First of all, a few words about longevity & sillage:
I came across a sample of
Oud 31 about a week ago through some roundabout ways (very, very dark ways ;) ), so I can already say something informed about the topic of H&S.
When I first sprayed the fragrance on my wrist, I must have also hit the sleeve of my sweater. Today, after 5 days and a wash, the carnival of Rio de Janeiro is still going strong on that sleeve.
Strong H/S is therefore more than given. However, I also belong to those, like Kai himself if I remember correctly from his videos, who do not celebrate an overly exuberant H/S that much.
About the fragrance itself:
Even after 5-6 days, I still haven't been able to form an opinion. It has hints of
Arabian King in my opinion, but it does not copy it at all.
This is probably because both fragrances work with oud, rose, and iris.
The mentioned iris makes
Oud 31 rather pleasantly soapy after a fruity-animalic start. The rose soon joins in. But there is also something "human" about it, which makes it very interesting for me, but also less pleasing.
The quality and high-quality ingredients increasingly come to the surface, and the fragrance becomes rounder and denser after about half an hour.
The freshness that some have already attributed to Oud 31, I cannot confirm for myself. At least on my skin, it is not as lively as other oud fragrances from Carbonell. However, this does not make it worse or better than fragrances that I perceive as "more lively."
Opinion:
To be honest, although I somewhat know Kai Porten's "taste" from his videos and know that he likes the extreme orientals, I still expected a fragrance from him that is more geared towards pleasantness
than Oud 31.
For that, I give him my recognition and my incomprehension at the same time.
Because pleasant in the sense of an OfG or even an Alex 2 (another perfumer) is not what Oud 31 is.
Due to the already mentioned and described dryness, the fragrance has something rather reserved and perhaps also "old-fashioned."
(Although H/S, as already mentioned, is brutal)
So, there’s nothing that would make mothers start hiding their daughters from the wearer. Rather, it’s more that mothers would hide their mothers from the wearer...
Conclusion:
For me,
Oud 31 is a very intriguing fragrance because it is quite animalic and at times also very "human," paired with the soapiness.
Tendentially, I don’t like Oud 31 as a fragrance so far. I hope this changes and that I find access to it after all.
This is also why I made the association with Kouros in my title for this review. Because I also find Kouros, despite all its animality, to be very soapy, and I don’t like it either. Nevertheless, I have had it in my collection for a quarter of a century.
I wish Kai, as a member of this community and one of us, no less success than YSL with Kouros.
P.S.: Because it might be, for whatever reason, somehow about more than just the fragrance itself:
MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR !
Oud
Rose
Amber
Cardamom
Musk
Sandalwood
Spices
Vanilla
Fresh notes
Green notes
Jasmine
Lavender
Orris root
DarkWinterCS
NicheOnly
Eggi37
Biqbozz77
Seejungfrau
Luftikus
StayFly
Theris
Pinseltown
Stulle
