Posted by Robin
on
18 December 2009
2009 turns out to be the year of oudh, at least in the niche perfume sector. Let’s see, there was Pure Oudh from By Kilian, and Midnight Oud from Juliette Has A Gun. Czech & Speake relaunched Dark Rose. Le Labo contributed Oud 27, and Bond no. 9 did an oudh for Harrods and then another as their first signature scent, Bond no. 9 Perfume. Indie line Soivohle did Oudh Lacquer, and Micallef did Aoud Gourmet, and Amouage did the Epic duo. Comptoir Sud Pacifique did a quartet (Aoud de Nuit, Aouda, Nomaoud & Oud Intense), but got beat out by the 8 (!) fragrances in the Boadicea the Victorious Oud Collection. For all I know, Montale beat them all — it’s so hard to keep track of new fragrances from Montale that I’ve mostly given up trying.
Al Oudh, L’Artisan Parfumeur’s latest entry from their travels series, thus joins an already overcrowded room. That, plus the fact that perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour is working with a traditional oudh palette of Middle Eastern spices and rose (the notes: cumin, cardamom, pink pepper, neroli, rose, castoreum, civet, leather, musk, oud, sandalwood, Atlas cedar, patchouli, myrrh, incense, vanilla and tonka bean), might make you suspect in advance what turns out to be true: Al Oudh is not the most original or unusual oudh fragrance of the year.
Still, Al Oudh is a bold, very enjoyable outing…
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Posted by Robin
on
7 December 2009
Try telling people that your perfume contains pungent oil extracted from a thick black resin produced by a parasitic mould and you'll probably get suspicious stares.
But refer to the pungent ingredient as oud and watch their eyebrows rise with interest.
— From As a fragrance ingredient, earthy oud breaks the mould at The Globe and Mail. Kevin is quoted in the 11th paragraph.
Posted by Robin
on
30 June 2009
Czech & Speake is a British bathroom fixtures brand. They started their fragrance line in 1980 as part of an overall strategy to “do everything that has to do with luxurious baths” (they also carry shaving products and leather toiletry bags).1 Dark Rose is one of their newer scents — it launched in 2003, and I can’t say for sure when it was taken off the market (reportedly due to production problems of some sort or another), but when I first tried it in late 2006, it was already impossible to find. Is it a kindness or a torture that perfumistas routinely share samples of discontinued fragrances?
Dark Rose was re-launched this year, and I was looking forward to trying the new vs. the old. Most unfortunately (or not: sometimes it’s best not to know) my original sample has turned, so I can only tell you about the new. It has rich top notes, with lots of saffron and that medicinal smell that often accompanies oudh wood (the notes: saffron, Bulgarian rose, patchouli, sandalwood, oudh, amber and white musk). It does, undoubtedly, smell vaguely like bandaids for a time…
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Posted by Robin
on
16 June 2009
UK niche line Boadicea the Victorious has launched the Oud Collection, eight new fragrances exclusive to Harrods:
At the heart of this new collection is the rare and beautiful ingredient Oud, the aromatic resinous heartwood from the evergreen Aquilaria trees…
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Posted by Robin
on
21 April 2009
Comptoir Sud Pacifique has launched the Voyages to the Orient collection, a new set of fragrances in their Eaux de Voyage line:
Aoud de Nuit (shown above left) ~ “A sensual and captivating nectar revealing the magic of the East thanks to an armful of precious woods and vibrating spices wrapped up with musk and vanilla, sustained by a pinch of warm caramel”, with notes of bergamot, blackcurrant, black rose, iris, vanilla, cardamom, saffron, cedar, caramel, patchouli, sandalwood, oud, tonka bean, musk and animalic accord…
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