orientali, zahira - bvlgari le gemme; a review

Close your eyes. Imagine a warm, summer day. Not hot, just warm. You're wearing a silk dress, in a soft peachy tone and the wind is soflty blowing your long, velvety hair while the golden light of an early sunset is caressing your sunkissed skin. You can smell the glowing warmth of an Arabian desert while the delicate touch of the sun soaked sand on your skin makes you feel the luxurious note. It's sweet, but not in a sickly way, delicious, almost fruity but enriched with alluring spices that make the whole smell create a luminous, glowing aura around it. It's probably the notes of the rich saffron that gives this perfume some darkness and makes it intense and powerful.

It’s the heat of the Sun, but in a very relaxed, fresh way topped up with some cinnamon and apple powder. It almost makes me think of some fruity candies that are sweet and sour at the same time.

Zahira, the name of the perfume, makes perfect sense as it means ”shining and luminous” in Arabic and it is in complete harmony with the Imperial Topaz, the soft, orange-ish colour of the bottle.

The bottle is adorable, very Bvlgari in the way it is designed. The top of the bottle has this specific arabic mozaic design (which can be found very often in some of Bvlgari jewellery). The colour, Imperial Topaz, gives the whole bottle this luxurious, glowing aspect. It looks rich and expensive and very precious, just like a piece of jewellery.

This is my very personal interpretation of this perfume and it’s quite different from all the reviews I’ve read about Zahira, Le Gemme. Most of the reviews make you think of it as an autumnn-winter-ish perfume but to me is definitely a warm, summer day in the desert, at sunset kind of smell. Exotic, warm, glowing - with just the perfect dose of darkness.

Totally worth it.

Zahira, Le Gemme, Bvlgari.

Extra Information:

Location: Selfridges, Oxford Street, London.

Price: £235

Zahira Orientali, Bvlagri - perfume bottle