Dasman is a seaside resort district within Kuwait City, originally hosting the Sheikh Abdullah Al Jaber or Dasman palace as it is better known. A tentative UNESCO World Heritage site, this certification will allow experts and Kuwaiti officials to stabilise the remains of the palace that are in a much-degraded state, partly due to its age and being shelled and burned during the Iraq war. The composition centres around a rich triumvirate of roses, saffron and amber. Dasman opens with an unexpected boozy mood, that slowly becomes more like liquorice as the velveteen roses bloom. For a moment there is a fleeting whisper of mentholic antiseptic that echoes the petrolic whiff of certain roses. The base of Dasman draws out the fumed roses charred around the edges over a smouldering fire of oud and cypriol. Incense is a subtle base presence, tendrils of perfumed smoke woven around musks and an oddly dissonant vetiver that succeeds however in tempering any potential heaviness. In the final stages, Dasman reveals a seared lavender note, exalted by the golden earthiness of saffron. The fortress of desert roses on smoky desert nights is beautiful.
