“Ani” joined me on a short stop over on a business trip. There are a few airports I like, a lot of them are boring, but not so the ones eg in Istanbul (old and new ones are equally great) and London (all Terminals). That time I had to change planes in Istanbul.
Istanbul gives the challenge to the passenger to prioritize, because the food, especially breakfast, is so good I try to eat there, no matter how little time I have. It happened that I ate my full calory amount there for a day at least, feasting on Turkish specialties. And then there are all those make up and perfume brands in the big hall.
Not that the goods at the airport are especially cheap, only occasionally can one find a bargain, but all the brands are there. The ones you find everywhere, the ones you find in luxury high end stores and the one you have to run through ten high end perfumeries in a capital city to find maybe one that has your desired side line of a perfume luxury collection (try find “Gourmand Cocquin”, Les Elixir’s Charnel de Guerlain, somewhere to test without googling beforehand…). Istanbul has them all. And more.
On the stop over on the way to my destination, it was already very late, and I was not hungry, so I meandered around the great hall and checked a few things out.
The Nishane counter is in my memory at least more or less in the middle of the hall, but not in a shop booth, so there is little privacy. I don’t like that. But the sales clerk was busy with some other customers and I had the chance to simply have a look and see if I found something of interest. I had never heard of Nishane before and something I don’t know, so prominently placed, is always worth exploring.
Sniffing a few perfumes, I liked what I smelled. High end, definitely, and not drowning in incense or oud, as some Middle Eastern brands tend to do. Two big plus points. I hung around longer. “How can I help you, what would you like to try?” I had forgotten the clerk, and here he was.
I like so many kinds of scents, I have always difficulties explaining what exactly I like. So, I must have said something uniquely intelligent like “sweet and special”. He though a little and gave me three perfumes to test. No, no and oh, what is this?
This one I like.
It was “Ani” and I was hooked. I smell sweet anis there, lots of anis.
The opening is strongly with anis, one of the smells one does not get used so often in perfumes. I do regret this! Anis is a great scent, it reminds one of the South of France, of Pastis, of sunlight.
After anis one can smell cardamom and other spices, also ambergris, before the scent ends in a warm bath of vanilla and benzoin. Anis can be smelled to the end.
A lot of the notes mentioned in the official description of the perfume, quite some fruits and also rose, I do not smell at all. The scent is fruity only insofar as it reminds me of dates, but not flowery at all.
It is oriental gourmand and overwhelmingly sweet anis-like. It is smooth, soft, supple. As you can see on the card with the scent notes that the clerk gave me when I bought the bottle, they don’t even name anis. Well, I swear it’s there! Sometimes I wonder if something is wrong with my nose. Rarely do I smell all what the creators say is in a perfume. Often I smell less and sometimes more, as in this case with the anis.
The colour of the scent is a warm brownish red orange, bathed in golden sunlight.
Of course I bought it after some tethering. It is not cheap, but worth it. “Ani” is one of the very special scents in my collection that do not naturally come in variations from other houses.
“Ani” is – in my opinion – one of the widely underestimated scents, although I saw it covered and combined in The Dua Brands portofolio.
By now, a few years later, the Nishane brand pops up more often here in Europe. I hope to find the whole line not only online, but also in a perfumery somewhen sooner than later. There are a few sisters and brothers of “Ani” I would love to test. When one owns only one scent from a brand, one can develop a totally wrong understanding of what a brand stands for. What if all other Nishan perfumes are not to my taste?
For the moment I am happy with Ani as a very special gourmand scent in my big gourmand collection. Brings home the sunshine and the South of France feeling that I crave at the moment.