Russian Oud II Areej Le Doré 2023

To a certain extent, studying the world of perfume can degenerate into work and, on top of that, does not always pay off, sometimes even forcing a dispute when existing foundations are shaken by misguided set pieces of a supposed art.

It is impossible to talk about the Areej Le Doré brand and remain silent about the conflict it ignites. The recently published Classic Collection (in a bundle) is nothing less than an attempt at a detailed re-presentation of what has become (supposed) classics in the perfume scene in recent years and at the same time allows a critical look at the brand itself.

In its early days, Areej Le Doré was a very exciting artisan brand, which made it worthwhile for many to spend a little more money, as it promised a unique fragrance experience. A certain amount of hype developed around the brand and the person relatively quickly, not least as a result of the limited release policy, which in many places culminated in a soft-spoken elitism that increasingly glorified the flacons as prestige objects. As a result, the brand has degenerated into a contrasting foil for blinded hype advocates and collector fetishists, who have made the "resell thing" in the perfume segment really socially acceptable - thanks for that! And although almost every sparrow has already whistled the swan song from the rooftops of the republic at least once, the releases are eagerly awaited each time and the scene is followed almost blindly like a cult.

There is a certain tragedy and a no less annoying, but in any case revealing irony in the fact that the way Adam announces his new releases in videos resembles that of a time-honored statesman who mentally recites from his memoirs while the owl of Minerva takes off. In recent years, Adam has increasingly generated himself as a chronicler on his own behalf, setting out to complete the catastasis. The self-referential frugality he displays in the process seems stylized into a painting and somehow thrown out of time due to the constant use of the same camera angle.

As much as the brand stood out from the rest at the time, it should be emphasized at this point how little the (artificially inflated) price says about the actual quality, even though there are quite a few who see Russian Oud Extrait de Parfum as an independent top dog, a contemporary replica on the subject of the niche. One may therefore be willing to add a "but" to the previous statement, but a great deal of surplus has accumulated in the past; much could already be said about this. And quite a few people emphasize emphatically how much this lean period was preceded by tireless procrastination, the end of which should now come soon.

I'm not saying that Adam would have scraped together the last pitiful crumbs here to make a real profit once again. However, certain signs of wear and tear cannot be denied. And those who are keen to find something new in the old have either run out of ideas or have simply become overwhelmed by the environmental factors under which their own existence is languishing. In the end, the fans' demand seemed appealing enough to finally comply with.

Underpinned by a truckload of cocoa, the new edition seems almost hermetically sealed. This is probably primarily to give the heart note more weight and scope, which is often pushed into the background by the vice of an overly heavy base. However, this does not succeed, not even in a distinctive sense. The cocoa note shatters the classification of a fragrance pyramid, almost reducing it to absurdity. The virtuosity with which Adam switched between the individual levels of the fragrance pyramid in the original is completely absent from the successor. The powdery dryness of the cocoa is overpowering. This may be due to the choice of oud or the balsamic notes, which take a backseat to the old fragrance; possibly even both. At the very least, I am surprised by the far-reaching sillage, which is almost atypical for this brand. At this point, a certain adaptation or reorientation to market requirements may become clear, from which even a Russian Adam can no longer fully absolve itself.

Russian Oud II is by no means a bad fragrance, but it is not a really well-composed one either. In terms of craftsmanship, it comes across as half-baked to unfavorable (coordinated). Even the supposedly great name and the experience of the person responsible behind it, which circles over the latter like a sword of Damocles, do nothing to change this.

For me personally, this is a kind of conciliatory conclusion for a brand that has not managed to develop decisively across the board in recent years. At least not in a direction that really appealed to me. The lighthouse proved too often to be a will-o'-the-wisp, the supposed glow in the night resembled at best that of distant, already burnt-out stars and is merely an echo of days long past. The more important the current release is presented as being, which it is not at its core, the greater the disappointment.