AREEJ LE DORE
MOTIA ATTAR

2022

PERFUMER
Russian Adam

Jasmine Sambac
Mysore Sandalwood

Motia is the jasmine rendition in the Indian attar collection from Russin Adam.

As with the Gulab attar (rose), I must say that I was surprised by the ratio; the sandalwood is very present throughout and I guess I expected more blooming floral fragrances. The jasmine itself however, is also present quite strongly, but it doesn’t have much acidity or vibrancy to me.

On first impression, the opening didn’t wow me. The jasmine is slightly acrid, sharp, bitter even. It’s definitely on the green side. It took a while for me to appreciate its indolic nature; not that I don’t appreciate indolic jasmine, but initially the one in Motia reminded me a bit too much of a cleaning product. It grows and I start appreciating the scent more as it dries.

The jasmine gets a candied-like sweetness and gets some (in my opinion needed) warmer overall feeling as it dries. It was an interesting wear and I don’t have much to compare it to; perhaps closest is a mix of the Jasmine Tea and Osmanthus Tea scents from One Day.

All that to say, that the jasmine is only half the story and the same sandalwood that is used in this entire collection is very strongly represented and it’s an amazing ingredient. It’s beautifully dense and pushing through the jasmine like an unstoppable force of nature. For me personally, I much prefer it in combination with the rose in Gulab.

Motia is great for what it is and it’s interesting for someone relatively new to attars and raw materials like myself, as a frame of reference. Also Russian Adam does recommend layering these attars, which is not a practice I’m a fan of in general. As a stand alone fragrance to wear, Motia wouldn’t be my first pick.