Niche London Perfumery: The 'Spirit of Dubai', an exclusive of Harrods

This truly without a doubt, is the world renowned and worldwide destination of fragrance lovers everywhere – The Roja Dove Haute Perfumerie located within the Salon De Parfum of Harrods.  It is the destination for perfume niche.  Neighbouring other haute and niche fine fragrance brands on the 6^th floor of the luxurious London department store, this perfumerie is home to this wonderfully unique piece of Dubai, which is the epitome of Arabian luxury, in the heart of London.  This is the fantastic collection of seven niche fragrances, called The Spirit of Dubai.  The seven fragrances, are called Durra, Baz, Aamal, Abjar, Narjesi, Diwan and Haibah and today, I am going to highlight some of my favourites out of this unique ensemble.   

This wonderful fragrance collection is all about Dubai’s place in London – the different elements of Dubai making its firm mark.  The first in the collection, Durra, a wonderful marine inspired fragrance brings up the image of that lady sitting opposite me at a Dubai Marina café – watching her immaculately made-up face, whose expression was accented by those worrisome thoughts going through her mind.  Her identity shielded by her oversized sunglasses, whilst her finger reluctantly moved the cigarette towards her slightly quivering bold-red lips, during which her woody-oud amber fragrance mingled together from the Smokey tobacco residue of her puff, ending with an almost mint slash coconut, slash maybe a little bit of honey slash Dubai marina water scent lingering in the air surrounding her.  The salty water, an almost beachy fresh fragrance seems quite prominent, before disappearing into an earthier jasmine like woody sandalwood goodness.

And when we come to Baz or the falcon – representing the national bird of the UAE, the fragrance certainly does the bird its due justice!  This is niche Arabian fragrance at its best!  This is what the desert of the Arabian Peninsula smells like – that wonderful air on the blank beigey canvas followed by the carpet of the starry desert night.  It has all elements of Arabia in a bottle, it’s the fragrance that you would use to define Arabia.  It is reminiscent of the whiff’s of sillage from the prince of Arabia – the mingling saffron, cardamom and leather notes, with the leather defining the prince’s affirmed masculinity.  The orchid and the cedar wood slowly bring him down to earth towards his desert dunes flying like a falcon through the dry hot air, scented with a touch of rose, descending down towards the green vetivers and the delicious woody fragrance of fine aged agarwood.  This falcon is confident and masculine, but also attractive for the female palate. 

Arriving safely at the sweet destination of Haibah, a sweeter fragrance, playing on its woody oriental base.  It opens up with velvety soft and sweet notes of pineapples and citrus, whilst being teased into the intoxicating spice and saffron, leading into a floral galore of Lily of the valley, honey and coriander whilst being punctuated with woody oud notes.  This opens up with a combination of fresh musky and leathery agarwood base notes, completing this chapter in the story about the Spirit of Dubai. 

This collection truly lives up to its expectation of representating the scents and smells of Dubai and what it stands for, offering a whiff of that Arabian air and nostalgia right in the heart of London.  This collection is exclusively available at Harrods of London, until January 2017 and the fragrances range from £750.99 to £950.00 each.  .