Hi there Posse. A new to me house Ne`emah For Fragrance & Oudh my mate Ainslie on AustralianPerfumeJunkies gave me a decant of Laya from a promo bottle she had received from the company. When I got it we were in the middle of moving and I have only just made a respectable amount of time to spend in its company. Mohammed Neemah the perfumer is from Kuwait and the brand has been in Middle Eastern Sephoras since 2009 and sells very well there, now he is being introduced to Sephoras worldwide and he recently dropped in to Sydney to do a Meet & Greet, I missed him sadly because I was working. BUMMER!

Laya by Mohammed Neemah for Ne`emah 2012

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Powdery notes
Heart: Vanilla, cedar
Base: Agarwood (oud), musk, woody notes

So Laya by Ne’emah is obviously a mainstream fragrance and I think a better offering than the general public usually gets. SUPER sweet vanilla, a fluffy yet treacle thick vanilla that has little to do with baking in the open but screams body product, ambient scent or perfume oil even though it’s an alcohol based frag. Actually, the vanilla is so thick it feels like an amber fragrance. A heavy amber that could easily suffocate you with over-application or if someone was sitting close to you in an enclosed space. I really like it, there’s a bit of a Pierre Guillaume feel as if PG was made to work within a budget. Laya reminds me a bit of the caramel icing on a Krispy Kreme donut.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

If the notes had honey listed and labdanum I would not be surprised, Laya is slightly feral and resinous under the vanilla (it could easily be the synthetic oudh). As we move further into the heart the wood notes dry out the vanilla a little and suddenly there is some space between the notes. Now Laya becomes more wearable in public and turns quite pretty. It’s a big scent though still, I wouldn’t wear it to dinner because I think it would interfere with my palette. Unless you were doing other stuff and ended up at dinner about 2 hours into wear time. Wear time is astounding, I am still beautifully fragrant 8 hours later, it’s more subtle but still fragrant and lovely.

I think the dead set perfumistas will think Laya too obvious and overbearing. I like it and will wear out my remaining couple of ml in no time flat. Will I buy a bottle? I’m not sure yet, let’s see at the end of my decant.

Photo Stolen Neemah

Further reading: Red Lips & Lace
Available in Sephora Stores.

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Portia xx