Oud 07 Swiss Arabian 2021

This is oud for people who don't like oud I think. Jordi Fernandez created this for SwissArabian in 2021 and from the outset it is a populist, very easy to wear and quite familiar take on the rose and oud theme.

I do like the rose in the opening. It is jammy and bright with a sweetness filtered by the minerality of the saffron in this. The vanilla isn't so much one note but a slew of them across a theme: akigalawood, Iso E Super, a musky sort of quite restrained amber and some vanillin accords in the base. It makes Oud 07 very smooth and polished in the base and drydown but it is really interesting that you do not get any of the synthetic oud flavour until about 30 minutes in. It manifests in a much lighter way that you tend to expect. It is sour but in a nice way and very subtle. There is no farmy or challenging angle to this whatsoever.

As someone who leans into the deeper and darker ouds and genuinely loves the barnyard vibe so decried by many, this puts me in a quandary here and I think speaks to the issue I have with this fragrance.

I love the way it is put together and I do think it is one of the better blended and more balanced "oud" and rose fragrances out there. I bought a bottle for a colleague of mine in Greece and it may be more up her street than mine. I find myself wanting more of the nastiness. I want this to be darker and more difficult. It is nice enough as it is and you could actually wear this to the office which in this case I’m not sure is the compliment that determination usually is. But I think for evenings and nights out I'd layer this with something darker.

So to sum up: Oud 07 is a lovely and charming fragrance that leans feminine and is very well-blended and executed, but that frustrates in that it is supposed to be oud front and centre and I get very little, or certainly not enough of, that oud accord in it. I wonder if it may improve a little after some more months of maturation.

Three Word Summary: Need More Oud

Layering suggestion: The one that immediately springs to mind is UAE Oud by Taif Al Emarat which is just this glorious, almost cheesy, black-as-night rich oud that you will never forget. I also think Velvet Oudh by Rituals (which is one of my favourite ouds and absolutely ludicrously underrated by the way) would go amazingly as a base layer for this to go over the top of.

Outfit suggestion: an oud fragrance with shorts and a polo shirt during the day? Say it ain't so…

Scent - 6/10
Drydown - 6/10
Sillage - 5/10
Bottle/packaging - 8/10
Performance - 5/10

Ah, one might think, another Oud-rose combination, yawn. But wait: some time ago, I tried Oud 01 and Oud 07 as well as Amber 01 and 07, which had just been released, at the Swiss Arabian Shop in Dubai, and Oud 07 is the one that ultimately won the race and was purchased. So the fragrance does have something that sets it apart from the sea of Oud-rose scents.

The Oud note is quite subtle, gentle, present but not intrusive, much more elegant than animalistic. In the opening, saffron dominates over Oud and rose, then a distinct gourmand note of sweet pastry comes into play, which is listed in the fragrance pyramid as praline and vanilla, but also evokes a hint of honey. The restrained amber note gives the fragrance some depth, but the success of the composition is likely due to the musk base, which ultimately banishes all the dirty, 'stable' associations of the Oud and gives the fragrance an overall bright, light, clean quality.

It all seems so well-balanced to me that it is a pity that Swiss Arabian hides this fragrance behind a loveless numbering ("07") instead of giving it a resonant name, which would surely bring it greater success. Because fundamentally, it is a much 'rounder', better composed - one could also say: more elegant or mature - version of their bestseller Shaghaf Oud, and what distinguishes the two fragrances is precisely the amber and musk base. Oud 07, however, is not as 'loud' as Shaghaf Oud and, according to my tests, does not quite have the same sillage and becomes a skin-close scent noticeably faster overall, but this should not be a disadvantage for more elegant occasions, for which it is clearly more suitable than Shaghaf Oud.

From my perspective, it is unequivocally a unisex fragrance that, despite the Oud and due to the sweetness of the gourmand character, displays a slight tendency towards the feminine.

Very beautiful soft Oud scent with quality. This Oud direction is anything but intrusive. Perfectly combined with the rose and saffron, it exudes elegance. When smelling the fragrance, my first association was as if I were in a rose garden under the midday sun. The warmth of the sun releases the bitter/light/sweet terpenes of the roses. This is exactly how I perceive this rose. Additionally, there is a praline gourmand touch where vanilla also makes an appearance. Ultimately, the Oud and praline notes are clearly in the foreground. For me, a profound fragrance, very interesting and well combined.

When I was on vacation in Dubai, my wife wanted to visit the mall. So we went there to do some shopping. There, we were approached by a gentleman at a perfume stand who insisted on letting us test a fragrance.
He sprayed Oud 01 on my left forearm, which I didn't really like, and on my right arm he sprayed Oud 07, which also didn't appeal to me... at first. He bid us farewell with the words: Enjoy your time and if you like a scent, you know where to find me. I thought to myself: I'm not coming back anyway since I don't like the fragrance.
However, after about an hour, the scent was still lingering around me. What a strong projection, I thought. I smelled my right arm again and lo and behold, to my surprise, it had developed into a brilliant fragrance. I couldn't stop sniffing my arm. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the Swiss Arabian stand and bought the respective perfumes that we liked (my wife chose the Shagaf Oud). Until then, I wasn't very familiar with perfumes, but I learned to be patient with them and to wait for them to unfold.

I bought this fragrance in Dubai, the saleswoman said it smells like Shagaf Oud but stronger. I think it smells like the higher-quality version of Shagaf and a softer blend of the fragrance notes. The praline and oud notes are in the foreground. It also strongly reminds me of Tom Ford Oud Wood.