Utur Al-Yaqut Samar
Saffron is a strange thing to put at the front of a fragrance and it is what makes Utur Al-Yaqut Samar Eau de Parfum 100ml worth smelling. It is not the warm kitchen idea of saffron; in perfume it comes across leathery, a bit metallic and faintly bitter, and it gives the opening an edge you do not get from citrus or pepper. Amber takes over and warms everything, thick and resinous and slightly sweet, softening the saffron without smothering it. Cedarwood holds the base, dry and clean, and it keeps the amber from turning syrupy as the hours go on. Three materials only, but they are three with weight to them, and the result is denser than the short list would suggest.
This is a cold weather bottle and an evening one. It carries well, so a light hand is better than a heavy one, and one spray will see you through a dinner. It leans masculine without being emphatic about it, and it will suit anyone drawn to warm, resinous smells rather than fruit or flowers. Saffron is used in this bottle alone across the range. Amber turns up again in Mizan, Najm and Batal, and cedarwood in Mizan, Bariq and Siraj, but in none of those is either material asked to carry something as sharp and metallic as saffron, which is what sets Samar apart from the rest of the warm bottles here.
The 100ml bottle is sized for something you will wear through the colder half of the year rather than every day. Saphir's roots go back to a Zaragoza warehouse trading in 1940 under the name Almacenes Corinto, and the Spanish company still fills its own branded bottles at a Zaragoza plant, which has a research centre on the same site. Saffron at this price is a fair illustration of why it is worth looking at what the house makes under its own name.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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