House Attars

Alcohol-free, start to finish

Every attar on this shelf is pure perfume oil in a roll-on bottle — no alcohol, no spray. That is why customers wear them to namaz and through the working day: the oil sits close to the skin rather than projecting across a room, and it stays around 6 to 8 hours on skin, longer on clothes.

Which attar to start with

Three families — oud, musk and floral — from the lightest to the deepest.

• White Oud Attar — the cleanest oud on the shelf — the one to start with if oud is new to you
• Kashmiri Oud Attar — woody and dry, the classic men's oud
• Oud Ameer Attar — resinous and deep; the richest oud we blend
• Kasturi Mushk Attar — earthy musk that wears warm and close
• Musk Rizali Attar — soft, powdery musk — clean enough for every day
• Rajnigandha Attar — white tuberose, the flower Indian evenings smell of
• Jannat e Zuhur Attar — green, fresh florals — the lightest attar here

3 ml or 6 ml?

Take the 3 ml to find out whether a scent is yours; a drop on each wrist is a full wear, so even the small bottle lasts. Move to the 6 ml once you know — it costs less per ml.

Wearing attar in the heat

Oil doesn't evaporate the way an alcohol spray does, which is why an attar outlasts a perfume through an Indian summer. Use less than you think: one roll on the wrists, one behind the ears. It opens over the first half hour as it warms on the skin, so judge it then, not the moment you put it on.