$1.3m perfume enters race for most costly fragrance
■ Bottle contains diamonds, pearls, gold and silver
Dubai: An Emirati perfumery claims it has created the most expensive perfume in the world. Called Shamukh — “deserving the highest” in Arabic — and priced at a nostril-flaring $1,295,000 for three liters, its makers say it’s the product of three years of research and 494 perfume trials, CNN reported.
It comes in an Italian Murano crystal bottle, which is adorned with a gold falcon, Arabian horses, roses and a globe, contains 3,571 diamonds — 38.55 carats in total — giant pearls, two kilograms of 18-karat gold and over five kilograms of pure silver. What’s more, the bottle sits on a cushioned leather stand nearly two meters tall.
Creators The Spirit of Dubai, part of luxury fragrance brand Nabeel, say
the bottle’s bejeweled animals and the perfume’s ingredients, pulled from different corners of the world, tell the story of Dubai.
The his/hers perfume apparently contains hints of sandalwood, musk, Ylang-ylang, Turkish rose, Indian
agarwood, musk and patchouli. But it is the bottle that has set two Guinness World Records: for most diamonds set on a perfume bottle and for tallest commercially available remote-controlled fragrance spray bottle, certificates for which were shown to CNN. Details of a buyer for the one-of-a-kind bottle have yet to be disclosed, but the public can see it on display at Dubai Mall until March 30.
Shamukh joins a niche market for ultra-opulent perfumes. According to Guinness World Records, the most expensive perfume commercially available is Clive Christian No.1 Imperial Majesty, which was released in a 10-bottle run in 2005 at $205,000 each for 500 milliliters (price included delivery via Bentley).
There are other expensive one-off creations. In 2011, DKNY launched the Golden Delicious Million Dollar Fragrance Bottle, made from yellow and white gold and covered in 2,700 diamonds and 183 yellow sapphires.