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Thursday, February 10, 2011

Ajmal Perfume : Creating Your Signature Parfum

I was at Ajmal Perfume outlet at Pavilion KL yesterday morning for a very unique experience in the world of scent.
Soo Kui Jien, or Jien as he is known in the television/hosting personality was in the store to create a signature perfume for his wife, Sarah Tan.
"They say the best gift anyone can get as gifts comes from the heart. I chose to create a special fragrance, which perfectly captures the essence of my beautiful wife, Sarah.She is a loving wife and a wonderful mother and she is my inspiration. I could not have thought of a better gift than the "My Inspiration" that i created at Ajmal", Jien shared of his reason why he has chose Ajmal as a Valentine's Day gift for Sarah.
Mr. Abdulla Ajmal, the third generation of the perfume company (his late grandfather, Ajmal Ali, was the founder of the company. Read more of it here) was in town to help Jien create the signature perfume for Sarah. Abdulla is a perfumist that understand and are able to recommend/concoct/perfect a blend of scent unique to your liking. Think of it as getting a cook to make your favorite meal, the way you like it to be.
Abdulla showed those that was present on how he helped Jien to concoct that unique fragrance. Like a intricate dance, Abdulla swirled and mixed the selected ingredients (i counted four) to create the final blend.
Each ingredient was measured using lab-precision tools down to the milliliter (ml)
The process uses pure essential oil from natural ingredients. Some takes a minimum of 2 weeks to draw just 1ml through distillation process. To make the perfect perfume, three ingredient is needed to provide the top, mid and base scent. After the three main oil was mixed, it is then filled to about 75% full with a dilution oil.
The remaining 25% is for "fine tuning" to ensure the end product is to the liking and expectation of the client. On the average, it takes up to 45minutes to personalise a "My Inspiration" perfume. Once done, the ingredient will be recorded and the proportions that were used and present the client with a unique ID for their "My Inspiration" perfume. You can also name it if you want! 
Jien called his floral scent he created for Sarah...MySarah!
This also meant that when MySarah runs out, all Jien needed to do is to call/order/come to the store and have one exact same scent prepared! In fact, if Sarah wants to fine-tune the scent further, her feedback on what she wants could be done and it can be called MySarah No.2. No extra charges other than paying for the new bottle of personalised perfume.
I know some of you might think this will most probably empty your wallet faster than anything else. I was surprised to know that the price starts from RM125/100ml Eu De parfum (EDP), customized! There is also the smaller bottle of 50ml at RM65 (confirmation needed). 
If you are not the adventurous type or do not want to create your own unique scent, Ajmal has a large line ups of pre-concocted perfumes with prices that start from as low as RM65!. We were told that they have both alcohol and non-alcohol based perfume. So, the choices could be endless and only limited by your olfactory senses to distinguish smell!
My experience at the store the other day has actually opened up and debunked my thoughts that middle eastern perfume are overladen with musky smell that could nauseate anyone that smell it. That was so a myth! Ajmal line of products has both western and eastern influence and you can expect floral, fruity, woody and even (yes) musky tone to the perfume.
Ajmal's perfume are perfume and not Eu De Toilette (EDT). Most fragrances in the market are EDT. Ajmal's fragrances are EDP. EDT is watered down perfume. EDP contains anything from 7% to 15% perfume concentration and EDT only has 1% to 6% of perfume. Essentially, you could be paying for "lesser" products in EDT without knowing it! 
If you ever wondered why some fragrances do not last as long as others, that is because of the concentration of perfume in the products. EDT are meant for short-lasting scent and EDP could last you the whole day and even lingers on clothes for days! Perfume comes in small vials and are extremely expensive. Woody type of perfume at Ajmal could cost thousands of Ringgit as it appreciate with aging. The most expensive variant is RM30,000 for a vial of 20 years old Oudh!
This is NOT the RM30K vial...but close.
Not to be missed out and because Wifey was with me, we decided to shop for some fragrances. their choices of EDP is huge. Wifey likes light scent that is floral and easy and fresh for the day. We were introduced to one of their best seller called ENTICE. Entice for women is light and floral. For men, it was heavier and woody.
At RM125/75ml EDP, this is a steal. Some EDT could cost up to RM300 if it is some "branded" stuff!
Not enough with just one, we settled for a second bottle at RM65/50ml. SACRED LOVE is very vanilla like with sweet smelling base. It makes nice night time fragrances. Thanks to Hanie for recommending it!

I hope my showcasing of Ajmal will piqued some of your interest, especially for some of you that collects and love fragrances. And if you are those that collects and love to tingle your olfactory senses and at times found them overwhelmingly numbing your senses, here is a tip from Ajmal.
Smell some coffee. It will neutralise your senses again and prepare your nose for more scent-sational experience!
"My Inspiration" is a concept that Ajmal introduced as part of their commitment and their brand philosophy of "Creating Memories". In conjunction with Valentine's Day celebration, Abdulla also announced the Valentine's Wishing Fountain Competition. Customers who purchase more than RM100 in Ajmal products until Valentine's Day will stand a chance to win exciting daily prizes whilst one lucky couple will have the chance to win themselves a 3Day-2Night trip to Langkawi, courtesy of Ajmal!
To reserve your spots to create that perfect perfume, or to find out more about Ajmal Perfumes' Competition, call 03-2144 1533 or 03-2144 3633.
And if you have not heard, i am currently running a mini-competition in my blog. Three readers of my blog that could successfully answer the questions correctly and complete a slogan WILL win a RM150 cash voucher each. That is more than enough for you to "Creating Memories" of your own "My Inspiration" perfume! Details in the previous posting!

*Ajmal Pefumes will be establishing Ajmal Perfumes counter and kiosks in major retail department stores nationwide. The first one is located in Parkson Store in One Utama new wing. With over 120 types of western and oriental fragrances, you will only run out of nose to smell them all!
A big thank you to Ajmal, Mr. Abdulla and Advertlets for this opportunity!

4 comments:

  1. Not sure if it's my imagination, but as I'm reading this post, I can somehow smell some fragrance haha.

    If that's really true, that you did at extraordinary job promoting it, not to say that you don't already ;)

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  2. Kev - LOL. you are being too kind with your comment. I wrote what i felt that day...

    think of it like our races...the smell of sunblock actually lingers in our senses when we read the morning swim...

    Same reason why when i smell rubber...it reminds me of my granma! I actually feel raw rubber to be very homey!

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