Still covering Boadicea and still browsing their expensive product. Earlier this week, Boadicea got onto the scoreboard with
Knight of Love and
Nemer Parfum, two fragrances that I rated an 8.0/10.
Oud Sapphire feels like it should be there alongside them, given it has the type of complexity and quality that I am looking for, esp. given the €835/100ml retail price; yet it again falls short for the same reason as many of the previous products.
Oud Sapphire opens with cough syrup-like medicinal ambers (spicy-balsamic-oriental). There is a light nuance of candied sweetness and the initial transition is more in the animalic direction. On-skin, the scent feels woody-spicy, contrasted by sweet-animalic accords. For a fragrance comp, the first thing that came to my mind is Sospiro's
Deep Ocean Amber, a fragrance with very prominent styrax which, to my nose, has always been a note that is easy to spot. Without looking at the notes, my conclusion for the scent based on the opening is that it appears to be a tobacco & styrax fragrance layered with something candied sweet. For that candied sweetness, I also wrote down Xerjoff's 2025 release
NeoRio as an idea.
Everything gets a big more colorful once I look at the accords & notes. The main thing I feel I have to note is that the dominating notes to my nose are the styrax and oud. However, the more I keep looking for the notes, the more I can find them. The saffron and osmanthus specifically are noteworthy, because on-skin, the saffron is the note that is bringing that candied sweetness and the osmanthus is actually bringing an interesting fruity nuance to the profile. The concept starts to come together: mild leather and fruity osmanthus, opposed by moderate oud and VERY prominent styrax. I believe the leather and oud aspects of
Oud Sapphire will depend on the person trying it as I can easily see a world where one would classify the note in either direction, somewhat comparable to how Maison Crivelli's
Oud Stallion is simultaneously both woody and leathery.
The evolution of this fragrance is very impressive, but before I looked at the notes and accords, I wrote down a criticism, saying "it's just a bit too plain in my opinion". That criticism actually is reflected by what I am smelling in the air:
Oud Sapphire is a very complex spicy-oriental with a prominent styrax note. That styrax is the note that is really overwhelming my nose on this Friday afternoon indoors test and based on that experience, I am assuming this is the strongest Boadicea fragrance I have smelled so far (est. longevity between 12-16 hours, rated 9/10; and sillage is approaching strong, rated 7/10). The price is obviously its own thing, but to me, the biggest issue with
Oud Sapphire is the insignificance of wearable accords, i.e. the saffron, osmanthus, maybe even the iris & ambrette that others appear to be getting more of.
I am going to guess that if you layered
Tubéreuse Astrale on top of this, this fragrance would be true S tier (rated 9.0 and above). Even without the wearable parts, this is probably the best execution I've smelled from Boadicea thus far. However, execution on its own doesn't make for top product - much like the previous reviews and statements in the Sapphires collection, the shortfall of
Oud Sapphire yet again is the feeling that there is something missing. One can only hope that same criticism doesn't apply for the Zodiacs as I end my coverage next week.
Top Notes 
Saffron
Ambrette
Black pepper
Heart Notes 
Leather
Osmanthus
Oud
Base Notes 
Iris
Styrax
Sandalwood
Moshikoko
IllParagraph
Patj1994
NicheOnly
DrDre10
paperdade
MartyMcFly
Aleyz
Mo666
