MAHD AL DHAHAB EXdp

Mahd Al Dhahab Extrait and the Eau de Parfum: One Recipe, Two Strengths

Think of this as the stronger sibling of a fragrance you may already know. The Extrait arrived in 2026 as a unisex extrait de parfum from Arabiyat Prestige, a Dubai label that sits within the My Perfumes group. You get 60 ml.

The sibling is a 100 ml eau de parfum released in 2025. Both carry the same eleven notes, so a glance at a pyramid will not tell them apart.

Mahd Al Dhahab Fragrance Notes

• Top Notes: Grapefruit, Bergamot, Red Berries, Juniper Berry.
• Heart Notes: Clary Sage, Cypress, Ginger.
• Base Notes: Sandalwood, Patchouli, Vanilla, Amber.

The brand’s store supplies this list. The databases show a fuller one that also includes lemon, petitgrain, tea, incense, guaiac wood, ambroxan and musk, but it leaves the eleven above intact.

Some retailers print a third version built around bergamot, spices, amber, oud and white musk. Oud is missing from both the brand and the databases, so treat that version as filler.

Walking through the scent

Citrus and fruit arrive first. Grapefruit and bergamot lend a sharp lift, red fruits bring a sweet berry heft, and juniper adds a dry, gin-tinged bite so the fruit never turns syrupy.

Next the composition swings toward herbs rather than flowers. Clary sage reads as nutty with a hint of tobacco, cypress contributes a cool resinous green, and ginger holds a warm spice in the background. Sweetness is absent here.

In the drydown, sweetness returns through vanilla and amber, sandalwood gives a creamy body and patchouli brings soil. The brand’s word for the character is boozy, and the berry, vanilla and amber combination is the source of that impression.

Accord rankings place woody at the top, then fruity and amber. Overall the scent feels warm and round, and the citrus is the briefest phase.

Same pyramid, different strength

On the brand’s store, the extrait and eau de parfum pages list identical notes in each tier: four at the top, three in the heart, four at the base. Nowhere does the brand suggest the formulas diverge.

Its marketing frames the extrait as a more intense take on the original, pushing the boozy side harder. That speaks to power, not to a change in ingredients.

This reverses the usual flanker story, where names that match often share little on closer inspection. The extrait seems to be the same scent turned up, which is what the label implies, even if strength on skin is another matter.

No oil percentage is published for either bottle, and concentration terms carry no legal definition behind them. A wear test tells you how strong it is. The label does not.

What the premium pays for

Per millilitre, the extrait costs more than the eau de parfum, which is common in this category.

As far as the brand has disclosed, what you pay for is strength. The ingredient list and structure are the same, so the only expected variable is the oil load in the alcohol.

The decision is therefore clean. If you already own the eau de parfum and want more of it, go for the extrait. If you have never tried either, the cheaper 100 ml is the lower-risk way to test the composition.

The name refers to a real mine

Mahd Al Dhahab translates from Arabic as cradle of gold. It is a settlement and mining zone in Medina Province, in Saudi Arabia’s Hijaz.

Gold extraction there is among the oldest anywhere, starting around the thirtieth century BC. Activity surged again under the Abbasids, roughly 750 to 1258, and commercial mining resumed in 1936.

Amber, vanilla and warm woods make a fitting match for a place with that history, and the gold in the packaging ties the two together rather than reading as generic luxury.

Who should reach for it

Cool nights favour it: fruit and amber warmth without a flat, sugary gourmand profile. The herbal backbone from clary sage and cypress keeps the berries and vanilla steady.

Someone who already loves the eau de parfum will get the most from this, since the stronger version of a scent you know is an easy call. Anyone averse to herbal and green character should sample first, because the heart is where opinions split.