Review: From the Fragrance Powerhouses of Arabia, Mera Gold and Attar Al Sheila

Arabian Oud, of course seen as the brand which presents itself as the epiphany of Arabian Luxury and a leader in Arabian niche fragrance – at least internationally, came in with Mera Gold and Mera Silver, back in 2014.  What can I say!  Being one of the top of my list of favourites, it is a very summery and citrusy fine concoction on first whiff.  I get the sense that I am walking down the boulevards of Andalucía with its dangling beautiful ornamental citrus fruits of fully ripe lemons and bitter oranges hanging from the branches of the trees perfuming the mildly heated air.  Then we have the wonderful depth of bergamot populating the citrus scented air with the dancing notes of the jasmine and honey-like orange blossom, rounding off the set of top notes.  The fantastically rich jasmine notes make an appearance, bringing us home down to the musty warmth of patchouli, before settling on the familiarly dense base of Musk and vanilla… what a journey!!  Mera Gold is one of the most beautiful fragrances produced by renowned fragrance house, Arabian Oud and of course in my opinion, it is the shining star when compared to its sister fragrance Mera Silver, which of course has its own fabulous qualities!   

Moving on to another powerhouse of Middle Eastern brands, Swiss Arabian’s Attar Al Sheila fragrance was nominated for the category of ‘Arabian popular appeal’ for female fragrances in the FIFI Awards of Arabia 2013 – and it’s easy to see why!  Mingling top notes of honeysuckle, violet and freesia, gives a powerful floral bouquet opening – but not too powerful, that we do not sense the ever persistent dominant note of the heart of the fragrance – rose, mingled with Jasmine and Magnolia…. Bliss!  This gives the perfume that aura of the fragrance niche standing out boldly from the rest, but then it gets even better!  The light-not too heavy woody rosewood notes start to open up to bear its soul quite loudly… whilst being punctuated with an ever so slight citrusy note, before we come to the denser leather, mingled with patchouli and vanilla… this scent is a gem for those loving deep base notes, a wonderful scent for this Autumn and a fantastic alternative for those who love Arabian attar, but in a spray.