26°33'N 37°57'E - Al-'Ula Les Destinations 2023

Al `Ula is the second fragrance from Les Destinations that has joined my collection. I find the brand super exciting, but that's a different topic. Al `Ula starts off greenish, slightly earthy, with minimal citrus and fruity notes. After about 15 minutes, the scent becomes a bit more floral and gains some sweetness, while the green-earthy aspect slightly diminishes. Oud and patchouli are used in moderate strength; they are not dominant but well noticeable. I can't distinctly pick out clove and cistus. Rose becomes more prominent a bit later, but it never becomes strong. All in all, Al `Ula is, to my nose, a well wearable, harmoniously scented, slightly sweet, veeeery lightly smoky oud-patchouli fragrance with a delicately underscored rose note. Nothing here is intrusive or annoying. I perceive it as medium strength. The base notes used make it well lasting. Those who enjoy layering, like I do, can wonderfully combine it with Costa Rica from the same house. The two complement each other beautifully.

Wow, I don’t even need to test this on skin to know it’s going into my sample collection.
I can smell it on paper: Finally, someone has managed to create the promising but usually either dull or downright disgusting combination of raspberry/Oud.

Earlier, I found THE surprise in my mailbox: Three samples, not ordered, not a gift… A look at Parfumo solved the mystery: I won.
Yay! And not just any stuff, but promising stories. Here we go ^^! - - Sprayed unprejudiced on three paper strips. And: Two of them were intriguing. So, I immediately sprayed them on my wrists… it was car driving, so pretty unscented -
However, number three was different. It wasn’t “intriguing.” It was immediately convincing.
The skin test can wait. Because, as I said: It has already secured its place in my sample collection with its paper effect. My ice raspberry for oud-black winter evenings, refined with unsweetened rose… Let’s see! Soon this review will grow significantly. At least this review - if not even my collection -
Maybe the manufacturers succeeded in capturing a customer by giving these away ;)
As Eric Cartman once said: Let’s see, let’s see, let’s see ^^

Addendum: Of course, I’m holding off on a rating for now.

Saudi Arabia: desert, oil, sheikhs. Superficially, a person like me, who has not delved deeply into this desert state, would give such a description. However, the fragrance impressively proves: There is more than just sand in Saudi Arabia.

19°4'N 72°52'E - Mumbai was tested by me yesterday and did not completely convince me. "26°33'N 37°57'E - Al-'Ula | Les Destinations," on the other hand, impresses throughout all phases. The opening particularly surprised me. A beautiful presentation of a sweet oud note. Until now, I had mostly experienced oud in combination with softer ingredients like rose, but raspberry and oud seem to work excellently together. It is a mature and adult sweetness and by no means a bubblegum sweetness like with JPG. As the fragrance develops, it becomes increasingly creamy and somewhat floral. Until the end, it is a balanced scent that is perfectly balanced as a unisex fragrance.

One drawback and point of criticism would be the performance. Generally, oud is a promise of good performance, but unfortunately not in this case. I could perceive about four hours with four sprays on my neck. With an EdP, one should expect more.

In principle, I find the idea of the coordinates on the bottle good; however, the design is a bit too minimalist for my taste. I am sure that the bottle could have been given more character by using some typical Saudi Arabian symbolism. As it is, the bottle style reminds me a little of the minimalism of Maison Margiela or Byredo.

In terms of price, 120 euros for 50ml is quite a sum. The DNA justifies the price completely, but the performance and the bottle do not.

However, I can overlook the mediocre performance, as the fragrance DNA makes up for it entirely. In the question of India vs Saudi Arabia, 26°33'N 37°57'E - Al-'Ula clearly wins in this case.

Right after spraying, a fresh raspberry dominates. At first, I feared that the scent would remain linear, but that turned out not to be the case.

After a short time, the oud breaks through and takes the lead. From this point on, the raspberry, in conjunction with a light rose, only plays a background role.

Unfortunately, I do not perceive any patchouli, even though I actually like it very much.

In conclusion, I can say that the scent is suitable for people who enjoy the combination of raspberry and oud but find other fragrances in this category too overpowering.
However, we also come to what I consider the biggest weakness: from the twist of the raspberry to the oud, the scent is already very close to my skin. We're talking about just a few minutes.
For me, it is therefore too weak on the skin.

"Ulala!" - The initial raspberry note makes me think of well-known representatives of the raspberry-oud/leather combination. I like them, even though there are many of them. But no. This one takes a different path. It is fresher and lighter. Rose floats delicately in the background. I also get associations of leather. The opening is beautiful!
Elemiharz is indeed listed at the top of the pyramid and is certainly fundamental in the opening, but for me, it remains an Elemiharz-cistus scent after this. I would describe it as "deep-fresh." I like the combination. I don't explicitly smell an oud in the base. I find that good, as it would only follow familiar paths again. I also think it's great that cistus becomes prominent instead of the deeper labdanum. This gives the fragrance a kind of uniqueness.
I like the scent, even though it didn't have a "Wow!" effect.
For me, that’s precisely why it’s a good change - not every fragrance has to hit like a bomb. Sometimes you want something lighter and still a bit unique.