GIVENCHY FOR LESS THAN A DOLLAR!
About 2 months ago, over a cup of coffee and in the midst of a casual conversation, my friend quite unexpectedly brought out a little box from her bag and showed it to me. It was a brand new Givenchy miniature. I smelt it; it was heaven. Ange Ou Demon, a very sensual evening perfume. She said that I could keep it 🙂 It was a beautiful gift and it made my day ! Thanks a ton Deeba Mushtaq 🙂
Right after Delhi, I had to go to Lucknow. I was met with yet another fragrant co-incidence. I got a little perfume bottle from my mother-in-law. This time it was a beautiful mix of florals and honey. It was ‘attar’ or ‘ittar‘ from Sugandhco, a very popular attar store in Lucknow. That got me thinking. I decided, I would take my Givenchy bottle to Sugandhco and try to match it with the ones available there and see if I can get something even remotely close, and so I did. The store guy realizing that I was looking for something very specific, came to my help. I gave him the Givenchy bottle, told him what I wanted, he took the bottle inside his cabin and within a few seconds, came out with a bottle of Kasak, an attar that was kind of close to the one I had. But when I applied it on my skin, I kid you not, it smelt exactly like Ange Ou Demon. And it was Rs.40/- (<$1) for a 10ml bottle 🙂 A mere forty rupees for a heavenly fragrance. It was a steal !!! The only and a very slight difference that I could make out is that Kasak end notes are a little more vanilla than Ange Ou Demon.
Here is a little catch though. Since most attars are natural, and therefore, highly concentrated, you have to apply very little amount of it on yourself. Even a slightly higher amount of attar on your skin can give you a heady feeling. I also found out that its possible to take fragrances to the attar stores and if a similar fragrance is not available, you can have one custom made. So the next time you guys go to an attar store with your favourite perfume, apply the attar on one wrist and your favourite perfume on the other, give it a minute and see if they smell similar. Remember, perfumes as well as attars smell different in bottles and quite different when applied on skin. Happy Attar Shopping !!! 🙂
Preview Image Courtesy: thefashioninsider.com
