Leather
Oud
Charred wood
Tobacco
08/09/2013
jtd
484 Reviews
jtd
Very helpful Review
6
the mouse that didn't
The irresistible force, the immovable object. The rock and the hard place. He-man and She-ra. Leather and oud are the bad-boy/bad-girl notes of perfumery. They've both been considered vulgar, impolite and slutty. They're the enfants terribles of pretty perfumery. It makes perfect sense that they'd be taken up by niche perfumists as icons.
So, Aoud Cuir d'Arabie should be a clash of titans in a bottle, right? After a spectacularly rocking 5-10 minute opening we have the answer. No.
However it comes about ( * ) this perfume goes from waving its arms and yelling at you to quietly turning its back on you so quickly that you have try it again and again to make sure your sense of smell isn't out of whack. I suppose the leather and the oud simply cede the fight to each other and maintain a quiet detente of dry, vaguely tarry woods. It's not an unpleasant ending to a perfume, but in this case, quiet means lackluster. Also, 5 minutes of excitement followed by 8 hours of uneventful drydown isn't my idea of the top to basenotes approach of classical perfumery.
* three points of comparison to capture the hurrah-to-hush effect:
1) The paradoxical effect, as in medicine. A medication given as stimulant causes sedation.
2) The dosage effect, as in medicine. For instance, a medication at one dose may cause dilation of blood vessels and lead to decreased blood pressure. The same med at a higher dose causes constriction of the vessels and increases the blood pressure.
3) The exaustion effect, as when two evenly matched television drag queens square off in a battle of wits and drama. It's all nails and spittle until they tire and their hair falls flat.
from scent hurdle.com
So, Aoud Cuir d'Arabie should be a clash of titans in a bottle, right? After a spectacularly rocking 5-10 minute opening we have the answer. No.
However it comes about ( * ) this perfume goes from waving its arms and yelling at you to quietly turning its back on you so quickly that you have try it again and again to make sure your sense of smell isn't out of whack. I suppose the leather and the oud simply cede the fight to each other and maintain a quiet detente of dry, vaguely tarry woods. It's not an unpleasant ending to a perfume, but in this case, quiet means lackluster. Also, 5 minutes of excitement followed by 8 hours of uneventful drydown isn't my idea of the top to basenotes approach of classical perfumery.
* three points of comparison to capture the hurrah-to-hush effect:
1) The paradoxical effect, as in medicine. A medication given as stimulant causes sedation.
2) The dosage effect, as in medicine. For instance, a medication at one dose may cause dilation of blood vessels and lead to decreased blood pressure. The same med at a higher dose causes constriction of the vessels and increases the blood pressure.
3) The exaustion effect, as when two evenly matched television drag queens square off in a battle of wits and drama. It's all nails and spittle until they tire and their hair falls flat.
from scent hurdle.com
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