Malesia is a XerJoff Aoud Star in pure form. An unconventional pepper-aoud with a dry-resinous and slightly sweet base. Unlike the other Aoud Stars, there is no teasing out of the animalistic aspect of the aoud to emphasize the quality of the aoud used. The aoud component used in Malesia is rather puristic. If Ellena could work with aoud, he would use Southeast Asian aoud in this way.
In the documentation, XerJoff states at one point that the aoud comes from Laos, and at another that it is Malaysian aoud. Both countries still have (some) agarwood reserves. The geographical indication suggests that aoud from different, sometimes neighboring countries would smell different. This is not the case. The scent of aoud depends on the quality and extraction technique of the resin - and not on a national border.
I am taken with the Aoud Stars line; however, each of the other Aoud Stars has a note that can cloud the fragrance experience. Al Khatt is too fecal for some, too Cougar-plush due to the overdose of cashmeran. Fars is too floral for many, and for hardcore aoud lovers, the aoud note is too harmless and the scent overall too little aoud-like. Gao has a difficult and somewhat exhausting saffron note. Mamluk reminds some of a cartoon bear that has fallen into a honey pot. Najaf/Zanzibar is a challenging scent that has several corners and edges of floral, animalistic, and aoud-like nature. And finally Zafar, which reminds many of a predator cage or moldy cheese.
Malesia, on the other hand, does not have any of these somewhat difficult or exhausting main and secondary notes. Malesia is also not a power aoud scent, like other Aoud Stars from XerJoff or aoud fragrances from the Arab world. Therefore, I would not compare Malesia with any other Aoud Stars scent. Malesia is rather a well-tempered, pleasant aoud aura that one spreads, in which one floats for an entire day. Malesia reminds me of a hotel lobby clad in dark tropical wood, where the scent of aoud oil lies, spread by the Arab guests.
Like all Aoud Stars scents, Malesia (Italian for Malaysia) is named after a city or region that Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battuta, a Muslim explorer of the 14th century, visited. Ibn Battuta was, so to speak, the Marco Polo of the Arab world. Like with Marco Polo, there is hardly anything recorded about Ibn Battuta in historical sources. Except for his fantastic, but often detailed travel reports. At times, his accounts of travel locations or adventures are clearly fabricated, but often, as with Marco Polo, it is impossible to determine today whether Ibn Battuta reported facts or told tales.
At the behest of Sultan Abu Inan Faris, Ibn Battuta dictated his travel experiences to a poet. This resulted in the work "Rihla" ("Journey/Wandering"). For centuries, his work remained forgotten and was only rediscovered in the 19th century. Ibn Battuta describes his travels, which are said to have taken him from his birthplace Tangier across North Africa to Egypt (Mamluk and Alexandria, with the latter Aoud Stars scent available only at Fortnum & Mason in London), through the Sahara to Mali (Gao), along the East African coast to Zanzibar, through Mesopotamia (Najaf in present-day Iraq), across the Arabian Peninsula to the Emirates (Al Khatt), to Uzbekistan (Zafar), Persia (Fars), India, Malaysia (Malesia) all the way to Beijing.
Malaysia was thus one of the easternmost travel destinations of the adventurer Ibn Battuta. Malesia is available as a limited edition only at the Zurich perfumery Osswald (a few bottles) and at Osswald in Soho/New York (reportedly only 3 bottles) and must therefore be ordered with difficulty. However, the small edition is not a homage to snobbery (especially since the price per milliliter is significantly lower than that of the other Aoud Stars), but Malesia is simply not likely to be an economically promising, mass-appeal fragrance. Malesia is a pepper-aoud that targets aoud nerds to aoud woodheads and would elicit neither a sincere "Wow!" nor an honest "Awesome!!!" from YouTube commentators.
Upon spraying, I smell pepper. The prominent, tingling, and fresh pepper note reminds me of Malaysian Sarawak pepper. Black Sarawak pepper is not as sharp as black Indian pepper; it is a bit mild-fruity and has something lively about it. Accompanying the pepper note is a subdued, barely sweet sandalwood note. The sandalwood note is warm, somewhat herbaceous-woody, with a slightly green and balsamic touch.
This peppery, sandalwood head note is still a bit woody-harsh at first. However, Malesia becomes much softer on the skin. Aoud gives the heart note a somewhat velvety quality but retains a hint of black pepper until the end of the scent's development. After a few minutes, a lot of warmth comes into play. In the form of warm, dry amber. The amber note is resinous and golden. Over time, the dry resin becomes more fluid and takes on a slightly sweet character. This resinous note, together with the aoud, develops into a warm-aoud scent with a minimal warm-animalistic hint of summer pasture.
The aoud used is initially light-woody, with fresh, almost citrus-like aspects. A cedarwood-like note gives the heart note a subtle green-woody undertone. The aoud changes its character multiple times throughout the scent development. The aoud note is initially ethereal, velvety, becoming increasingly a bit oilier in consistency, but remains light to medium brown. After a while, the aoud darkens, acquires a hint of woody mustiness, and develops in a slightly harsher direction. Additionally, the aoud note becomes somewhat earthy. Bright, dry earth from a natural cellar.
Then the aoud changes its character again. It becomes brighter, noticeably softer, denser, and takes on a warm-fruity facet reminiscent of dry, slightly bitter saffron. Towards the end of the heart note, the aoud note develops in a woody-resinous-animalistic direction. The warm-fruity and the cedar-woody-greenish facets remain, while the aoud increasingly becomes dark brown, ethereal-warm, and with a slightly musty undertone.
Towards the base, Malesia becomes warmer and a bit sweeter. Vanilla joins the aoud note. However, more dry vanilla pod with a hint of brown dried fruits. Alongside, tonka bean, warm, also rather unsweet, and dry-warm, aromatic resin can be discerned.
On the skin, Malesia is noticeably softer than on the test strip or clothing, almost velvety. When tested on the strip or clothing, Malesia appears harsher and more animalistic. For me, Malesia is the most interesting and puristic Aoud Star, while also being the least pleasing. An Aoud Star with intimate shaving. Malesia is a resinous agarwood tree in a Malaysian forest, next to which stands a pepper bush. Just as Ibn Battuta might have encountered it on his somewhat arduous travels.
Top Notes 
Amyris
Pink pepper
Heart Notes 
Laotian oud
Amber
Base Notes 
Labdanum
Tonka bean
Vanilla
Hermesh
Eggi37
Cravache
Lloyd
JuWe
Jnsjns
Huseyin
Gschpusi
Ergoproxy
