Penhaligon's has launched As Sawira, a new limited edition fragrance. As Sawira was originally introduced earlier this year (in a fancier bottle) as part of the DFS Masters of Fragrance event in Abu Dhabi,* and now joins the Trade Routes collection.
Penhaligon’s Trade Routes collection takes inspiration from the abundance of luxurious goods which arrived in London to be traded at the end of the nineteenth century.
Penhaligon's As Sawira is available at Harrods, 100 ml Eau de Parfum for £150.
*Here is the fragrance description from Masters of Fragrance:
Penhaligon’s of London presents As Sawira, a beautiful and exotic fragrance that captures the essence of warmth, opulence and sensuousness. It features head notes of saffron, bergamot and rare davana; heart notes of rose, cardamom, peach and jasmine; and a sensual base of oud, vanilla, myrrh and musk. This luxurious scent is inspired by points on the globe where the most decadent commodities were bought, sold and traded at the end of the 19th century. London was the destination for extraordinary treasures which were the envy of the world, including elegant silks, bird-of-paradise feathers and exotic spices. Penhaligon’s As Sawira is a unique fragrance expression of this fascinating place and time.
(via harrods, dfs, hat tip to nathanthomas50!)
I stumbled across it in Harrods on Friday and I actually enjoyed it, unlike a lot of the note recent penhaligons fragrances. It’s £30 more than the other trade routes lines but at least they’ve upped it to EDP for the extra cash, don’t recall many other penhaligons EDPs , the ones I have are all EDTs
Wish Harrods would put up a better description! The bottle they used for MOF was gorgeous, this one looks plain in comparison but of course who knows what they charged for the MOF one.
Saw this online re the original release – $7500 for a one off seems almost reasonable !
– Just one piece is available of Penhaligon’s AS Sawira. This beautiful and exotic fragrance is presented in a hand-cut crystal bottle within an opulent handmade lacquer box. Warm, opulent and sensuous, it features head notes of saffron, bergamot and rare davana; heart notes of rose, cardamom, peach and jasmine; and a sensual base of Oud, vanilla, myrrh and musk. It has been inspired by points on the globe where the most decadent commodities were bought, sold and traded at the end of the 19th century. Its retail price is Dh27,500 (about $7,487).
Yeah, that’s pretty much the same one I included above…
Ha, I was googling around trying to figure out what a “sawira” is, and, apparently, As Sawira is a port city in Morocco usually spelled Essaouira (from the French transliteration). According to Wikipedia:
“From the time of its rebuilding [1760-70] by Muhammad III at the end of the nineteenth century, Essaouira served as Morocco’s principal port, offering the goods of the caravan trade to the world. The route brought goods from sub-Saharan Africa to Timbuktu, then through the desert and over the Atlas mountains to Marrakech. The road from Marrakech to Essaouira is a straight line, explaining the king’s choice of this port among the many that the Moroccan coast offers.”
Seems like it also ought to have a camel driver’s armpit note, for the sake of period authenticity.
Thank you, I did not even look! Montale makes Embruns d’Essaouira also.
Wonder if it’s Bertrand Duchaufour…
I’ve actually been to Essaouira. Vaut le voyage, as the French say. A beautiful old town, where Orson Welles filmed much of his OTHELLO (there’s even a monument to Welles there today). Just off the coast are the islands where the Romans got murex sea snails from which they made the purple dye used in Senators’ robes. When we were there in early 2008, there was a huge push to develop the argan industry. Argan trees grow in the area around Essaouira and shops there were selling argan oil this and argan oil that and telling anyone who’d listen that argan oil would soon be all the rage around the world. Turns out they were right!
Wow, they sure were! I have plain argan oil for my face and 2 kinds of argan shampoo, LOL…