Majmua Attar

Of my closest family, it´s only my younest son that is completly un-interested in perfumes. All perfumes smells the same, he said. No, no the daughters cry, some smells like flowers and others like fruit... and candy and musk and a lot of different things. Even though I don´t really agree with him, I can what he means. A perfume smells like perfume. In the same way as a rose smells like a rose and an apple smalles lika an apple. Of course, both a flower and a perfume can have very complex and multifacetted scents, you can sense more and more different scents the better your olfactory sense get.


But, no matter how complex or different a perfume may be, it is still a perfume. Perfume perfumes (as I call them, close to the original purpose of -commercial- perfumes) such as Caron´s Tabac Blond, Chanel No 5, Lancomes Tresor and Miss Dior. Of course Etat Libre d'Oranges most weird creations like Secretions Magnifique you find rather far from thsoe perfume... still... Secretions Magnifique is a perfume. And so are the scents from CB I Hate Perfume, memories, occations and different locations, maybe you don´t even want to smell like somebodys holliday, still, no matter how strange... aren´t they also perfumes? They aren´t toasters, airplanes or goats!?


Attars are also a kind of perfume, even though they are as far from traditional Western perfumes as some of the most modern, weird perfume art we can find. Attars are traditional Indian and Arabic perfume oils with a sandalwood oil base. I´ve read a review at Perfume Posse about Majmua Attar and become so curious. I´m so thankful to Ebay, because ther you can find a lot of different Attars, among others I bought me an own Majmua Attar. I´m not sure if it is of the same origina as the one described at Perfume Posse, but I hope -and belive- they are at least quite similar.


Majmua Attars is something quite special. I´ve mentioned before perfumes (some of the Montales, but also Hindu Kush) that smells like a very beautiful song in a foreign language and with unknown intsruments and strange melody. Majmua Attar is without doubt a part of that kind of perfumes. Majmua attars is like studying a beautiful, antique scripture of some defunct lagnuage that not even the scientist have solved yet. Beautiful, secret and alluring... What can it mean? Who write it? When? I´m not sure if I even want to find out that it is about an overlord sending four camels, ten goats and a cow for the wedding in the capital city.


Majmua Attar is a strange bird, yet very beautful and likeable. Complex, rich and very carismatic. The opening is strong on soil, wood and some menthol or eucalutus-like note. When I´m wearing majmua Attar I become aware of a lot of different scents, a kind of floral note that is partly powdery, but also green, as soon as I become aware of it, it´s gone. The sandalwood note is all present, but also very changing, some time it´s soft, smoth and buttery and at other times more harsh, aromatic and even slightly bitter. The scent of soil is also very detectable, but also complex, dry, dusty and with features of ash and even smoke, and thereafter wet, rich and heavy with some manure in it.


Majmua Attars is blenden with four different attars, one with baked earth in it, one with flowers, one with vetiver and also sandalwood. This makes Majmua quite complex and very evolving, the different notes comes and goes during several hours. It hasn´t any traditional top-heart or base note, still ity has a beginning, a middle and an end.


The opening consist of earthy and menthol-like notes mostly, and during the middle phase the floral note are more prominent, and when drying down the whole scent become softer, both buttery and powdery at the same time.


When I´m wearing majmua Attar I want to dress in sheer, fluttering fabrics in bright colors, I want to braid my hair and put henna on my hands. Majmua Attar makes me feel like a beautiful, sensual and powerful oriental queen. Majmua Attar is caressing, soft and relaxing. And, yes it will work on men to without any problems. It is so different from usual perfumes that it´s hard to think of it as belonging to any certain age or sex.


Majmua Attar is longlasting, and even though it´s really hot here, it isn´t to strong or overwhelming. This is after all scents made for much hotter climate then in Sweden. If you have the possibilty to buy Majmua Attar for instant on Ebay, I suggest you should do that. The price is ridicolous low, about 3-4 euro and I have diluted mine with some vegtable oil, so a bottle of 3 ml could easily be blended to about 10-15 ml. And you wont need more then a few drops at the time, so it´ll last for a long time. I really recommend you to try it!




Pic: matildasantropologyblog