Nabeel
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Aldehydes detonate across your skin whilst black pepper, clove, and coriander create an immediate, almost aggressive spiciness. Leather surges forward, roughened and animalic, with plum providing the only conciliatory sweetness—like meat preserved in wine.
The floral heart attempts a rescue mission, honeyed tuberose and jasmine rising upward, but frankincense and tobacco smoke them out. Castoreum and civet emerge, lending a distinctly animalic depth that makes the florals feel almost creepy, intimate in a slightly unsettling way.
The composition settles into luxurious animalic warmth—oud and patchouli creating a leathery, woody base whilst tonka bean and vanilla add honeyed sweetness without softening the underlying rawness. It lingers as expensive, austere leather.
The Spirit of Dubai announces itself as a fractious, almost confrontational composition—one that refuses the comfortable middle ground. Asghar Adam Ali has constructed something deliberately dense and contradictory, where aldehydic brightness clashes against dark spice and animalic warmth like disparate threads woven with deliberate tension.
The opening salvo is uncompromisingly spicy: coriander seeds crackle against black pepper and clove, whilst saffron adds a sharp, almost metallic thread. But this isn't a straightforward spice accord. Leather—genuine, tanning-yard leather—emerges immediately, roughened by aldehydes that feel slightly soapy, slightly metallic. There's plum here too, lending a fleshy, almost wine-like sweetness that prevents the composition from becoming austere. Coffee adds a roasted counterpoint, grounding the chaos.
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4.5/5 (99)