By Lisa Jane Davis, Founder of Levant Perfume
In short: Levant No. 1 Eau de Parfum was born on the balcony of the Zabeel Saray hotel on Palm Jumeirah in Dubai. It was not created in a laboratory. It began with a feeling: the warmth, the luxury, and the sense of calm that stayed with our founder Lisa long after she came home. This is the story of the scent that started everything.
It began with a feeling, not a formula
People often ask me where Levant began. The honest answer surprises them.
It didn’t begin in a laboratory. It began with a feeling.
I still remember arriving at the Zabeel Saray, the beautiful hotel on Palm Jumeirah in Dubai. Walking through those grand doors, everything felt considered. The grand entrance. The elegant boutiques. The themed restaurants and the coffee lounges. The incredible spa. Every single detail had been thought about, and you could feel it the moment you stepped inside.
Some places are simply beautiful to look at. This was different. It was a feeling you could almost hold.
The moment on the balcony
Then I would step out onto the balcony of the hotel and look across the crystal-blue waters of the Arabian Sea.
There was this incredible sense of warmth and luxury. A calm that settled over everything. The kind of moment where time slows down and you notice you are completely, quietly happy.
That feeling stayed with me long after I came home to the UK. Weeks later, I could still close my eyes and be back on that balcony. And I remember thinking one simple thought that changed everything.
“I wish I could bottle this feeling.”
That single moment became the inspiration behind Levant No. 1.
What that feeling became
Turning a feeling into a fragrance is not easy. But I knew exactly what I was chasing: warmth, richness, and that sense of unhurried luxury.
No. 1 is built to hold all of it. Rose, pink pepper and grapefruit open it with brightness, like the first breath of warm air. Underneath, amber, bergamot and cinnamon bark bring the warmth. And at its heart sit vanilla, patchouli and agarwood, the deep, resinous oud that gives the scent its soul and makes it last.
It is warm, confident and layered. The kind of fragrance you notice in a grand hotel, and now the kind you can wear on your own skin.
Even now, every time I spray No. 1, I am taken straight back to that hotel, standing on that balcony, feeling like anything was possible.
Why the story matters
There are two kinds of perfume in the world. There are fragrances designed by committee to smell like something already popular. And there are fragrances born from a real moment, a real place, a real feeling.
No. 1 is the second kind. It is not a copy of anything. It is not “inspired by” someone else’s bestseller. It is an original, born on a balcony in Dubai and made real, by hand, here in the UK.
That is the whole idea behind Levant. A scent is not just a smell. It is a memory you can return to whenever you want. No. 1 is mine. I hope it becomes part of yours too.
Levant No. 1 began with a single wish to bottle the warmth and luxury of a moment on a Dubai hotel balcony. Rich with rose, amber, cinnamon and oud, it is the fragrance that started our story, handcrafted in the UK, vegan, and made to last.
This is the first in our series on where each Levant fragrance was born. Follow along as we share the real places and feelings behind every number.