procur directly from the Amouage company. The only reason we opened the item was to further reinforce the packaging and ensure no leaks.
We will be only too happy to send you samples if you would communicate with us. info@zahras.com