Henna Sandalwood Attar
£45.00
Perhaps most famous for the paste-like hinna dye made from its crushed leaves, the Henna tree (Lawsonia Inermis) has been used since ancient times in Egypt, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent to create dye for the skin and hair as well as for fabrics such as silk, wool, and leather.
This beautiful Henna attar on the other hand is made from the flowers of the tree, traditionally distilled by Kannauj’s famed artisans onto a bed of pure sandalwood oil to produce this exceptionally beautiful attar.
Though a simple soliflore, the profile has a wonderful complexity and warmth about it, bursting with a lush yellow earthiness that to me feels soft and fuzzy, reminiscent of the henna powder almost or perhaps somewhat of mimosa and marigold. It’s also dry, earthy, herbaceous and floral with a soft sweetness to it and a touch of turmeric-like spice in there, altogether creating a really beautiful and balanced profile.
Overall, this is one of my all-time favourites from Kannauj and one that I’d very highly recommend.
Collection:Â Kannauj Series
In the Kannauj Series, I explore and share with you the wonderful natural oils and attars of India’s historic perfume capital, Kannauj. The oils in this collection are pure botanical extracts and attars distilled in sandalwood oil by some of Kannauj’s most renowned and trusted artisans, who share our passion for distilling the highest quality aromatics and attars.
These attars are distilled using the ancient ‘deg and bhapka’ apparatus; a traditional distilling method largely unchanged for 400 years. I hope you enjoy these breathtaking scents of nature from a bygone era, an era fast being forgotten in today’s race towards modernity and industrialisation at all costs.
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Tuberose Sandalwood Attar
This is the very special and absolutely gorgeous traditional Indian distillation of tuberose flowers in pure sandalwood oil.
First domesticated in modern-day Mexico by the Mayans and Aztecs before finding its way across the old world, the fragrant tuberose flower (Polianthes tuberosa) yields its incredibly lush, heady and intensely sweet scent in this attar.
Typically classed as a white floral with facets reminiscent of jasmine and gardenia, I find its scent is still very unique and yet beautiful at the same time, and I must admit that it took me a while to appreciate it and absolutely fall in love with it.
Smelling on the skin, it immediately opens with a sweet cool green scent that reminds me of the freshly cut stems of flowers or the green rind of honeydew melons; that floral, honeyed, and slightly earthy sweetness tinged by a bitter green note that provides contrast and balances it out beautifully.
As the scent progresses, I find that the beauitful cool green bitterness slightly recedes and the scent becomes almost narcotically sweet and fragrant, with waxy-white floral notes combining with the sandalwood's creamy woodiness to create this incredibly beautiful soliflore attar.
Overall, as a natural attar, this a very complex scent that some may find unusual at first, and yet one that I find is utterly rewarding if you take the time and patience to understand and appreciate it.
Collection:Â Kannauj Series
In the Kannauj Series, I explore and share with you the wonderful natural oils and attars of India’s historic perfume capital, Kannauj. The oils in this collection are pure botanical extracts and attars distilled in sandalwood oil by some of Kannauj's most renowned and trusted artisans, who share our passion for distilling the highest quality aromatics and attars.
These attars are distilled using the ancient ‘deg and bhapka’ apparatus; a traditional distilling method largely unchanged for 400 years. I hope you enjoy these breathtaking scents of nature from a bygone era, an era fast being forgotten in today's race towards modernity and industrialisation at all costs.
Shamamah Amber
A special traditional distillation that has been quietly macerating since 2021, I'm excited to finally release this gorgeous, all-natural Shamamah Amber attar in sandalwood oil, one of ancient India's finest aromatic achievements in my humble opinion.
Shamama / Shamamatul Amber attars are complex, labour-intensive affairs that can take up to a month to distill in ancient copper ‘deg and bhapka’ pots, but the results are nothing short of a masterpiece of olfactory art by India's ancient perfume artisans.
Each distilling family have their own secret recipe, but Shamamah's ingredients typically include exotic florals, woods, and spices such as oud, rose, jasmine, saffron, spikenard, nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, pandanus, and sandalwood among a whole host of other natural ingredients.
Scent-wise, I really enjoy this Shamamah as its notes are so finely balanced, opening up with a gorgeously diffusive bouquet of airy and musky amberiness before slowly settling down to a bed of contrasting resins, florals and spices.
Overall, the scent isn't as heavy with dark base notes as some others are (which I also enjoy), but instead this takes you on a beautiful journey laden with ambers, musks, spices, florals and earthy notes that are diffusive and warm without being cloyingly heavy or sweet in any way.
One of my all-time favourite attars from Kannauj’s ancient distilleries, Shamamah Amber is gorgeous worn neat as an attar or as a mid/base note ingredient in natural perfume blends.
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Collection:Â Kannauj Chronicles
In the Kannauj Chronicles, I explore and share with you the wonderful natural oils and attars of India’s historic perfume capital, Kannauj. The oils in this collection are pure botanical extracts and attars distilled in sandalwood oil by some of Kannauj's most renowned and trusted artisans, who share our passion for distilling the highest quality of aromatics and attars.
These attars are distilled using the ancient ‘deg and bhapka’ apparatus; a traditional distilling method largely unchanged for 400 years. I hope you enjoy these breathtaking scents of nature from a bygone era, an era fast being forgotten in today's race towards modernity and industrialisation at all costs.
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