HS3

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.