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alex2008_78 – :
Really proud to own tow edp bottles. The smell is bizarre, yet familiar, I didn’t know how. The real Oriental scent.
Happy to see my Valee finally here on Fragrantica.
If you don’t know who Mira Takla is, well, she is an Egyptian lady, who is a big collector of historical antiques, she is really obsessed with her Egyptian heritage that she inherited genetically (lucky her), and she just wanted to creat a perfume that contains a real/raw/natural ingredients that was really documented to be used in old Egypt. And this was not a “selling scheme”, the liquid inside my bottles is of a great natural quality.
fazis – :
Thank you Fragrantica for responding and putting in base!
I purchased at Harrods years ago. This perfume is why I became a Fragrantica member, in search of my lost and discontinued love. I searched for years in vain, looking at blogs, and snapping up ebay bottles.
Years ago, some cheeky miss at Harrods sprayed this on my arm as I was passing through. Another squirted a bug-repellant on the other side. A couple of hours later my nose was glued to my wrist–the VDR wrist! I purchased that day. Two weeks later, I literally threw all my other perfumes out. I do regret that moment (okay, that was not wise considering those would be vintage now….); however, this perfume became my everything scent, my day-to-day, my nighttime, my seduction, my lucky charm. When it was discontinued I stockpiled as many bottles as I could, and I have the parfum extrait, and edp. This scent stops people in their tracks and full of compliments, and I have found almost nothing like it except perhaps for Alahine, Joop Joop! And SL old formulation Chergui. But they are shadows and wisps of this, faint echoes. This perfume stays for days, will scent your clothes forever, lingers on items you touch, turns heads. I love myself when I wear it, and feel invincible.
If you notice, I’m avoiding the notes and that’s because the notes here to my nose are so complex and well-married. After writing a few reviews on Fragrantica and elsewhere and becoming more knowledgeable about which ingredients smell a certain way I’m truly left flummoxed by what makes Vallee des Rois. Most people that I’ve given a sample to say “tuberose” and “aldehydes,” but I would say otherwise, or, in addition to….it has orange blossom, a bit of incense, rose, woods and resins, and honey–though is not sweet.
The perfumer, Mira Takla, is an Egyptologist who created this seemingly one-hit wonder and disappeared for a time. For those wanting to know more, here is an excerpt from Cleopatra’s Boudoir”: c1988 Vallee des Rois by Mira Takla: The name means “Valley of the Kings” in French. Created by British Egyptologist Mira Takla as an approximation of the perfume that the ancient pharaoh Cleopatra herself wore containing 90% of ingredients used in Ancient Egypt. It was sold exclusively at the perfume hall in Harrod’s department store in England and the Galeries Lafayette in Paris…. It is classified as a floral oriental fragrance for women with a mixed floral bouquet layered over a woody, resinous and powdery drydown.
Top notes: fruits, green notes, citruses
Middle notes:rose, jasmine, orange blossom, tuberose, ylang-ylang
Base notes: benzoin, heliotrope, labdanum, patchouli, sandalwood, styrax, tonka bean, vanilla, vetiver.
She further adds that it is “A unique perfume at once combining the mystery and opulence of ancient Egypt with the chic elegance of an haute couture French perfume. Vallee des Rois is the creation of Mira Takla – sophisticated, intelligent, born and raised in Cairo.”
Parfum gives other/additional notes.
In all the bottles, particularly the extrait, a grainy, particulate mass is left behind, and I’m convinced this uses a lot of natural versus synthetic materials. The materials never ghost. You will smell this all day on yourself. However, this is not “an elevator killer”–people will notice, but it’s subtle and they need to be relatively close though it trails well. The bottles themselves are beautiful, and the scents differ. My favorite is the dagger-shaped perfume. I LOVE LOVE LOVE, more than all the Amouages, the Guerlains, the Unums, the Papillons or Tauers…. it’s a 10/10. Silage, longevity, sexy, elegant, different, East-meets-West 10!