The war of the two roses.

Trivia: The War of the Roses was a 30 year long and bloody battle, which began in 1455( as the First battle of St. Albans), fought between the House of York (whose symbol was the white rose) and the House of Lancaster (symbol was the red rose), a battle that ousted the incumbent, mentally unstable Henry VI and established the House of York on the throne of England. 

On to a more pleasant battle of two roses, between Ambergris Taifi and Ispahan Black, from Agarscents Bazaar, perfumer Sharif LaRoche. I've worn both perfume oils separately but today I am wearing both together, well on different arms, to compare and decide if I need Ispahan Black in my life. On a side note, I smell like a blooming rose garden with animals running all over the place, everyone seems attracted to me today. 

Notes listed for Ambergris Taifi: Ambergris, Ambra, Ambre Gris.

Notes listed for Ispahan Black: Opium, Deer Musk, Rose Otto, Spices.

Comparing side by side, Ambergris Taifi seems more uplifting and sweeter, the rose a very delicate pink, almost just a blush. Comparatively, the scent is much fresher and lightly spiced greens. For some reason, I'm smelling rosewater and vanilla? A creamy mildly sweet vanilla and the combination of both rose and vanilla is making me think of desserts. The animalic musk is there but isn't overdone, sort of like a Beauty and the Beast relationship with the pink rose. 

Mini Raw Strawberry Rose Ice Cream Cakes with Chocolate

In contrast, Ispahan Black has become even darker and mysterious next to its fair companion. The rose is a smoking, spiced musky rose, sophisticated, possessing a unique élan and whose idea of dessert is "une clope et une cafe". 

Both perfume oils last a ridiculously long time and have a presence you won't miss. I have decided in the end that yes, I want Ispahan Black in my life too.

Civet Musk Mukhallat Sharif LaRoche

* Mukhallat means mixture, in perfumery it is taken to mean that it contains a mixture of different pure oils that makes up the perfume oil.

I will not lie. The opening made me wonder what a unwashed cat's bum might smell like ( I say cat because I have one but you could exchange it for any other animal you wish).  Thankfully I'm not one to shy away from smells of excretions or whatnot and in this case my faith paid off( my faith was firmly instilled after Sharif LaRoche's goddess of a Ambergris Taifi Rose turned my head away from demigods forever). 

Anyway. I'll politely describe the opening as bitter, black, pungent and oily. By the way this perfume oil is so strong, i smeared the littlest drop on my upper arm and it's as loud as a heavy metal concert from the front row. 

It gets comfortable after a few minutes and settles down on my skin, the bitterness is still there but a sweet dark muskiness has started blooming from my skin instead of the initial barnyard funk. It's still very much oily and pungent but there's something about it that's oddly attractive. I guess that's civet for you and why it's so sought after and pricey in perfumery and coffee alike. If you enjoy clean soapy musks or polite musks like Narciso Rodriguez's musks, this might not be to your liking. However, if you live for musks like Kiehl's original musk or Serge Lutens' Musc Koublai Khan, you must give this a try, that being said even MKK is lightweight compared to this. It's very much in the unisex department, although if you are strictly into light scents or polite scents, you might want to pass on this. 

The oil projects and persists for an almost obnoxiously long time, not forgetting that this is all from one itsy bitsy smear from the stick of a dab sample. The sample was kindly included along with three others with my purchase of 1 ml of Ambergris Taifi. 

Turning 33- Part Deux (Ambergris Taifi, Sharif LaRoche, Agarscents Bazaar)

So a brown package came through the post today from Sharif LaRoche who owns Agarscents Bazaar (he has stores on both Etsy and Ebay). Postage took slightly under two weeks, shipping was very reasonable to Singapore and service/communication perfect and prompt.

Thanks to a very dear albeit virtual, fragrant friend of mine, I was introduced to this indie/niche house, whose website writes:

Enchanting French Arabian and Oriental perfumes, composed with Oudh, pure Musk, Ambergris oil, Bakhoor and rare Blossoms-Essences of Paradise. 

We specialize in the finest 100% pure, Dhen al Oudh, pure Sandalwood, genuine Ambergris oil, pure Deer Musk and fine Rose Otto (Wardh and Gulab).

I adore oud or at least what I've been introduced to, ambergris is a strong favourite, ditto musk and rose, sandalwood I get along with pretty well. So I definitely had to try this house. My first order was a 1ml of Ambergris Taifi (he sells his oils/attars in 3ml amber bottles but you can contact Sharif which I did through Etsy and he put up a listing for 1ml for me. From what my fragrant enabler told me, you can buy an even smaller fraction than 1ml and such is the potency of the oils, a drop is all that is needed).

Along with my 1ml order of Ambergris Taifi, such is his generosity, I was gifted a neatly wrapped incense stick of Kashimiri Kasthuri Ultimate which is scenting my work drawer as we speak of sweet and spicy musk, as well as samples of:

Ispahan Black which is described on the website as:

"Aro'mantically vivacious-

subtly sweet, slightly spicy, 

nuances-oil of agar and fine musk, an ambient elixir of art and sophistication

enveloping, intoxicating, masterfully composed composition, 

with mid notes of currants, opium and spice

- beans of tonka soften the approach-

which leads to a vanilic heart,

and a path to treasure. "

Misk Tahara is described as:

"the musk of purity, the scent of clean, fresh skin, lightly sweet and musky."

Civet Musk Mukhallat:

"a luxurious Oriental treasure... Sumptuous notes of Eastern splendor... rich, velvety musk draped in warm amber and exotic blossoms… sophisticated and elegant - evocative ."

As for all first time customers, I got a free gift in the form of a pretty 3ml glass flacon of Egyptian Musk Superior. This was a sweet and clean musk on my skin, sort of what Narciso Rodriguez musks have been like on me minus the lingering chemical note that keeps me at odds with the NR line. Soft florals round this musk off nicely into what I find is rather unisex despite the sweetness and florals. Sillage and longevity are awesome considering I basically just swiped the plastic stick on my skin once. This musk is very affordable if you are looking for an alternative to the NR range.

Now on to the real reason why I wrote this piece. Ambergris Taifi. OMG. OMG. This is amazing. No. It's AMAZING!!!!!!! I'm about to book myself more weekend work just to cover a purchase of a 3ml bottle of this in case it's discontinued or some other similar tragedy ensues.

Taif Roses.

I have a precious 15ml bottle of Tauer's Phi Une Rose de Kandahar, which is a gorgeous salty and musky rose on my skin. Amp up the salty and musky tones, some sweet animalic notes (not quite up to barnyard level), amp up the decibels on the rose, add a smidgen of vintage face powder and you have Ambergris Taifi. Part skank part rose and the salty sweetness just continues undulating and swirling about me for hours without abating. The salt is not so much sea-salt like in Merveilles but I find it more akin to the saltiness of sweat on skin. The sweetness(not talking about the rose here) is harder to describe without causing nausea amongst the more delicate palates. I will borrow from the agarscentsbazaar page to do it justice.

"...the subtle, sweet addictive aroma that beach combing dreams are made of."

I am far from being able to describe the distinctiveness of the Taifi rose note, except to say that I raided the rose section of my wardrobe from Malle's Une Rose to Caron's Rose, JHAG's entire line to the Rosines I have and came up with, it just smells different. Deeper, more intensely rose. On a fragrant friend of mine, it is more vintage powdery rose so perhaps chemistry plays a role again. I highly recommend trying Sharif LaRoche's Ambergris Taifi, for any and all rose lovers.