Every now and then, it’s good to take a risk. And this was a risk. Blind buying a £120 bottle of 12ml perfume oil, after discount. I’d done my research, so I was expecting to like it, but even so, when it actually arrived, to say that I was relieved to love it immediately would be an understatement. Phew.
£120 for 12ml of perfume oil?
That’s right. £120. It’s a perfume oil though, and a very concentrated one at that. Sheikh Abdullah by Taif Al Emarat is an aged dehn oud (pure oud) oil, made from the Indian Agarwood tree. And whilst £120 does seem like quite a lot of money for 12ml, even 3ml bottles of oud oil can go for way, way over £1000. In that context, this one is a relative bargain.
Before I dive into the actual review of the fragrance though…
Who are Taif Al Emarat?
Taif Al Emarat are a brand from the UAE, founded in 2006. They draw their inspiration from the richness of Arab culture, and from Arab values. What sets them apart from most Middle Eastern fragrance houses, is their use of natural alcohol in their fragrances.
Their GCC collection pays homage to the culture of each of the Gulf nations, a fragrance designed specifically around the history of each. For example, their Oman fragrance contains Frankincense – Oman are very proud of their homegrown frankincense, and you can’t go far without smelling it somewhere.
Taif Al Emarat Sheikh Abdullah Dehn Oud
So what on earth possessed me to blind buy then? Well, around the time of the UAE national day, Taif Al Emarat had a pretty good sale on their site, which included discounts plus free worldwide shipping. I’d wanted to give their pure oud oil a try for a while now, and couldn’t think of a better time to give it a go.
Sheikh Abdullah is from their Aged Oud collection. Much like wine or whisky, sometimes an oud brand will put their oud oils through an ageing process. As the oud oil matures, it smells so much better. You can find oud oils out there that have been aged for 150 years, but of course, they’re incredibly expensive, and probably shouldn’t be blind bought!
Through a Whatsapp conversation with Taif Al Emarat, I learned that Sheikh Abdullah has been aged for around 20 years.
What does Sheikh Abdullah actually smell like?
Taif Al Emarat say that this is a Hindi Oud oil, and when you first open up the bottle, you do get a strong blast of the unmistakable animalic notes of pure Hindi Oud. I like to affectionately describe it as ‘barnyard’, but don’t let that put you off – it dissipates throughout the day, and evolves into a deeply complex fragrance that blends sweet, syrupy notes with earthy, floral and spicy notes, even developing a smoky quality throughout the day.
It smells slightly different every time you catch a whiff of it, and the true beauty of it, is that it develops differently for everyone – on me, it retains the syrupy, jammy sweetness, whilst on my husband it becomes quite powdery.
Longevity and sillage
It’s usually a good sign when an oud oil has a thick, gloopy texture, and Sheikh Abdullah is exactly that: very thick and viscous. Despite that, it’s easily spreadable, and transfers onto your clothes when applied to your skin.
The longevity is fantastic. That initial potency does ease off throughout the day, but it doesn’t leave. Even if your nose acclimatises to it, a gentle breeze or a touch to the skin where it’s applied stirs it, awakens it, and you get a pleasant blast of it again. It’ll stay with you all day, and you’ll still get strong whiffs of it when you shower at night.
For an oil, the projection is pretty remarkable. When I’m out and about, I can smell it radiating from behind my ears (where I apply it) when there is a breeze. I was also able to detect the scent on my husband when we got into a taxi later on in the evening.
Price of Sheikh Abdullah by Taif Al Emarat
I managed to bag 12ml for £120, but this was during a sale. Ordinarily, you can expect to pay £156 for this, so I’d recommend waiting for one of their sales. Also note, the UAE is not like the UK where we never get sales, and when we do, they suck. Brands in the UAE tend to have worthwhile sales, and much more frequent too.
The other good news is that Taif Al Emarat ship worldwide, including to the UK! On this occasion, I wasn’t custom charged for my order either.
My only slight gripe is a slightly weird one, but their bottles are almost impossible to open. I don’t know what it is about Taif Al Emarat’s lids, but I have a few of their oils, and they’re all the same. My tip is to wear marigolds to get it open. But I do wish they’d fix it!
