Areej Le Dore Walimah First Combo Attar and Perfume Review with same ingredients + Score
by Therapeutic FragranceSCORE: 95
Who? I See Wearing the Fragrance
Union of Marriage
Where? I Use the Fragrance
When? The Season I Use the Fragrance
All Year Long
What? Occasions or Events I Use Fragrance
Special Occasions
Perfumer:
Russian Adam
#walimah
Price Per Millileter
400 50ML
Perfume Classification
Extrait de Parfum
Projection
6 Inches To One Foot
/Sillage
Short Tailed
How? I Apply the Fragrance
One to Ten sprays
Fragrance Overview
I only put this on occasionally, but it is my most-opened attar by a long shot. I am now familiar with a lot of the florals in here, but I had no clue about the narcotic power of florals until I began to constantly sniff this.
This scent profile blew my mind the first time I smelled this. Every day, I would have to open this up to get another experience with it. I couldn’t make sense of the smell profile I was inhaling. This opened new horizons of what scent is and can be. Florals are so much more than the flower section at the store (and we have some amazing flower sections here in the Northwest, but this was entirely new).
It is a give-and-take wearing. As an oud lover, I have to give up the very strong animalic, pungent profiles I am used to, but I get in return a bouquet that is loud but matched by a medium-toned oud, kept in place by a dance of olfactory love.
Here’s why distilling your own ingredients is so unique and important to me: the distiller tightly controls the rich facets he wants to bring out of his raw ingredient, adding a perfume print that can’t be copied. That is really important to me with buying perfume. I have never smelled Champaka like this one in any other composition. It’s vibrant, creamy, powdery, rich fruity tea scent with an air of Bubble Yum OG bubble gum.
Champaka - Rich, velvety, suave, vanilla-sweet floral with warm, dense, peach/apricot-like notes and spicy tea- and hay-like undertones; the rich, sweet floral and tea/hay notes remain in the long drydown
Fragrance Review
I finally figured out what Champaka is the day I smelled this. It is the star, bar none. This perfume is a story of Russian Adam and his beloved. The beloved always shines, and you can smell it here. Behind it is a masculine accord that stares down the florals with protection, provision, and devotion.
While Champaka opens this up, oud shows itself in the heart. An easy-to-wear-oud with none of its more animalic traits. A cleaned-up gentleman, if you will.
As it transitions, you get a bit of winter love in the form of the first Christmas cups at the coffee shops, serving up some hot cocoa that you can tell is rich, melted-down chocolate with some of the best cinnamon I have smelled in a composition. Seriously, this cinnamon note is the best one I have smelled, and this will ruin every cinnamon note after you reach this level. People who have been turned off by the note need to at least smell it at this level. I really can’t stand some forms of it but absolutely love other forms; that’s part of what has made this journey so worth it. It’s funny how we can shut down things and never return, but discovering every side of an element can sometimes be rewarding and add depth to the journey.
The rich, refined oud only supports everything and never stands up and roars above everything else. It just adds a rich, earthy support to the florals and spices in here. Saffron no doubt adds to the depth of the sillage and adds a lush air bubble around you. It is a high-end saffron note. Whiffs of the tobacco can be found if concentrating, and the same goes for the vetiver, but all ingredients add to a fume that provides many transitions, but with great nuances in every sniff.
Overall, this is the ultimate marriage fragrance in my collection. The story is fully backed by the composition of two sides: a floral and an oud that come together to form a complete, beautiful accord.
Heavy, classical, floral oriental blend, with a touch of highly matured, chocolaty deer musk, and a gentle whisper of animalic royal oud. Top notes: yellow Champaka [Champaca] distilled by Russian Adam, magnolia otto, and absolute Heart notes: Royal Bengal oud, tobacco absolute, Indonesian cocoa extract, saffron, and cinnamon Base notes: legally obtained wild Siberian deer musk; vetiver absolute, aged from 2010; Indian labdanum absolute; and Peru balsam
Perfumer's Notes:
Bottle Presentation
| Company: | Areej Le Dore |
|---|---|
| Perfumer: | Russian Adam |
| Fragrance Family: | Floral Oriental |
| Classification: | Extrait de Parfum |
| Pricing: | $8.00/fluid ml |
| Country: | Thailand |
| Year: | 2018 |
| Sex: | Unisex |
| Hashtag: | #walimah |
| What: | Special Occasions |
| Projection: | 6 Inches To One Foot |
| Sillage: | Short Tailed |
| Short Description: | Pure Bliss that you get lost in your day |
| Fragrantica Score: | 4.28 / 5 |
Therapeutic Fragrance Score Chart
Walimah
& Price per ML
FRAGRANCE
SCORE: 95
Marriage fragrance sweet, divorce fragrance bitter.
LOL RICH MITCH!!! Your becoming the king of Commenting, thanks for what you do.
@Therapeutic Fragrance thanks for what you do! I've gotta get in to areej but I feel more urgency to get in my vintage wardrobe stocked high and wide
The more I see and hear from you. It looks like you enjoy the vintage a bunch more anyway and the money goes further buying those.
@Therapeutic Fragrance yeah I'd agree. Thing with fragrance is there's no right or wrong answer and there's room for everyone. I like the history and the rarity of the vintages, the stories and the ingredients. Areej and ouds are similar in that way, getting in to those are something I'm very much looking forward to.
Btw, do you know nikhil from exotic scents? He's got a lot of experience with ouds and sandalwood, he's in India too so it's like experience not just knowledge and theory
Great review, thanks for doing this in light of the upcoming sales event. Your objective view helps.
Thanks Michael, it took forever but it was now or never. I thought they deserved to live with the rest of the line.
Glad to know you love Walimah too! This was the fragrance that made me fall in love with the ALD house. Decided to buy everything they came out with.
The first sniff blew my mind! And it has aged beautifully! I have the perfume, the original crystal bottle attar and the leather cap attar backup.
Russian Adam has said that the Royal Bengal oud used in this is the most expensive oud he had used in any of his fragrances. I am so glad he plans to keep making this beauty!
I really think this got lost in the hype of the RUSSIAN name of the other two. But it is slowly finding its place. If he can this is a perfect one to keep with the house forever. It's really got his unique stamp all over it.
@Therapeutic Fragrance true. It is really unique????
Aside from the rose based attars, I've tended to stay away from florals (too heady and feminine smelling for me).But with the combination of the oud, this sounds like it's worth smelling at the very least.
Thank you for your thoughts, happy to see you've found another winner!!
Yeah Walimah is definitely Champaka heady. The way you described it I would avoid it's strong even with the oud behind it.
@Therapeutic Fragrance i see, thanks for the heads up.Malik al taif it will be then!
I think Walimah is highly underrated. Firstly, the price. It's the most expensive ALD fragrance if I recall correctly. Secondly, it was overshadowed by masterpieces. Russian Musk. Russian Oud. That's stiff competition. Throw Walimah in collection 4 or 5 and all of a sudden it will shine on its own. It's a different type of fragrance with its on appeal.
That's actually a great assessment. That buy far was one of the best four perfumes released by any perfumer at one time period. There I said it period. Those four to me made Areej something above and beyond.
I wonder how fast the site will crash this time, maybe adam will surprise us…
might pick up something else in addition to malik al taif , oud luwak or maybe oe2.
I hope for a bottle design similar to the russian oud attar with the leather caps
I actually offered to help last year it's actually part of what I do for a living, but for way bigger businesses who can't have there website go down. Fortunately it is pretty cost effective to prevent nowadays so hopefully he has switched companies. The blank page that crashed literally said cheap sites or something like that. For the luxury he is selling that's the last thing you want people to see.
Right on with leather caps, that's my guess what they will be. I would like to see a really cool rosewood or something like that as well if done proper. At the price I don't see it happening.
I just bought this attar and I cannot wait to smell it. Thank you for the thorough review!
Hope you enjoy it! It's one I have smelled a lot.
Can you pleade compare in a comment the experience between attar and extrait de parfum versions?
I can't be without the attar. It's just a super rich experience off of your pulse points. The attar really is effected by your pulse points. The release of the attar creates a powerful air that is chempaka heavy but the oud and tobacco really balance it into something special. The perfume I love but you don't get as condensed of air. Totally different experience and then you wear them together and get an all new experience.
Therapeutic Fragrance Thank you. I have just ordered an attar, as perfume is no longer available… Hope I will enjoy it the same as you 🙂
It's a testament to Russian Adam's skill for this beautiful blend of florals. I have a vial of Champaca essential oil and on its own I find it's too sweet like something rotting, not wearable.
Absolutely, amazing at adding deer musk and oud against that sweet blast, it just works for me.
Would you please tell me the price for attar
What is the price of attar and perfume
Mine were different as the presentation was different. You will actually pay less than me, but I haven't kept up off hand. Perfume was around 400 US.
@Therapeutic Fragrance I absolutely love it, it was so unexpected but it's beautiful. I have the 5th-collection version of it, so it may not be the same fragrance.
@Prateek Sharma You can't buy it anymore, he is sold out.
@Gersberms still will you give me the price sir
@Prateek Sharma I paid USD 125.
@Gersberms a seller in india is selling it at 275 dollars.????
@Prateek Sharma It's a real problem, scalping happens a lot with Areej le Doré because he makes small batches and generally doesn't release the same fragrance twice. He does this because he finds unique ingredients and he can often not get the same ingredient twice. This time around, for his 6th collection, he used antique ingredients he got from auctions. You can imagine how he won't be able to produce fragrances like that repeatedly: once it's gone, it's gone. I've seen someone buy 19 bottles of some of these unique fragrances and boast about it online. Now there are 18 other customers that won't be able to buy from Areej because of this one guy.
@Gersberms yes i agree with you and I'm willing to spend for the value i get from his attars. But these sellers in india they sell his attars at double the price that you get.
And these are already costly at first place and selling these at double its price makes it ever costly. Costly to a point that sometimes it feels absurd.
Nice. I actually just found this attar. Parfum no where in sight though. Delicious anyways