Marwah by Al Haramain Perfumes

countbernadotte

Live Amber, Sandal, Dehnal Oudh and Istanbul Rose.

Marketed for both genders, but better left to women; too sweet for men.

I stumbled on to Marwah back in December of 2008. I was on a business trip in the Middle East, which took me to Dubai, Riyadh and culminating in Cairo. I must confess that I smelt the same fragrance almost on 50% of all the local associates with whom I had business contact.

The strength of the fragrance was not what had grabbed my attention, although it made me wonder! It was rather its vivid, almost live scent permeating the surrounding where ever there were men or women wearing it, and many of both genders wore it!

It was kind of embarrassing to even think of asking other men what fragrance they were wearing, so I didn’t.

When I landed in Cairo, however, the ambiance, the shopping milieu, and the abundance of essential oils everywhere foreigners are found made it easy to learn a great deal about Mrwah and other fragrances by Haramain.

The proper name in the local language is AlHaramain, and the translation is: The Two Sacred Mosques.

The name Marwah stems, as the legend goes, from an ancient Arabic folklore, where, father Abraham had abandoned his wife Hager and son Ismail, at the command of the Lord, in that arid, desolate and lifeless desert.

And Hager, in her frantic search for water for her infant, pacing back and fro between two hills seeing mirage, finally found water flowing under her infant’s feet. Marwah was the name of one of those two hills.

The symbol or significance behind giving the fragrance this name is purity and solace.

Marwah is a typical oriental fragrance; spicy and full of Dehnal, Oudh (Agarwood) and Sandalwood, and a very bright, sweetish Istanbul Rose.

It is the type of fragrance that compels you to inhale it again and again, and never get enough of it.

Not surprisingly, it is sweet, but balanced by the sandalwood. It is also stable from beginning to end, and does not change much if at all.

Longevity is, get this, be prepared to have residual aroma lingering in your shirt, undershirt as well as suit jacket, pants and tie, may be even your socks, for a few days after application.

Sillage is commensurate with its longevity, very discernable from many, many feet away, yet it never has that ghastly effect on people, other heavy perfumes have; this is surprisingly a very gentle fragrance, and no wonder, there is not a drop of any of its ingredients that is synthetic or even resembling synthetic, every bit of it is as natural as nature itself.

It is marketed, as almost all the Mid.East fragrances, for both genders, I believe it is best left for women.

Not only have I bought copious amount of it for my wife and daughters, but I also, actually, bought the very essential oils from which it is made.