Collection Extraordinaire

Precious Oud Van Cleef & Arpels 2011

Bottle Design Carré Basset

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7.3 / 10 202 Ratings

A perfume by Van Cleef & Arpels for women and men, released in 2011. The scent is floral-sweet. It is being marketed by Inter Parfums.

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Main accords

Floral

Sweet

Woody

Spicy

Fruity

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Pink pepper

Bergamot

Heart Notes

Tuberose

Iris

Jasmine

Base Notes

Sandalwood

Oud

Vetiver

Perfumer

Amandine Clerc-Marie

Ratings

Scent

7.3202 Ratings

Longevity

7.2168 Ratings

Sillage

6.5168 Ratings

Bottle

7.9159 Ratings

Value for money

7.148 Ratings

Submitted by Inala, last update on 06.04.2024.

Interesting Facts

The fragrance is part of the "Collection Extraordinaire" collection.

Reviews

4 in-depth fragrance descriptions

03/10/2021

6
Pricing 8
Bottle 4
Sillage 4
Longevity 7
Scent

Dao77
2 Reviews

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Dao77

Helpful Review 10

Momma-in-law's sweetheart

Spontaneous purchase before Lockdown. A quick trip to the bank and a quick visit to the perfumery to bridge the waiting time. At the appointment with the financial service provider sniffed constantly at the wrist. Wife also had to sniff and give the thumb a direction. Thumbs up, fire at will. Appointment finally over and off, back to the perfumery. Money spent is obviously more fun than saving money.
Precious oud.
First doubt came already 3 hours later. Equal to several trial samples of Van cleef & arpels have aroused greater interest than the newcomer.
Then the next day the field test.
Too sweet for me. Unfortunately, more precious than oud. Oud? OK, strange woody note at the end of the dry down. But oud?!
Durability super weak, too bad. Sillage below average.
Fragrance not cheap, but elegant. Not mine. And that after extensive testing.
For me best as a night perfume for bed. Definitely winter.
Then had to test the mother in law. Fits much better. Fragrance thus for me more compatible with feminine wearers. Fragrance given away. Mother in law happy. I also.
End

03/22/2020

8
Pricing 10
Bottle 7
Sillage 8
Longevity 9.5
Scent

AbuAx
6 Reviews

Translated Show original

AbuAx

Very helpful Review 17

Incredibly beautiful scent. Definitely deserves more attention in the Durt community!

I don't know why everyone here is bothered by that "oud"... Just look past the name and smell the fragrance. It is a very beautiful, sensual, fruity and floral scent that also has a good shelf life. Also the Sillage is clean. With this scent you will definitely attract attention. It is rather feminine, which can look very elegant with male wearers. With female wearers it also goes into full bloom. The bottle is very simple and the presentation is really something that can be seen as a gift. In terms of fragrance, it's the best in my collection. Feel free to have a look at my collection to see what kind of carats he had to compete with ^^

03/09/2018

QuercusAlbus
72 Reviews

QuercusAlbus

Peaceful Co-existence

I would like to digress briefly into the matter of oudy 'fumes in general. My introduction to them was thuswise: someone (an apothecary in some department store) passed me a 'fume to try, telling me there was oud in it. I sampled @ it, and realised immediately that there was an aroma-component of a quite extraordinary sort in it - something truly proper-perfume-y, like musk or amber, & yet different fræ these in detail. Also, I immediately & unequivocally loved it. Since then, I have been apprised of somewhat of the mythology & the culture devolvent on this substance, & of how exceedingly rare the higher grades of it are, & that what I intraspired if @ first was probably synthetic oud. I am ^taught^, sometimes, that my experience on that occasion was merely a delusion that I ought to despise; but this point of view does not abide logically. So what I experienced was merely the very bottom end of a very wide spectrum was it? But does that logically abrogate the experience per-se? I think not! Please do not misunderstand me: I am not °counter-despising° here; I do truly deem it surpassing wondrous that there exist aromata of the same sort but immensely more sublime. It is nothing but good that these supremely exalted aroma-substances exist; but why ought I now to deem that which I experienced @ first & loved so much merely some shabby wraith of what someone who is priviledged to have access to the °sinking-grade° wild agarwood oil calls ~the real thing~? I do not! It was what it was & remains what It was!

What I'm talking about, if it's not clear, is that if, when uw try a higher grade of something, the result is that it simply occupies the placeholder occupied by the thereto-best grade uw had tried, & the whole scale of uwr perception is °compressed° to °accomodate° the new experience, is not that an error, & ought it not to be rather that the scale hold it's proportion & be extended by whatever might be needful to accomodate the new? This applies to all art-forms.

I am taught that were I to have free access to the highest grades of oud, I would in time learn to distinguish the synthetic stuff, and that eventually it might even become hardly tolerable. But why would I aspire to doing that? If oud & it's derivatives are uwr life & love, then, I suppose, that is the way it is with uw; but as for myself, I can wear 'fumes made of the inferior grades, or even the synthetics, & find them thoroughly enjoyable. I have Malle÷Ropion's ~The Night~, which I am assured is quite replete with high-grade oud; & I doubt I shall wear it ^anywhere near^ often enough to coach myself into despising the inferior grades of oud; & I am quite happy for it to remain that way. Let there be a peaceful co-existence between all the grades & kinds of oud: each hath it's place; & even the worst is thoroughly gorgeous, if one permit it to be!

When I say ~worst~ , or course I mean the worst of the proper bona-fide ones!

The relevance of all this to the particular 'fume here is obvious. This is without doubt an oudy 'fume; and though it is quite a costly one, its price is below the watershed, such as I have been apprised of, above which a 'fume is likely to contain appreciable amounts of real oud. But it ^is^ an °oudy° 'fume, in that it has that certain note that has that certain distinction: and it is a ^thoroughly^ good 'fume. In it, the oudy note synergises with tuberose & jasmine - which is an unusual choice - rose &-or saffron are more usual - and the synergy is implemented ^consummately^ beautifully. The aroma, considered as an aroma, is actually quite a delicate one; but the delicacy is overruled in this 'fume in its capacity of ~performing-in-real-environment~ 'fume, in that it is as robust as might reasonably be hopen-for - ^seriously^ robust, like a powerful engine pumping-out its °delicate° issue relentlessly.

Yes, I am well-satisfied with this!

10/18/2012

10
Scent

ArkangeL
117 Reviews

ArkangeL

Helpful Review 6

A Different Kind of Oud

What determines the rating of a fragrance is how far distanced our expectations are from the perfumer's standpoint. Whether this fragrance delivered the essence of raw oud or synthetic oud, many would have shared a certain disappointment. Precious Oud is simply Van Cleef & Arpel's interpretation of agarwood and far from cheap. It evolves and enhances gradually on skin. Applying this perfume to paper does it no justice. Sure it may share categories with Black Orchid, but it is not Black Orchid. Tom Ford's fragrances stand on their own, requiring no comparison to be noticed. Semi-sweet, balmy and woody indeed. Although the oud is present, it is disciplined by the creamy tuberose, peppers and incense. This is a great fragrance and I am a proud owner of both Precious Oud and Black Orchid.