DogiCoco
2
Bulgarian rose, old memories and clean oud
This is a rose oud like thousand others before it. Even as a Kayali fan, I have to admit it's one of the weaker links in their lineup. Kayali perfumes usually don't reinvent the wheel, but most of them interpret existing scent concepts in a beautiful, perfected way. Rose Oud 16 just doesn't stand out to me. If someone told me this was some long-forgotten old Montale or some random designer's take on rose and oud, I wouldn't question it.
The scent itself is a very clean, borderline sterile take on rose and oud. A bit soapy in the opening, then warmer and more woodsy as it dries down. It's a beginner-friendly, non-animalic oud, which I prefer over the barnyardy skank in Tobacco Oud 04. I hoped that the vanilla and pear notes would add some rich sweetness to this, but I can barely smell them.
The most noteworthy thing about this is that I immediately identified the Bulgarian rose. When I was 15, I was on vacation in Bulgaria and developed a huge crush on one waiter in our hotel, who I think was 17. On one of our last days, he finally took me on a date in the nearby city. It turned out we didn't have a lot in common and my crush fizzled out quickly - but he was quite gentlemanly and gifted me a small wooden bottle with a sample size vial of Bulgarian rose perfume, which I still have somewhere 20 years later. And the rose note in this Kayali scent smells exactly like how I remember the little vial smelled when it was new! So I guess they used real Bulgarian rose oil here.
All in all, it's fine. Nothing more, nothing less.
Top Notes 
Geranium
Lemon
Pear
Heart Notes 
Bulgarian rose
Peony
Base Notes 
Oud
Bourbon vanilla
Cashmere wood
