Top Notes 
Bulgarian rose
Amalfi lemon
Brazilian orange
Cumin
Mandarin orange
Calabrian bergamot
Heart Notes 
Gurjum balsam
Benzoin
Clary sage
Bulgarian lavender
Cypriol
Siberian stone pine
Base Notes 
Caramel
Bourbon vanilla
Musk
Oud
Ceylonese sandalwood
04/05/2023
NicheOnly
102 Reviews
NicheOnly
7
The sweetness faded off the top
Review revised in August 2025 after first being written upon release in April 2023. These scents were revealed just prior to Esxence, the fragrance event held annually in Milan. I wanted to try the K-Blue releases so bad that I ended up ordering them from Jovoy because Xerjoff didn't have the samples up fast enough.
My initial impressions without looking at the scent pyramid on the first wear in 2023 were primarily centered on the gourmand aspects of the scent as Ether opens with a sweet combination of vanilla and caramel with some musky qualities mixed in. At the time, I was comparing these nuances to scents like Kilian's Intoxicated. At this point, 2.5 years later, it is pretty evident that the scent in its core totality is what we colloquially refer to as a "gourmand oud".
In that first wear, I felt like the sweetness was very prominent in the top and into the heart, but with this latest experience in August 2025, I could instantly smell the animalic-oriental woody nuances that Ether has to offer. Subsequent to the original review, I have since acquired Ceylon which has some of that same general structure: a Xerjoff gourmand oud built on an Eastern-leaning oriental woodiness with mild animalic hints and a noteworthy sweetness. As it dries, you actually get quite a bit of depth as well with the oud going in a more smoky direction and the clary sage adding some aromatic touches, much like it does in Alexandria II Anniversary.
Looking at the "Smells Like" section in August 2025, I don't like any of those comps. I think the closest product accord wise would be the aforementioned Ceylon (and perhaps also Ceylon's alternative Mamluk). I don't think rose-oud comps are good, because Ether does not feature a prominent rose as the scent mostly floats around sweet-oriental-animalic in the air while smelling woody-oriental on-skin.
This profile will obviously have a masculine lean and the performance, even as I am re-rating all of the fragrances I previously tested, doesn't get a noteworthy downgrade (albeit I did dent both longevity and sillage by 1 point). The quality is good-to-great with the overall profile sitting neatly between Xerjoff's more mainstream DNA and Kemi's historically oriental catalogue. I am estimating the longevity at around 10 hours which I rate as a 7/10. Considering the price hikes we've seen since Ether released and the competition currently in the market, €360/50ml is average value for a product that is both well-executed and well-performing. While Ether wasn't the most unique output by Xerjoff at the time, Ether's legacy is more positive when looking at the product that Xerjoff has launched since Kemi was merged into the brand.
My initial impressions without looking at the scent pyramid on the first wear in 2023 were primarily centered on the gourmand aspects of the scent as Ether opens with a sweet combination of vanilla and caramel with some musky qualities mixed in. At the time, I was comparing these nuances to scents like Kilian's Intoxicated. At this point, 2.5 years later, it is pretty evident that the scent in its core totality is what we colloquially refer to as a "gourmand oud".
In that first wear, I felt like the sweetness was very prominent in the top and into the heart, but with this latest experience in August 2025, I could instantly smell the animalic-oriental woody nuances that Ether has to offer. Subsequent to the original review, I have since acquired Ceylon which has some of that same general structure: a Xerjoff gourmand oud built on an Eastern-leaning oriental woodiness with mild animalic hints and a noteworthy sweetness. As it dries, you actually get quite a bit of depth as well with the oud going in a more smoky direction and the clary sage adding some aromatic touches, much like it does in Alexandria II Anniversary.
Looking at the "Smells Like" section in August 2025, I don't like any of those comps. I think the closest product accord wise would be the aforementioned Ceylon (and perhaps also Ceylon's alternative Mamluk). I don't think rose-oud comps are good, because Ether does not feature a prominent rose as the scent mostly floats around sweet-oriental-animalic in the air while smelling woody-oriental on-skin.
This profile will obviously have a masculine lean and the performance, even as I am re-rating all of the fragrances I previously tested, doesn't get a noteworthy downgrade (albeit I did dent both longevity and sillage by 1 point). The quality is good-to-great with the overall profile sitting neatly between Xerjoff's more mainstream DNA and Kemi's historically oriental catalogue. I am estimating the longevity at around 10 hours which I rate as a 7/10. Considering the price hikes we've seen since Ether released and the competition currently in the market, €360/50ml is average value for a product that is both well-executed and well-performing. While Ether wasn't the most unique output by Xerjoff at the time, Ether's legacy is more positive when looking at the product that Xerjoff has launched since Kemi was merged into the brand.
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TheDunkPapa
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