Oud Ameenah

It’s reminiscent of an attar style oud. It’s basically a 90’s style and quality oud if you grew up in the gulf. Back then quality oud was everywhere so this reminds me of that time with some photoshop if you will through cardamom and musks to accentuate and enhance your perception of certain aspects.

Nothing inventive or original here. It’s just a good oud with some toppings and a base to push it.

Out of 9 fragrances I’ve tried from the house. This is probably one of the best value if you get it as the oriental gift set which is basically an all IFF or former IFF as Julien left. I’d definitely skip most of the imperial collection with the givaudan perfumers. It’s not an IFF bias its the cheaper collection is more creative with good materials and very beautiful and reasonable packaging. That Imperial Collection everything was dialed up from materials to packaging like open budget gone bad and where they didn’t get it was creativity, execution and value.

A terribly hard brand to sample. I did blind buy the gift set. Managed to sample the rest while traveling in Thailand.

Also packaging on previously purchased oud oils was faulty. I bought two items worth $600 both had packaging fall apart in less than a year. Even after a blind buy worth $1200 the manager asked me to ship the faulty packaging to KSA or Thailand to arrange a replacement. While he did gift me 3 samples and an incense burner to be fair. But bear in mind this was six months back and forth with video and photo documentation of faulty packaging.

Will see how their fragrances hold up.

Caveat Emptor.

I never quite understood what people meant by the "barnyard smell" in Oud. Ombre Nomade, Carved Oud, London, even Nuit de Feu I found pleasant and I never detected that note (my nose really doesn’t seem to be particularly good).
Enter Ameenah: Nothing but Oud, so strong that even I perceive the animalic quality. And I understand.
It’s like a panther, a creature, black as night, lurking in the darkness, deep, heavy, dangerous, ready to pounce at any moment. But once you get past that, once you approach it, let it breathe, it slowly becomes tame, soft, it clings to the skin and in the end, it’s a satisfied predator, purring on the skin and licking its paws, the former danger still present as a note yet tamed.
Incredible longevity and sillage that even make the price seem reasonable. At the very least, worth a try for every Oud fan.

I was very curious about what an oud in this price range could do.
I claim to love oud fragrances, and oud in the pyramid is my kryptonite.
That's where I get weak.
Today, my long-awaited sample arrived.
I only ordered 2ml at first. Thank God.
Freshly sprayed, it blows me away. The personified animality. I've already fallen for "Fleur du Désert | Louis Vuitton." Also very animalistic, but at least underlined by a bouquet of flowers, which softens it a bit.
Here, nothing softens. And I don't perceive the other components from the pyramid either. Pure, animalistic oud.
After about an hour, I find it bearable, and the association with a cow barn fades.
From then on, I could imagine it layered as a special note for a men's fragrance.
Never pure.
I am too weak for this scent.
The oud that I like is ultimately a very pleasing one that probably only plays second fiddle in my fragrances.
With that knowledge, I can live quite well and will be out in the future as soon as "animalistic" is part of the fragrance description.