Reem Acra is a fashion designer from Lebanon who has a penchant for wedding gowns and a fondness for embroidered details. She also creates red-carpet-worthy evening wear seen on celebrities, and a day wear collection. Her ready-to-wear and bridal collections are carried in finer department stores and specialty boutiques all over the world. This fall, she has introduced a fragrance composed by perfume Pierre Negrin to compliment her luxurious designs. Mr. Negrin created the Reem Acra Eau de Parfum based on memories Ms. Acra had of collecting Lebanese amber in the cedarwood forests as a child. He chose to focus on the warm aspects of the colors and scents inspired by those amber recollections.

I tend to be suspicious of any scent that is foisted upon me by eager sales associates, because my experience tells me that they are going to be substandard perfumes created for the masses, plus I have nightmarish memories of being heavily sprayed with Giorgio against my will more than once. Reem Acra is being pushed pretty heavily at a couple of the higher-end department stores downtown. I accepted a sample, allegedly for journalistic purposes, but really because I just like to try everything, bad or good. I was pleasantly surprised by this, and resolved to just kick that creeping snobbery to the curb for once and all.

There is a slight cocktail quality to Reem Acra upon first spraying – not a martini, but more a dark rum drink with fruit. This shifts quickly into a more flowery aroma, with a juicy fruit note at the heart. The scent is a departure for most department store/designer fragrances that have been launched recently in that it is not crisply, brightly fruity, but very warm, and lightly spiced. There is ginger in the composition, used to good effect. I am very much enjoying my scent aura as I write this; I feel cozy, yet elegant, like I should be wearing things made of cashmere (except I would get all itchy). It has great sillage, and I could also see wearing this to an autumnal or winter party, especially fancy dress, where you could beguile revelers with your aura. Of course, as intended by its maker, it would be a wonderful scent for a winter bride; a nice departure from the traditional sweet pale florals that seem to be de rigeur.

I can’t say that this fragrance is earth-shattering or ground-breaking, but it is pleasing, and has a presence and body not often found in more mainstream offerings. I feel that it is definitely skewed toward the feminine side of the scent gender world. I also see it as being directed to a slightly more mature audience, which is welcome, whether intended or not. The scent has average longevity, with a fairly neutral woody/musky drydown, and good waft.

Notes: Orange blossom, pear, bergamot, ginger, jasmine, lily of the valley, peony, signature amber, cedar, patchouli and warm musk (extrapolated from the Reem Acra website)

I received my Reem Acra sample from Neiman Marcus in San Francisco, and it is also available at Sak’s Fifth Avenue.

–Tama Blough, Senior Editor