I was introduced to Ajmal about five years ago and I immediately fell in love with the brand. My first Ajmal perfume was Faihaa. Although I love Faihaa they stopped producing it and the scent was very much a winter fragrance of florals, oud and safron. I was also adventurous in trying other Ajmal fragrances and so I ventured out and got a bottle of Wisal Dhahab, that was spring of 2016. Everyone was just starting to get into the deep oriental bandwagon at that time and W.D. was for me very special. The fruity part is short-lived. You can include these fruit notes all you want, but these top notes come and go in 10 secs before being occupied by synthetic rose (+ huge amount of geranium), musk bomb, some sweet florals, and some red fruits. I find the scent to be overwhelming, one-dimensional, and stuffy, especially when it's all about rose. This is more powdery and musky than woody. I believe it has synthetic ambroxan or something that makes it project like crazy. Sillage is huge that it causes me a headache sometimes, so 1-2 spray is more than enough, although longevity on 'my skin' isn't greater than sillage.

Wisal Dhahab is a wonder that clings to you and evokes dreams of being a 5 ft 10 elegant, white collar woman posing for a fashion magazine front cover... yet it is somehow unisex. Obviously, "Wisal Dhahab" is a fragrance creature with its own ideas about how it wants to develop and with whom. Santal Royal leads into the world of the mysterious Amber woods with emerald green. The scent contrasts sandalwood, jasmine, rose, leather and oud.

The blending here is solid IMO. Not sure if Nazir Ajmal is the nose behind all of Ajmal's scents or just some of them, but if he composed this, I think he balanced all the notes pretty admirably considering how many synthetics he'd have been working with. The bottle is... goofy, but it's got a fun charm to it, and performance is solid but not outrageous. It ends up landing in the general zone of Zaharoff's Signature Rosé, but Wisal Dhahab is a much better value. And when many hours have gone by and you put your nose to your perfumed wrist to take a sniff, you will be greeted with the most beautiful, tame, woody rose that you could wish to inhale. The colors of the garden compete with the precious and colorful garments of the young women fluttering about, playing tag on the paths.

This is not a beast-mode fragrance, you can surround yourself with four sprays, but it is so long lasting that I don't see why you'd need five. This is also a versatile fragrance- any season, any time of day.So slowly, too, the cooling winds from the distant snow-capped peaks of the mountains are awakening; bringing coolness and thus life. Somewhat put off by Geli's execution, I sprayed "Wisal Dhahab" by Ajmal timidly at first. I was not at all sure what to expect. First, I'm surprised that the very first spray the fragrance is not bombed around my ears. This happens to me otherwise with almost all fragrances so, they are in the sequence also still so discreet. No, not here, I have to start right away with my nose over the sprayed skin. It is fruity, I think I recognize the apple. Then, unfortunately, it becomes musty, I wonder if it's the interplay of peach and pear? Then follows for a while something that I can't describe but almost makes me nauseous. I feel reminded of "Amira Gold" by Al Haramain, there is also such a phase for me. Finally, the grapefruit emerges, which accompanies me until the end of the fragrance, it is unfortunately not particularly appreciated by me.... It definitely moves on a fragrance base, but on the one hand it is very weak and on the other hand I can't decipher it. Only now, about 15 hours after the last time I sprayed it on, can I detect a hint of woody base. I have to bring my nose directly to the sprayed skin for this, but there is still so much fragrance that I hesitate to apply a new scent. To this end, I am already comfortably reclining on large soft pillows that are suddenly everywhere.

I was all the more amazed when this garden of a seraglio from 1,001 nights evolved from all these fragrances into a colorful and vibrant scent. To be fair, I'll start by saying that this is wonderfully built. The accords are very well executed with the woods and the rose standing out, and some flowery notes floating within this incredibly warm composition. Perhaps I chose the wrong month of the year to try this, but I can tell you it is not my cup of tea at all. Not at all. As another reviewer on here pointed out, it's a love it or hate it scent for sure. This is a more powerful and slightly more fruity take on Al Madinah Al Haramain and Amber Rose Al Rehab. Both of these are - if still available - considerably more affordable in the west, while Wisal and flankers are easily to be had and quite a bit less expensive in the middle east than here. It may logically depend on your geography as to which you prefer! The original Wisal in the silver bottle starts off more unisex and metallic and pretty much stays that way. Wisal Dahab starts with fruity-rose-oud with some powder and then loses the fruit altogether. Both of these are laden with Iso-E-Super as the woody note, making me understand comments about how Wisal smells common or chemical. For Colour Collection, the famous bottle is presented in five different colors for the first time, referring to five types of precious gems. Each bottle comes in a luxurious amethyst box with the Guerlain symbol of the sun. The gemstone-colored bottles contain five different fragrances selected from the Les Exclusifs collection: the sapphire bottle contains L'Heure de Nuit (2012), the ruby bottle features Amber Brûlant (2008), Santal Royal (2014) comes in a green bottle that represents emerald, amber is the color of Spiritueuse Double Vanille (2007), and amethyst is the color for L'Eau de Parfum du 68 (2013). The large planters of delicious fruit standing in the shelter and the front of the shady porticoes now exhale their fresh fruity aromas as evening approaches.

Often "Western noses" may not always be fond of such Oriental works of art, because their understanding of fragrance is different and quite different ingredients are considered "Oriental". From within, heavy precious wafts of fragrance from the precious oils and woods and resins burned for room fragrance flow into the garden. The burst of juicy pear opens up the fragrance. Not overly sweet because the citrus notes balances it. On my skin the fruit notes lingers for a good hour then it evolves into rose and sandalwood cord. This phase lasts for a good 2-3 hours which I absolutely adore. Then it settles into rose and musk for 2 hours. When applied on the fabric it lasts a lot longer. I never over spray my fragrance and for W.D. I only spray 3 times and it projects very well with a good scent trail which lasts for at least 6 hours on my skin. As one reviewer wrote it is a well balanced fragrance. Perfect for any season and occasion and yes perfect for any continent. I have worn this on holidays - from Spain to the Philippines and I get compliments when I wear it. On the unexpected and potentially negative side, this is not a fragrance that connotates gold to me, which I'm told is the meaning of 'dahab', and certainly the color of this gorgeous bottle. (Gorgeous despite a cheap cap that required E 6000 on arrival, hehe. It's perfect now.) Dahab is somewhat unisex in the mid notes and dry down as well, while I was hoping for something incredibly femme fatale. Also, the fruity top notes (while beautiful!) seem to be missing the ambrosial pear I adore. But while it's not all I might have hoped, there is more to this than meets the eye.