As-Suli's Diamond

Mind Games As-Suli's Diamond Extrait de Parfum

Fig leaf, mandarin Madagascar, bergamot, ylang-ylang Madagascar, broom flower, tonka bean, incense, opoponax, amberwood, and myrrh — the Artisan Collection's most Middle Eastern-coded and most resinous composition, created by the legendary perfumer Annick Menardo: an exotic, smoky, fruity-floral-incense that earns "an intricate composition with substantial sillage and up to 10 hours of longevity" from its most devoted reviewers and "this takes you on a journey to an exotic place and time" from the house itself.

"As-Suli" was a 10th-century master chess player in the Abbasid Caliphate, considered the greatest of his age. His "diamond" was a specific endgame puzzle that stumped chess masters for centuries. The fragrance built around his legend is the collection's most explicitly Middle Eastern and most resinously ambitious composition — Annick Menardo, whose career credits include Lolita Lempicka (the defining iris-violet gourmand of the 1990s), chose fig leaf, ylang-ylang, and broom flower as the floral-fruity bridge over a resinous base of incense, opoponax, and myrrh.

The fig leaf and mandarin orange opening is simultaneously fruity and slightly sharp — the fig leaf providing green, slightly milky sharpness; Madagascar mandarin adding warm citrus sweetness; bergamot contributing clean brightness. Ylang-ylang arrives in the heart as the composition's most dramatically polarizing note: warm, slightly tropical, and narcotic in the specific way of quality ylang-ylang that has been properly sourced from Madagascar — the world's premium ylang-ylang origin. Broom flower adds slightly smoky, slightly honey-adjacent depth. Tonka bean provides warm sweetness. The incense, opoponax, and myrrh base is the composition's most ambitious and most rewarding chapter: opoponax (sweet myrrh) is warm, balsamic, and slightly sweet; incense is sacred rather than harsh; myrrh adds resinous depth. The combination earns "extraordinarily mystical scent profile of the Near East" and "10 hours of longevity" from Parfumo's most experienced reviewer.

🔺 The Scent Pyramid

Top Notes (0–20 min) Fig Leaf · Mandarin Madagascar · Bergamot

The opening is fruity-green and immediately unusual. Fig leaf sharpness alongside warm mandarin.

Heart Notes (20 min–2 hrs) Ylang-Ylang Madagascar · Broom Flower · Tonka Bean

Ylang-ylang is the composition's most distinctive material — warm, narcotic, and deeply polarizing. Broom flower adds slightly smoky warmth. Tonka bean provides sweet depth.

Base Notes (2 hrs and beyond) Incense · Opoponax · Amberwood · Myrrh

The base is the composition's most ambitious chapter — warm, balsamic, resinous, and genuinely Middle Eastern in character. Opoponax is sweet myrrh. Incense is sacred and warm. Myrrh adds depth. Longevity: up to 10 hours; good sillage.

What it smells like on skin:

The fig-mandarin opening is fruity and slightly sharp. Ylang-ylang transforms the heart into a warm, slightly narcotic-floral character. The opoponax-incense-myrrh base is the most richly resinous and most deeply beautiful chapter. Fall and winter; evenings; for collectors who want the house's most explicitly Middle Eastern and most resinously ambitious entry.

Why Collectors Keep Reaching For It:

🔮 Fig leaf, ylang-ylang, opoponax, incense, and myrrh — the Artisan Collection composition by Annick Menardo that earns "an extraordinary and mystical scent profile of the Near East" from experienced niche reviewers: the most explicitly Middle Eastern-coded, most resinously ambitious, and most genuinely unusual composition in the Mind Games founding collection

🌙 "An intricate composition with substantial sillage and up to 10 hours of longevity, where warm resinous elements in affinity with the exotic flowers create an extraordinary and mystical scent profile" — the reviewer's summary that earns As-Suli's Diamond its most distinguished placement in the collection's performance hierarchy.

🔍 Authenticated and independently sourced. Same Mind Games extrait. Below retail.

💸 Below retail on the most resinously ambitious and most Middle Eastern-coded composition in the Mind Games Artisan Collection — As-Suli's Diamond at below-retail pricing makes Annick Menardo's exotic incense-opoponax-myrrh accessible.

⚡ Fall and winter evenings — not blind-buy safe — ylang-ylang is the decisive factor

Who actually buys this: Oriental and Middle Eastern fragrance devotees who want Annick Menardo's resinous-floral-incense interpretation in the Mind Games context. Collectors who've worked through the Artisan Collection and find the opoponax-myrrh base of As-Suli's Diamond the most genuinely distinctive entry. Anyone who finds "extraordinary and mystical scent profile of the Near East" an accurate description of what they want to wear.