Washwashah Eau de Parfum by Lattafa: My First Arabic Perfume

Washwashah EDP

I have developed a penchant for wearing a perfume every day even when I'm not going out. I was well aware early on that I couldn't possibly afford to wear my usual perfumes if I wanted to keep this up. So, I was looking for affordable alternatives. At the time, I wanted a perfume that was not 'inspired by' and also not what you might easily find.

A little caveat, this is the first Arabic perfume that I bought myself but not the first Arabic perfume I have tried. Another little caveat, I am not a connoisseur, I can barely describe [if you can call it a description] a fragrance.

So, it all started about a year ago when I bought a lot of Arabic perfume samples and narrowed it down to a few that I liked and Washwashah was right at the top. The funny thing is, I almost passed it up because I didn't like the design of the bottle. I love product designs or designs in general and a beautiful bottle would add to the experience in addition to a beautiful fragrance. Nevertheless, at the very last minute, I included the Washwashah sample into the purchase and then later on bought the whole bottle.

The Design

I like the shape of the bottle but I don’t quite like the frills. The bottle is robust and heavy with an ornamented cap. The colour of the liquid is a pleasing purple. The whole design itself gives off a girly girl vibe which I think is at odd with the fragrance itself. 

The Fragrance

One word, Western. This is not what I expected or what people would largely expect from an Arabic perfume. 

To me, there are two distinct phases of the fragrance; the opening or the top notes and the drydown. I think in both instances, the fragrance is not what I might call sweet, and 'girly' is definitely not what I would personally categorise this. 

I actually fell in love with the drydown, which comes about a couple of hours after the initial spray. But my sister complimented me when I had just put on the perfume. So the top notes are definitely compliment-worthy.

Washwashah Eau de Parfum, Deodorant & Cap

I don't really know how to describe the fragrance, but the drydown reminds me or at least reminded me when I first tried it, of the time when I used to walk around window shopping a long time ago with my sister and cousin around Orchard Road, Singapore, and I remember entering one of the cosmetics sections of one of the posh malls and this is what I would smell. I don’t know which perfume resembled this, or if it was just one perfume or a collective of perfumes. And because of this, I would describe Washwashah as classic or vintage, at least for the drydown. I wish the drydown made up the entire fragrance. The EDP comes with a perfumed spray or deodorant that smells like the EDP phase two but without the depth.

For some time, Washwashah remained in the top two of my favourite perfumes before it was knocked down one notch by an 'inspired by' perfume which I hope to write about in the future.