Three-oil sampler
Sample listingOn request
A way to take three home and decide later which one is yours.
Price on request
The one souvenir that brings the place back without being looked at
Concentrated Egyptian fragrance oils, chosen by smelling them. Reserve a bottle to collect, or spend an hour at the shop working out which one is yours.
Why oil rather than spray
A conventional perfume is mostly alcohol, which carries the scent up into the air and then leaves. An oil sits on the skin and releases slowly, so it stays closer and lasts longer, and a very small bottle goes a very long way. It is the older way of wearing fragrance, and it is still how most fragrance is sold in Egypt.
Scent is the sense that remembers
Smell is wired almost directly into the parts of the brain that handle memory and emotion, which is why a scent can return a place to you more completely than a photograph. It is the reason this is, quietly, the best souvenir on this page — and the reason it is worth choosing properly rather than grabbing at the airport.
The pieces
Choose one to start the conversation, or send your request without picking — we will suggest what fits what you are after.
Request availability
Single bottle
Sample listingOn request
One oil, chosen by smelling it.
Price on request
Before you arrive
How it works
- 1
Read the collection
What each oil is built around.
- 2
Tell us what you tend to wear
We will point you at two or three to try first.
- 3
Reserve, or book to smell
Both are fine. Neither costs anything up front.
- 4
Collect during your trip
Or choose at the shop and take it with you.
Already in Egypt
Choosing by smelling
No description of a fragrance survives contact with your own nose. If you have an hour, the shop visit is the better version of this — a range to work through, and time to let something sit on your skin before you decide.
- 1
Tell us when you are free
An hour is enough.
- 2
We arrange the visit
With someone who knows the range.
- 3
Try, then choose
Buy only what you actually liked on your own skin.
Start the conversation
Nothing is charged here and nothing is confirmed. You will get a reply with the specification, the price and the date it can be ready.
- We make no claim about what any oil is or is not made of. Composition is something a supplier has to state in writing, and we will publish it here when they do.
- Nothing about carrying fragrance on a flight is promised here — see Travel Notes below.
- You can always smell before you buy. Nobody should choose a fragrance from a paragraph.
Travel notes
Liquids in hand luggage are limited by container size and total volume, and the rules differ by airline, airport and destination. We are not going to tell you that a particular bottle will be fine in a cabin bag, because that is not ours to promise. Check with the airline you are flying, and if there is any doubt, put it in hold luggage.
Verified guidance for the specific bottle sizes we sell will be published here once we have it in writing from the supplier.
Questions
Concentrated fragrance oils are generally oil-based rather than alcohol-based, but we are not going to put that claim against a specific bottle until the supplier has confirmed it in writing for that product. Ask us about a particular oil and we will tell you what we actually know.
Liquids in hand luggage are limited by container size and total volume, and the exact rules differ by airline, airport and destination. We will not promise you that any given bottle is fine in a cabin bag — check with your airline for the route you are flying, and if in doubt put it in hold luggage.
Tell us what you already wear and we will narrow it to two or three. But if your trip allows an hour at the shop, take it — it is a better way to spend that hour than reading fragrance descriptions, which are unreliable for everybody.
While you are here
Travel Guides
Que rapporter d'Égypte : des souvenirs qui en valent la peine
Ce qui vaut vraiment la peine d'être acheté sur les marchés égyptiens et ce qu'il vaut mieux éviter — épices, objets en cuivre, coton, papyrus et albâtre — et comment distinguer l'artisanat de qualité des produits fabriqués en série.
Culture
Les meilleurs marchés et souks d'Égypte
Au-delà de Khan el-Khalili : le souk d'Assouan, les marchés locaux de Louxor et le commerce d'antiquités d'Alexandrie, et ce qui fait la valeur de chaque détour.
Also in Take Egypt Home