Spicy perfumes

Spices are the accent of oriental perfumery: saffron, cardamom, cinnamon, pepper, ginger, clove, nutmeg. Rarely in the base, they live in the top and the heart, where they warm a fresh opening or sharpen a sweet accord to keep it from being flat. A "spicy" perfume is therefore one where the spice is dosed enough to be noticed, not just to season.

This page gathers the eaux de parfum with a clearly spicy top or heart.

The spices and what they do

• Saffron — leathery, slightly metallic, almost medicinal: the signature spice of the Gulf, often alongside oud or rose. Ameer Al Arab, Flaming Elixir.
• Cardamom — green, fresh, a little camphorous; it lightens gourmands and woody scents. Fakhar Platin pairs it with ginger and pepper.
• Pink pepper and black pepper — sharp and dry, very present in modern masculine scents: Angham, Spectre Ghost.
• Cinnamon and clove — warm, sweet, wintry: Glacier Ultra, Forbidden Love.
• Ginger and nutmeg — a dry, nervous warmth, often on top of a woody scent.

Warm spicy or fresh spicy

Cinnamon, clove and saffron on amber or oud give evening and winter perfumes, dense and enveloping. Cardamom, ginger and pepper on cedar or ambroxan give daytime perfumes, lively and wearable at the office. Both can be recognised from the base notes on the product page.

How to wear it

Spices project: two sprays are enough. Warm spicy scents are best kept for the cold months; fresh spicy scents work all year round. As with all orientals, a spray on clothing clearly extends the wear.

To go further

Oud perfumes and amber perfumes are the natural companions of warm spices; woody perfumes and fresh perfumes those of lively spices. The whole selection is in Dubai perfume.