Back in the good old days of 2018 and 2019, I visited Dubai 3 times within a little over a year. I fell in love with the exotic fragrances of the UAE during the first of these 3 visits.
It all started one evening when I entered the elevator in my hotel. There was a man in there already and honey, he had the place lit up with the most sensual, sexy and delightful scent to hit my nose in a long time, or possibly EVER. It was a smokey, slightly sweet, yet masculine aroma, kind of like what a cross between Denzel, Idris, Michael Ealy and Teddy Pendergrass might smell like.
Before I knew what hit me I said “wow, you smell nice. What is that fragrance you’re wearing”? His response was “Kalalalahalalaruhmisytobacco”. I asked him if he could repeat that, and once again he said, in the exact same way, “Kalalalahalalaruhmistytobacco”. I tried to hide the WTF response that was clearly across my face. I just told him thank you, I’ll be sure to get that for my husband. Had to throw that in so he wouldn’t think I was flirting. But dang y’all, that man smelled so good. LOL!
So fast forward a couple of days and I’m at the airport about to leave Dubai. I mention to my travel partner that, damn, I forgot to look for this fragrance “Kalalalahalalaruhmistytobacco” and I didn’t know what the hell that meant or how to begin to search for it. I was sad because I thought I would never experience that olfactory orgasm again in life. She said “ohhhh, Carolina Herrera, Mystery Tobacco, yeah, it’s nice.” I’m like WTF again, because I didn’t know she spoke/interpreted heavy Indian accent. But what she said made sense. And lo and behold we look up and guess what y’all…the Carolina Herrera duty free shop is RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. LOOK AT GAWD.
So I go in and it turns out this fragrance is part of a whole collection, and it’s not sold in the US. I get the fragrance and bring it home to hubby, plus one more feminine scent (Bronze Tonka) from the collection for me. Now hubby is not one to be told what to wear, but y’all, that fragrance smelled so good I was like if he doesn’t wear it, I will. I got home and said “here, wear this” and he wore it. Why? Because it smelled just that good. LOL!
So the next month I’m back in Dubai, this time with hubby. We’re at lunch and someone comes by the table to pour water. When he left, there was yet another amazing sexy aroma left at our table. This time it smelled like a cross between Omari Hardwick, Morris Chestnut, Idris and Michael Ealy. Y’all I literally got up from the table and went to the hostess stand and demanded to know who was smelling so good. The hostess helped me follow my nose to the guy. I brought him back to my table so he could tell my husband what was making him smell so good. LOL! This guy was so nice that he went down to his car and came back with the bottle of the magic fragrance and insisted that my husband accept it as a gift. Can you believe that?? It had about a month’s worth left in the bottle but still that was soooo nice. Sadly my hubby ran out of the fragrance, but I made sure to keep a photo of the bottle and was able to replace it on my next visit in 2019, after running the photo by several perfume vendors.
So anyway, before I left Dubai on that second visit, I was at the gold souk, and asked my gold guy about this perfume souk I had read about. After wandering further up the cobblestone roads, bypassing all the beckoning to shop for gold, deep beyond the walls and walls of gold, I finally made my way to perfume heaven. Honestly, to me, the perfume souk deserves about a half of a day to visit. Or maybe 2 visits. There are walls and walls of the most amazing and beautiful little bottles, and every exotic scent under the sun, especially the ones we don’t typically encounter in the US. My favorites are oud, tonka bean, vetiver and rose. Now we know rose, but that oud, honey, they were trying to keep that a secret over there I guess. This was in 2018, so I’ve encountered oud a lot more in the US since then, but still, it’s not as plentiful here as I would like it to be. I’m starting to see tonka and vetiver more as well. Yay!
If you love fragrances, be sure to set aside some time to explore the perfume souk when you’re in Dubai.
You can mix them and create your own scents. You can buy oils and incense, and get a different one for every day of the year and still not even put a dent in it. They’re not even that pricey either. I think if you spend about $300 there you will come away with quite a bit. Way more than at the duty free shop where it’s about $250 per bottle. Be forewarned, those exotic Oriental fragrances will turn you into a fragrance snob if you aren’t already one. I am so not impressed with fragrances I find in most stores these days. Tom Ford does a good job of infusing those exotic scents into his line, at a hefty price. So that’s one option. But personally, I can just wait until I get back to Dubai to get my sultry, smokey, exotic refills.
