Category: Fragrance

You may have heard the countless new stories revealing raids on locations storing fake perfumes. In November 2019, DH33 million of fake perfume was seized in the United Arab Emirates with fragrances by Mercedes, Cartier, Van Cleef, Chaumet, Louis Vuitton among the many being counterfeited and sold in the souks and shops of UAE. Many of the fragrances are arriving from the Far East, where counterfeiting designer goods and fragrances is quite common, but some are being bottled and labelled in the UAE So, with all of these fake fragrances in the market how can you avoid being scammed and what should you look out for? The first thing to know is that when you buy a fake fragrance you are getting an inferior product both in terms of the quality of perfume and ingredients and the packaging and construction of the bottle itself. It may not be obvious at first glance and indeed the counterfeiters have become increasingly sophisticated in their ability to replicate designer bottles and packaging. If you are unsure about any perfume then visit the website of the manufacturer and compare the original product with anything you may consider buying in the market. Consider where your perfume is being shipped from. Reputable companies will not ship from the Far East if the perfume is a European brand, even if it has been manufactured there. Europe, United Kingdom and USA have extremely stringent laws around counterfeit products and so its very difficult to ship goods in and out which are fake. France, where brands like Dior, YSL, Channel have the most to lose from copies of their goods have the strictest rules on Intellectual property. Elemis, Creed, Bare Minerals and Rimmel are some of the may brands from UK which also stamps down hard on the Far East copies. hasria.com only deals with UK, European and American suppliers for all of their brands and every product sold is only shipped from these locations. Nothing is shipped from China or the Far East. Most importantly though when buying any quality designer fragrance is the guarantee from the supplier. If your supplier is not prepared to guarantee the product then avoid buying from them. hasria.com guarantees that all of its products are genuine and this gives you piece of mind when buying online.

What makes a perfume so memorable, intoxicating and irresistible? Well the answer lies in the ingredients and more importantly how those ingredients are combined. Designing a perfume is a skill reserved for a very select few. These fragrance wizards who combine aromas to deliver your favourite scent are affectionately called Noses due to their fine sense of smell and skill in producing olfactory fragrance cocktails. You’ll probably be surprised to learn that there are only around 600 Noses in the World and as such they command both great respect and salaries due to their unique abilities and intense training in their art. A Nose receives many years of training to develop the knowledge of a huge selection of fragrance ingredients and their smells, as well as understand how the ingredients change over time and also how ingredients may be altered when combined with other ingredients. One of the World’s most famous Noses, Calice Becker, is probably unknown to the millions who use Marc Jacobs Lola, Dior J’adore, Tom Ford Velvet Orchid and Mandarino Di Amalfi every morning. Similarly, industry renowned Perfumer Alberto Morillas may not be a name known to many but he recently opened his own perfume house called Mizensir, in Dubai and is the genius behind CK One, Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gio, Marc Jacobs Daisy and Gucci Bloom. It is fairly common for a Nose to spend months if not years perfecting a new fragrance. A formula that can take over 500 trials to perfect is quite normal proving that Noses are indeed extremely patient folk. Right now, in a lab in France, someone is making minute adjustments to the ratio of oud to vanilla to orange for the 100th time, remembering a smell from a walk in the woods, or freshly made marmalade or the scent of the sea on a cold morning. Noses are trained chemists but, somehow, they are more artists than scientists.

In the perfume industry, they refer to it as “liquid Gold". Its usage was first mentioned in the Arab world and in recent years, it has gained popularity with the European fragrance houses too. Oud (also known as Agarwood), is a Middle Eastern ingredient that has taken the scent world by storm, as every other luxurious brand is now using it to create exotic perfumes due to its high desirability among the perfume lovers in both the East and West. Powerful and rich along with a sweet woody scent, Oud is instantly recognizable by its heady and intoxicating charm. From Spanish Loewe to Italian Gucci you will notice Oud as an essential ingredient somewhere in every famous fragrance brand. At up to 400 US dollars for a millilitre (around 1/33 of an ounce), there is no doubt that oud is one of the world’s most expensive raw fragrance ingredients. Oud is an essential oil which is extracted from the resinous heartwood of the tree “Agar”. This can only be found in Southeast Asia, Bangladesh, and the dense forests of India. It is either extracted by melting resin or distillation from the wood and It is believed that out of 10 only 1 will have a fungus-infected heartwood required to achieve the unique aroma. The rarity of Agarwood has meant that its value has increased as the ancient trees which contain the most prized oud become harder to find. Only 2% of the tree can produce it because the resin can only be triggered by the unique mold formulation. Some famous designers and perfumers have appraised the uniqueness of Oud recently and have launched their versions of Oud. Versace Oud, Gucci Oud and Tom Ford are just a few utilizing this tempting essential oil. Some common examples are Tom Ford’s Oud Wood, Giorgio Armani’s Oud Royale, Versace – Oud Noir, Hugo Boss – Boss Bottled Oud, Amouage, and Amouroud. Oud acts as a base note when used in the composition of the perfume, it tends to remain on the skin for a maximum time. Oud as an ingredient forms the foundation and base notes of perfume which makes a heavy, rich, and very long-lasting effect. While other wood base notes are known for their unique earthly qualities but Oud provides the feeling of royalty and sweet pleasant scent. In the United Arab Emirates both women and men burn the Oud wood chips to give scent to their clothes and houses. It is considered of great importance for Arabs because they believe that their prayers will rise with the Agarwood scented smoke and it will carry straight towards the Creator. Oud is also believed to have health and mood-enhancing benefits as it calms the nervous system, cultivates alertness and focus, eases obsessive behavior, and enhances mental clarity.