Rasasi Hawas: six bottles, which one is yours?

Rasasi is a perfume house from Dubai, and Hawas is its best-known men's line. On the shelf they look like a family: similar bottles, the same name, just a different colour. But that's where the resemblance ends. Each Hawas has its own story, its own season and its own occasion, and it's easy to buy the wrong one if you pick by bottle colour. Here's a short guide to all six we carry.

Summer in a bottle: Ice, Tropical and Malibu

Hawas Ice is the coolest of the family: crisp apple and citrus on the first spray, then marine notes, with soft amber and musk underneath. It smells like a glass of iced water after the beach, which is why people wear it all summer long. If you need one fresh scent for the heat, start here.

Hawas Tropical heads in another direction: coconut water, fig leaf, ginger and a touch of mint over sandalwood and tonka. It's less “marine” and more like a holiday in the shade with fruit on the table. Hawas Malibu is the sunniest: pineapple, orange and grapefruit, then lavender and iris, finishing on creamy tonka and musk. Of these three, it's the sweetest and warmest.

Fresh, but more serious: Fire and Black

The name is misleading: Hawas Fire isn't hot or spicy, it's fresh and mineral. Sage and jasmine, marine and mineral notes, like stone after rain, over warm amber. It's the Hawas for work and for the city, when you want to smell clean rather than beachy. Hawas Black opens juicy, with pineapple, grapefruit and bergamot, but settles into a dark, woody base of cedar, patchouli and oakmoss. Of the whole family, it's the most elegant and the most “shirt and jacket”.

The only one for winter: Elixir

Hawas Elixir is the black sheep of the family, in the best possible way. It opens fresh, with mint, bergamot and lavender, so you almost think it's another summer Hawas. Then dark chocolate appears, with benzoin, vanilla and tonka beneath it. The result is a play of warm and cool, like an after-dinner mint chocolate. If you like Hawas but need something for these cold months, this is the one.

You don't choose a Hawas by the colour of the bottle, but by where you're going to wear it.

Quick guide

Beach and heat: Ice. Holidays, coconut and fruit: Tropical. Sunshine and something sweeter: Malibu. Office and city: Fire. Dinner and a shirt: Black. Winter and cold evenings: Elixir.

If you can't decide, you don't have to. Get three 5 ml decants, say one summer scent, one “city” scent and the Elixir, and in a couple of weeks you'll know your favourite. Put at least three 5 ml decants in your cart and the site automatically takes 10% off.