I confess. I’ve never owned a bottle of perfume, worst still, I don’t even wear deodorant.
It therefore goes without saying that I’m not the kind of girl who can tell a bottle of Channel apart from a bottle of Calvin Klein. I just don’t really care about that stuff. However, it all changed when I went to Amman and uncovered the true artistry of perfume Making.
Strolling through downtown Amman and passing by shops selling spices and stalls cooking up fresh, aromatic lamb, I couldn’t help but notice the surprisingly vast number of perfume shops.
Perhaps you could say I was enticed by the scent, whatever it was, I found myself standing a perfume shop and staring at the vast amount of glass perfume bottles in a variety of colours.
While my friends were excited to get some cheap perfume (forget about Duty Free!), I was initially just a by-stander, having no intension to by one for myself. However, none of us expected to experience a unique shopping and cultural experience.
Customising your own perfume
It wasn’t the typical looking boudoir that you might envisage a perfumery to look like. There was no dim lighting and shelves decorated with little bottles of all shapes and sizes labelled in calligraphic writing.
Instead, the place was brightly lit with clear same-sized glass bottles, clearly labelled in Arabic. As we walked in, a young gentleman welcomed us with a big smile and said, “Whatever smell you want, I make it for you”.
We didn’t really understand the meaning of this statement. I think we all must have yielded a kind of perplexed look over our faces because he reached under his counter and brought up a booklet. He opened it up and handed it to us.
Inside the booklet were hundreds of different perfume brands and a brief description about their scent.
Many of them I hadn’t heard of, but judging by my friend’s reaction, some revered and expensive brands must have appeared because they were getting rather excited.
I obviously recognised the big names likes Dior, Armani and Hugo Boss. but I’m no connoisseur of the more specialised brands purely dedicate to the art of coining the perfect aroma.
I was just interested in whether or not he could actually give us the ‘smells’ we wanted!
“So do you mean that you can create the exact smell of any of these perfumes?” My friend dubiously asked the shop assistant.
“Of course! Look see, I show you.” He replied
He turned around and pulled down a few bottles from each shelve. Then he unplugged their top and inserted a syringe into each of them and injected it into an empty bottle, he then gave them a mix and shake and then made a noise which probably meant “Voila!.”
It was super cool seeing him extracting different fragrances and placing them into a bottle to create a new, unified fragrance.
He took my friend’s wrist and spritzed the fragrance he had just created.
“Whoa it smells exactly like Hugo Boss” said my friend after taking a good whiff of his own wrist.
After our positive response, and, I’m sure look of awe, I think the assistant enjoyed having an audience as he repeated this with other brands and achieved perfect replicas.
He fused different aromas to create new scents and we all found it extremely impressive and entertaining.
By walking into one of these shops all we expected to buy was a pre-made perfume. We never expected to be shown how to make them, and the process that goes into creating a desired aroma.
These guys really should think about insuring their noses. Without their phenomenal sense of smell they wouldn’t be in their job any longer!
And as for me, I bought my first little bottle of perfume, I didn’t ask for a ‘Channel no.5’ or a ‘YSL Opium’ I simply asked him to make something he thought would suit me.
I’ve never had what people call their ‘signature scent’, but now I do, and it will always remind me of Amman.
Supposedly, smell is connected to the part of the brain that deals with memory, and that’s the best thing about this perfume. It reminds me of the time I spend in Jordan’s intoxicating capital city.
Further reading: One Week in Jordan – Travel Guide & Itinerary
6 Responses
This looks fun.How clever of them to be able to match the scent. I’ll definitely check it our when I’m in Amman!
£3 a purchase! Have fun exploring Amman Jenny!
I’d love to do this! Do you remember what it was called or where it was?
Does the smell last or just wear off quickly.
Hi, can you tell us where this is in Amman? I’d love to go there as I am visiting Amman in few weeks. Thanks so much!
Hi Nic, unfortunately it has been quite a few years since I visited and I’ve since lost the information. However, I can tell you that there were quite a few of things perfumery shops in downtown Amman, so you should spot one whilst you’re sightseeing. Good luck!