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What perfume reminds you of a Moroccan Souk?

post #1 of 15
6/15/10 at 4:16am
Thread Starter 
To the fair ladies and the gents of BN:

1. Preferably non-niche if possible, but niche suggestions taken. Try not to suggest something unrealistic, eg nothing "that can only be smelled in a Serge Lutens' store in Paris on a full moon" or something like that...

2. It would help if you also say whether you've been to a real Moroccan Souk.

I haven't been there myself, but I'm guessing that this is probably going to be an Oriental or a Floriental perfume.
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post #2 of 15
6/15/10 at 5:31am
I've been to the Souks in Marrakesh and I have no idea why you want to smell like one, certain areas of it are really not great.

The leather stores smell nice, the herb and spices stores, and the chemist (drugstore) ones smell ok too. Where they also have the the dried incense stuff and amber or musk balsems. Otherwise it's a mingling of dust, piss and too many humans crowded together on a hot day.
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post #3 of 15
6/15/10 at 5:45am
I've spent a month in morocco, an I agree with Lian. Areas near tanneries for example literally smell like shit.
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post #4 of 15
6/15/10 at 6:04am
For me Arabie by Serge Lutens from export line can be smelled around the world.
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post #5 of 15
6/15/10 at 9:27am
The mint opening of Roma seems like I would imagine
the smell drifting out of Moroccan tea houses might be like,
but I've never been there I hasten to add!
Surely Serge Lutens would be best able to interpret such a smell
seeing as he has a home there.
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post #6 of 15
6/15/10 at 9:48am
No, but I have dreamed....



I'd recommend Eau des Iles by MPG. If you can find it.
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post #7 of 15
6/15/10 at 5:55pm
For interests' sake....according to the book The Scent Trail where Celia Lyttleton travels to Morocco and meets Serge Lutens..." He found the aromas in the souks were a revelation,and the seeds of his Ambre Sultan and Cuir Mauresque were sown that day. "

(Sorry -Gourmandhomme- it's Lutens and one is not very available .
I've not been to Morocco ..but I thought of the portion of this book re. Morocco and the souks, when I saw this thread . )
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post #8 of 15
6/15/10 at 6:50pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the suggestions. I think I could get my nose on Ambre Sultan at least as I've seen it before around my neck of the woods. We'll see if I can spot the others quoted here too....
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post #9 of 15
6/15/10 at 7:01pm
The last Souk I was in was Tunisian rather than Moroccan, but they smelled pretty similar as I seem to recall.

The overwhelming scent when I was there was that of stale sweat, which drowned out the pleasant leather smell and even the interesting scents of the spices and local produce.

Maybe you could replicate that with Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Pampelune?
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post #10 of 15
6/15/10 at 7:28pm
Having heard from a professor, his wife is morrocan, how rank a Souk smells (as others have already stated) I would go the Serge Lutens route and do Ambre Soultan or Arabie. Sometimes the impression we hold in our minds is more what we are looking for, than the "true-to-life" scent experience.
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post #11 of 15
6/15/10 at 10:16pm
I agree with piss and shit............unfortunately, at least in Marrakesh I had this impression.
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post #12 of 15
6/16/10 at 4:22am
I have only been limited to Egyptian ones -- although Moroccan culture has some certain appeal to me and I am reading this thread with interest -- and I am thinking about Mauboussin Histoire d'Eau (in an inconvenient plastic encased bottle), cheap, dry and cardamom-y.
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post #13 of 15
6/16/10 at 8:05am
I had a look around online for perfume that reminds of a souk and came up with

Noir Epices by Frederic Malle and the original Comme des Garcon by Mark Buxton ( supposed to be based on a Moroccon souk . )
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post #14 of 15
6/16/10 at 9:15am
Oddly enough,,,,,,and I am wearing this today,,,I'll go with Ambre Sultan. It's great in the heat!! So is Vol de Nuit from Guerlain.
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post #15 of 15
6/16/10 at 2:11pm
GourmandHomme- can you give us your impressions of a souk? You say you've never been to one but obviously have created an impression of what one would smell like. Can you list general notes, then folks could be more helpful. I too doubt you're looking to smell like pee and camel sweat.
Are you looking for fragrances built around scents from the near east? Frankincense and myrrh, damask rose, etc?
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