Description
The Sands of Aqaba smells like the dream of water in the middle of endless stretch of desert sand in which you can see a distant shimmering of an oasis, or is it a mirage? The Sands of Aqaba is a fine blend of iris, chamomile, coriander and incense. The composition is soft and intriguing, a fine balance between fresh, sweet, and spicy.
The fragrance is built of Florentine iris, Roman chamomile, Algerian geranium, tuberose, coriander, cardamom, vetiver, and frankincense.
The fragrance is captured into an interesting round-shaped bottle the details of which are reminiscent of the ancient love story – the faux gem represents the precious stone inlaid throne of Sheba, while the heavy brass bottle cap features the crowns of ancient royalty. The bottle comes in a red draw-string pouch reminiscent of Arabian jewelry pouches.
The Sands of Aqaba was launched in 2007. The nose behind this fragrance is Vito Lenoci.
raplain – :
The Sands of Aqaba starts very sweet oriental, spicy, herbal and aromatic. I can smell the coriander as well as the cardamom in the very beginning surrounded by some sweet aromatic flowers. It has a base of dry feminine vetiver and chamomile. It is changing a lot during the drydown.I like it very much, but I wish it would last longer. Very delicious though.
Taurnilia – :
Can’t help but seeing similarities! The sands of Aqaba is the second Aqaba I try. I’ll link it once again to another perfume, and this time it is…tumtumtum… Le Roy Soleil by Salvador Dali! After smelling the opening it took me two seconds to make the connection. Both are sunny, juicy fragrances that still fall in the category spicy. However, where Le Roy stays “juicy” thorough, Sands of Aqaba lets it vetiver play the main role under a dust of iris, incense and coriander. But still, I find them much alike in character…
bold62 – :
It’s a glorious spicy floral perfume!I now travel to an old and different era.It’s like living in your own world and everyone else is moving fast.There’s something religiously pure in it.The chamomile note adds calmness in the composition and incense along with tubereuse gives that exotic twist that blends successfully and unique with the rest notes.
Riscbv – :
A gorgeous, rich, spicy fragrance that’s drier than the original Aqaba, yet is heavier in incense on my skin. This fragrance has many moods. It’s not as mysterious-feeling as Aqaba to me, making it easier to wear more often. The timing has to be right for Aqaba, or Aqaba wears me.
Dainurs – :
i would say this is a spicy floriental, not a floral. The tuberose is very tame, the iris and geranium provide the spice, the chamomile provides a calming sense and the incense provides a rich base. I think it’s slightly too heavy for summer but a great autumn or winter scent. I’ve tried all aqabas and they are all well made and nicely balanced scents, and they have a signature richness in the mid- base stages to them which identifies them all as aqabas. Don’t know if anyone else has noticed this. I don’t think I’ll buy this though.
freeshare87 – :
I am at work. I have to work till 8 PM, it’s now 6 PM. Usually noone comes at the last two hours of my work, so I spend the time testing. I sprayed some Sands of Aqaba on my wrist, but then I had a client, it took 20 minutes and all that time there was this wonderful, alluring smell coming from my wrist and I almost forgot that I have to discuss some serious finance stuff and started to sniff my wrist.
I find this to be oriental floral, not just floral. It opens for me with wonderful gentle flowers and a tiny bit of spices. The flowers here are very, very sweet, almost resembles bubble gum at some points. I find this to be a very feminine. What I find so interesting about it – it’s the spices. They linger all the time, making the flowers change all the time. And the spices – they don’t hit me like “here we are”, they appear once in a while, lingers around, then dissapears to come back again later. And everytime the flowers change afterwards, because of that.
This is very alluring and appealing. A wrist sniffer. Oh and the chamomile, how could I forget about her. This is my first encounter with it in fragrance and I can say it’s divine. The smell of it at the beggining and all trough the heart phase makes me cuddly and warm, because it reminds me of childhood.
Is it wearable? Yes. Do I think I could find a place where I could wear this? Yes. Oh. It is really wonderful.
doh370Bessinepome – :
To my nose this is more akin to an oriental spicy than a floral. Not being a fan of either tuberose or geranium I like the fact that they are not prominent and perhaps the geranium is tamed somewhat by the vetiver and incense making it less acrid. The chamomile I cannot detect but like the effects of drinking chamomile tea it makes this scent relaxing to my senses.
Being a fan of incense and frankincense I never felt I would be disappointed with this one. Based on my experience with The Sands I would like to try other Aquaba fragrances. This one was very nicely done.
big-tor-ren – :
again again again 🙂
i am starting to believe that something is utterly wrong with my nose 🙂 or my skin 🙂
But…i smelled spicy fragrances before but this is not the beast 🙂 would not even qualify it as spicy. it is a little bit sweet at first, the alcohol is bursting out… reminded me of a lighter cognac. then I got the chamomile mostly. A little bit mint like smell if I inhale it. Dryness is I guess is provided by the vetiver-chamomile combination. Do not get much of the flowers/cardamom/coriander but I guess they are the ones softening the kingdom of vetiver and chamomile.
No offence meant but it smells a wee plastic-ey.
The drydown is nice.
I like chamomile. I think this is a nice fragrance. I would prefer to use as a fragrance for my wardrobe.
welpinfonioup – :
I love the name and the scent. It’s what I expect it to be. It reminds me of my trip to visit my boyfriends fam in Amman. Its spicy but not like Opium. It goes soft on the dry down. I find it relaxing and meditative.
vaz058Bessinepome – :
Noor-Jehan, you are absolutely right! What I like about Aqaba, fragrances are not foody at all, they are hot, spicy, but not foody and sweet ;o)
This fragrance is very strange, for those who doesn’t like calm scents. It’s harsh and dusty, like sands, the name perfectly suits it.
viktor68mor – :
the opening is spicy harsh, yet only for a minute or two. then the scent becomes softer and reveals an interesting alliance of spices, chamomile and frankincense. it really is fresh, spicy and sweet, and is very much appealing, just like the other aqaba fragrances. gorgeous!