If you've been following my reviews, you know I'm not an oud girl and I've never really been a woody type of fragrance (although there have been exceptions) person. This one has never been on my radar and when I saw it in the Scent Xplore box I kept it for the end as I already knew I wasn't going to be down for this type of scent profile.
I'm kind of glad I can discern what I like and don't like. It keeps me from wasting time. Since I have to go throguh my Scent Xplore box, I don't really have a choice to try it out, but I will admit I've given up on oud centered scents. This one is very clearly subtle geranium and strong oud combo. I do get some sort of evanescent fruity thing at the beginning, but not enough to even try and make out the notes. It's already an oud fragrance before I even know it. Slightly floral (but don't count on that note), oud is just... pungent. It has that cumin-herbal-like feel to it. Other than that, it's a dry, woody, spicy / herbal thing. The smokiness starts coming in later for me as the oud has started settling down and letting go of it's cumin-like facet. After that it's woodiness and warmth.
Intriguingly enough, this scent settles down real fast into a small bubble (even skin-like?). Usually oud is strong and loud and sometimes overbearing, but this one calms down to a low profile thing. Like I said, definitely not my vibe and the pungent, cumin-like oud was definitely not something I enjoyed smelling on me. Although I'm not an oud girl, I can say with conviction there are probably better oud fragrances out there than this one. This was not it.
