About a year ago, I visited the Floris perfumery in London and came across their Honey Oud fragrance. "A dream," I thought, but unfortunately not within my budget. So I hoped to find a possible alternative and then discovered Montale's Aoud Honey, hoping the two would be similar. Fortunately, I also found a perfumery with a large Montale selection, including Aoud Honey. I was almost tempted to buy it blind.
Tested on the skin, it became clear to me within seconds that Montale Aoud Honey and Floris Honey Oud go in completely different directions: While Floris comes across as delicately sweet and soft, Montale Aoud Honey initially develops more like a smoky bomb with underlying sweetness. Scratchy, spicy, woody, oriental, and masculine in my opinion. The honey character even fades relatively quickly. But what remains is a massive sillage. My predecessor described a medicinal smell, similar to eucalyptus, and rightly so! I perceive this note for a short time after about 15 minutes. After around 30 minutes, the sweetness is initially gone, leaving a dry-woody and slightly smoky scent for the next couple of hours. Strangely enough, the sweetness does return after a longer time, although it resembles vanilla more in my nose. Ultimately, not much of the honey remains in Aoud Honey. What does remain, however, is a massive sillage!
Throughout the scent development, I simply couldn't decide whether I liked Aoud Honey or not. The opening definitely, the next 2-3 hours not at all, and later, when the sweetness returns, I really like it. Overall, I can well imagine acquiring it at some point. Definitely a winter fragrance. I can only recommend testing Aoud Honey on the skin at least once beforehand and advise against a blind purchase.
