Collection Privée - Oud Intense Galimard 2022

A sacred forest. The trees are light and have green leaves, the ground is dry. Sheep are looking for tufts of grass. I walk barefoot, my feet are dusty, I've been walking all day and I'm exhausted. Then I notice the sacred fire. A fine smoke rises from a bowl of embers and chips of gray wood. I respectfully approach a small group of men and women and greet them with a gesture. They greet me in return and I sit down by the fire. A bundle of fresh herbs and flowers is handed to me and I rub my face and hands. A slightly pungent smell flashes here and there, there are many animals here. I am given a leather bag impregnated with an earthy oil and place it against my cheek. A woman stands up and takes a large splinter, lights it on the embers and smothers the spark. She approaches me with the slightly smoking chip and envelops me in the soft smoke, in front, on the sides, from behind. I close my eyes and feel the heaviness of the day fall away from me and we people here, who were strangers a moment ago, are deeply connected. I place my forehead and forearms on the ground in front of me and feel how the traces of the herbs, the oily leather, the exhalations and the sacred smoke mix together and become part of the great breath of creation. I look down at the pillars of the earth, whose rocks are surrounded by warm light, and fall softly back up onto this ground that carries me, into this small community that has made me, the stranger, so welcome.

Collection Privée - Oud Intense is a great, intense, dense and soft fragrance. In the Collection Privée, which is dedicated to precious essences, there are four fragrances with oud in their names. "Collection Privée - Aoud Jasmin | Galimard" and "Collection Privée - Aoud Rose | Galimard" do not list oud, but achieve the character of oud in the composition of the essences. Collection Privée - Oud Intense and Collection Privée - Oud Vanille list it. The inspiration is the oriental reverence for fragrance as a manifestation of the divine.

At first a fresh hint of coriander and rose appears, soon an earthy soft patchouli note opens together with gossamer threads of something animalic, which I think is castoreum, and slightly sweet sandalwood. I can detect leather and oud in the base, but not cistus. The fragrance remains warm, soft and aromatic for a long time. I inhale it like a remedy and like a prayer, it gives me a place where I can be.