11
Top Review
Testosterone in a bottle
Silver Oud is a polarizing perfume. Revered by some, hated by many, it's a masterpiece by Cécile Zarokian and the most refined take on Assam oud. As with most scents that contain real oud, it's not a love at first sniff, especially given the challenging opening.
Yes, it smells barnyardy. We're talking about drilling into an agarwood tree and infecting it with a fungi, then extracting the produced resin, cutting it into woodchips, soaking them in water and using steam distillation to create the oud essence. Behind the stinky mask hides a woody heart with chocolaty, fruity, leathery, medicinal, metallic and smoky facets.
Even at very low concentration, it still takes a while for this dense essence to fully open up. As such, the animalic slap in the face can last for 30 minutes (sometimes longer) before all of the aforementioned nuances start coming to life. I'm patient when I'm cooking, knowing the food will eventually taste great. I can be patient with my fragrance as well.
During its barnyard opening, oud is accompanied by cypriol, patchouli and virginia cedar. That's right, earthy and woody notes. Patchouli and cedar have some sweetness to them, but other than that and a few aroma chemicals, there's no escape from the animalic oud.
It gets better once vanilla and ethyl maltol enter the mix with slightly distinctive sweetness. At this stage, the cedar is gone and the dry leatheriness of castoreum is more pronounced. Once birch starts to bloom, masculine smokiness takes over the scent profile. Ambrarome adds a sweet nuance to the drydown - something between caramel and coca-cola.
Silver Oud is earthy, smoky and woody with animalic and leathery facets. The opening isn't pleasant, which is the downside of Assam oud. Keep in mind that magic happens in the air. Try to avoid smelling your skin for the first hour of the wear. Personally, I prefer spraying it behind my ears and at the back of my neck for a monstrous sillage.
Yes, it smells barnyardy. We're talking about drilling into an agarwood tree and infecting it with a fungi, then extracting the produced resin, cutting it into woodchips, soaking them in water and using steam distillation to create the oud essence. Behind the stinky mask hides a woody heart with chocolaty, fruity, leathery, medicinal, metallic and smoky facets.
Even at very low concentration, it still takes a while for this dense essence to fully open up. As such, the animalic slap in the face can last for 30 minutes (sometimes longer) before all of the aforementioned nuances start coming to life. I'm patient when I'm cooking, knowing the food will eventually taste great. I can be patient with my fragrance as well.
During its barnyard opening, oud is accompanied by cypriol, patchouli and virginia cedar. That's right, earthy and woody notes. Patchouli and cedar have some sweetness to them, but other than that and a few aroma chemicals, there's no escape from the animalic oud.
It gets better once vanilla and ethyl maltol enter the mix with slightly distinctive sweetness. At this stage, the cedar is gone and the dry leatheriness of castoreum is more pronounced. Once birch starts to bloom, masculine smokiness takes over the scent profile. Ambrarome adds a sweet nuance to the drydown - something between caramel and coca-cola.
Silver Oud is earthy, smoky and woody with animalic and leathery facets. The opening isn't pleasant, which is the downside of Assam oud. Keep in mind that magic happens in the air. Try to avoid smelling your skin for the first hour of the wear. Personally, I prefer spraying it behind my ears and at the back of my neck for a monstrous sillage.
1 Comment
Smirky 10 months ago
1
Great review of a great fragrance! I liked reading the background info. Very informative. A full bottle is on the way for me (tested it a while back).