NOEME
KALAHARI

2019

PERFUMER
Majda Bekkali

Cardamom
Saffron

Ambrette
Labdanum
Cedarwood

Cashmeran
Incense
Musk

Named after the desert, Kahalari aims to capture the feelings one would experience there. Immensity, silence, secrecy, hot, wild, pure. What I mostly perceive here is a beautiful, intimate scent. Not the wild forces of nature, rather the contemplative open space of a mind in thought (a desert in and of itself).

Kalahari opens with a clean, dry woodiness. It has the scent and texture of paper, with a good bit of sweetness straight from the opening. You get a hint of a spiced cedar and a smokiness from labdanum and incense, but both are ultimately subtle. This does not smell like a wood workshop, nor like a fiery desert storm.

The only thing heavy-handed in this perfume is the elegance. Every element is used and combined in a way to create a powdery, soft and sweet skin scent. When smelling it up close, I can detect the cashmeran, which creates that papery (at it’s worst wet cardboard) vibe. It’s kept in bounds here and in the air it’s more like a cloud of cotton. The musky blonde scent leans traditionally feminine in my opinion, though this won’t put any men off. As it dries down it’s easy to make comparisons to Bois D’Iris, but Kalahari is a tad more delicate. Another fragrance that comes to mind is Nakuna’s Iho, which gives a similar sweet second skin sensation.

As should be clear by my description, you don’t buy this to fill every room you enter. You have to appreciate the subtle complexities and closer to the skin wear (with decent longevity). Kalahari works as a personal comfort scent or as a sensual close-encounter scent. It’s a second skin that will exude whatever mood you try to project.