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Imagine a desert, an endless horizon of sand and dust dunes. Then imagine how it smells. It is possible that Sage, Brittlebush or Ambrosia. Most likely to think about the dry earth and the air -dyed air. For Raquel Bouris, founder of House perfume based in Sydney Who is Elijah“A desert smells of skin calm down by the sun, dry earth and the quiet stillness that persists after sunset.” She captures the phenomenon on the nights of the desert with saffron, jasmine and Oud.
Byredo plays with sweet cardamom to imitate the aroma of a desert in the morning; Penhaligon’s Use vanilla to conjure the winds of allula in Saudi Arabia. Specific molecules and Trudon Use sandalwood to transport the user to an imaginary land. Other perfumers – Veronique Gabai and Diptyque Among them: Look at the desert rose, a perennial resistant that fills sterile landscapes with unlikely red flowers. As Bouris says: “Deserts are beautifully contradictory, vast but minimal, silent but full of emotion. They make you notice quiet details, the way the aroma clings to the skin, or moves through warm and fixed air.”
Diptyque Rose Roche, £ 255 per EDP of 100 ml
Specific molecules Scentric 03, £ 120 per 100 ml
Penhaligon’s ALLA, £ 215 per 100 ml of EDP
Trudon Classic Candle of Altaïr, £ 98 per 270 g
Veronique Gabai Desert Rose, £ 229 for 85 ml edp, Libertylondon.com
Who is Elijah Desert Nights, £ 80 for 50 ml edp