DESCRIPTION
Creating ghaliyahs is something we have truly come to enjoy at SULAYM. It is not an easy task. Bringing together some of the rarest and most precious materials in perfumery and then allowing the maceration process to unfold without ever fully knowing what the final result will be.
Each ghaliyah develops slowly, revealing its character over time (years) as the ingredients merge and evolve. There is always an element of patience, trust and discovery in the process.
This sense of uncertainty deepens even further when you decide to build a ghaliyah around one of the most expensive botanicals in the world: blue lotus absolute.
For more than two years I held onto this blue lotus. Nothing I had smelled from other distillers came close to it, and because of that I was reluctant to use it too quickly. I waited for the right moment.
Eventually the time felt right. The only way to truly honour such a remarkable botanical was to build an entire ghaliyah around it.
So the question became: what ingredients could stand beside blue lotus, supporting it without overwhelming it, while allowing it to remain the soul of the composition?
Pursat Wild Cambodi was the choice of oud, prized for its terpene rich floral character. Alongside it sits 80% irones orris, lending the blend its soft purple velvet hue. The Sultan’s own jasmine and Irish ambergris bring radiance and depth, while Hindi musk completes the composition.
What emerged from the maceration was something altogether extraordinary.
It opens with what can only be described as an electric blue note. The blue lotus immediately reveals itself, luminous and slightly aquatic, intertwined with the richness of royal jasmine.
As the ghaliyah begins to settle, the composition deepens. The Cambodi oud slowly blooms beneath the florals, lifted and carried by the Hindi musk as the fragrance expands across the senses.
Gradually the orris moves through the blend, drawing everything together and wrapping the entire composition in a soft purple velvet aura.
Buraq was the companion of the Beloved ﷺ on the Night Journey, the steed that carried Him through the heavens. This fragrance is an ode to that companion.
In its own way this ghaliyah attempts something similar. To penetrate the veils. To move swiftly past the senses and strike deeper wavelengths within the olfactory system.
This is why ghaliyahs have always been so revered. They possess the rare ability to grip the entire olfactory system in ways that ordinary fragrances simply cannot.
