The newest release from Azman Perfumes, Risk, is a collaboration with Antonio Gardoni from Bogue Profumo. I was set to purchase a bottle as soon as Antonio disclosed that he was working on an oud perfume. First, because I love Atonio's work, and second, because I love Agarwood. I had purchased it blind, something that I don't do very often these days.
First of all, this has to be the most chameleonic perfume I have ever experienced. I've worn it five times by now, and every single time it would present as something different. It also twists and turns during the wear. My guess is that the perfume still needs time to settle and for the composition to come together. I believe that the final shape of it is yet to come.
What you get here, is a perfume composed of two parts. The Oud matrix, the canvas if you want. And the embellishments, the auxiliary notes. Strokes of color on the canvas. They never come in the foreground, but rather help push some of the Oud facets forward without showing themselves entirely. The oud matrix feels dominated by Hindi and Trat to my nose. Facets that I pick up here would be leather, old wood, faint smoke, hay, bitter/medicinal/gauze, a bit of fruit, and terpenic. There is a faint barn-like aroma, as the hay-wood-leather facet/accord might come across to some. These nuances are always present, as the matrix is always the same, it never shifts, never changes. What happens though, is the other ingredients come and go, highlighting some of these facets more than others, at various times. The bergamot in the opening, which I find to be the most consistent, pushes out the sour, the terpenic, and brings about a wet, moldy character. The tuberose brings out a milky, sour, and green quality. The immortelle pushes out the sweetness and the hay-like flavor. The benzoin brings about a sweet-vanillic aroma. The civet and the ambergris exude an animalistic glow and bring out the leather qualities, the ambergris even lends a touch of minerality. I get all of that, but in turns, never at once, never the same, and never in the same order. I was actually horrified with my very first wearing, as all the bitter and medicinal facets came through and those are the ones I hate the most with oud. I was disappointed, to say the least. My second wearing was more about the hay and the leather. The third time around I got sweet resins with oud. Then sour milk and greens. And I came not just to like it but to appreciate it. I now have come to the conclusion that this perfume needs more time. If you purchase this and you don't like it at first, wear it again, and again. As Antonio said, put it inside a drawer, and just forget about it for a year. And do not judge it on a paper strip, as paper doesn't allow it to open up. This one needs skin to breathe.
Overall, it is an Oud solinote perfume, playing on the various facets of Oud. As far as the style goes, it is definitely a Middle Eastern take on Oud, so do expect to get more of the heavy aromas. To me, it went really fast from disappointment to appreciation and excitement. And I really can't wait to see how it will continue to transform. If you love the Middle Eastern Oud aesthetic, you are patient, and like complex perfumes, this one is a Risk worth taking.
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