I got my samples from Miriam this week for her Aqaba (the original) Spring Aqaba and the Jewels of Aqaba. I’ll eventually review all of the scents, but I’ll start with the one my husband went a little dotty over, Sands of Aqaba.
Top Notes: Florentine Iris, Roman Chamomile, Algerian Geranium
Middle Notes: Coriander, Cardamom
Bottom Notes: Vetivert, Frankincense, Tuberose.
This one starts fresh and sharp and then just settles into a very exotic, warm scent. I put it on my shoulder, which seems to be my best testing place, and I kept sniffing all day just to see what it was doing next. It seems to change through the day, hour by hour, but als changes while you are inhaling it.
I had my husband check this out as he has a very discriminating nose. Most things he thinks smells the same or dismisses with “oh, floral,” (I was just horrified when he said it about my beloved Le Parfum de Therese) or “baby powder.” This one he liked, for the same reasons I did, because it is complicated, but not annoyingly so. It draws you into its aroma, and just when you think you know what it smells like, you smell something else even more wonderful.
This is a lovely fragrance — complex, rich and warm, not like anything else. Considering my current fragrance wardrobe and the number of scents I have had and given away after I find out they smell alike, it is a hard thing to find one that is unique, but Miriam has delivered with this one.
She will happily send generous samples at $2.50 each, which I always recommend that anyone sample first. I have regretted every perfume purchase I have made that I did not sniff before buying.