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The Great King Malay
Ensar Oud Kannan Koh. When Ensar says, "It is better than Sultani" your expectations skyrocket. Could Malay get any better than Sultani? It appears so.
A decade older than Sultani and forged from just as high caliber wood Kannan Koh is a towering Malaysian oil. It takes the best aspects of Oud Sultani and Oud Ahmad and adds to them. And although Ahmad is the dearest to my soul, I cannot deny Kannan's superiority to both.
It starts powdery and floral. An explosion of red powderiness and many floral notes like lilacs, white flowers, violets, and frangipani. There is also a zesty green facet to this introduction. The latter is not prominent on the skin, yet surprisingly so if you smell it from the bottle. Unlike Sultani, which takes a bit of warming up to explode into its purple floral glory, Kannan bursts like that, and unlike Sultani, this oil is bright red. After the powdery-floral opening, a sweet, resinous quality takes over. It feels like the flowers have been drenched in honey. The second stage of this oil is reminiscent of Oud Ahmad's musky quality, with its black incense fumes. This phase is short-lived, more subdued than with Ahmad, and not as dark. The final stage doesn't smell like the dark Malay dry-down of Sultani and Ahmad, is brighter, somehow dusty-vanillic with faint bitter green facets, and almost recalls the aroma of a few Microcarpa and Gyrinops Indonesian oils from Borneo and Maluku. The red color dims out a bit but never fades away. The bright red and sweet aroma are the main characteristics of this oil. However, its complexity stretches far beyond that. It features a beautiful vertical progression with many layers and a color spectrum spanning red, golden, gray, and green.
IG:@memory.of.scents
A decade older than Sultani and forged from just as high caliber wood Kannan Koh is a towering Malaysian oil. It takes the best aspects of Oud Sultani and Oud Ahmad and adds to them. And although Ahmad is the dearest to my soul, I cannot deny Kannan's superiority to both.
It starts powdery and floral. An explosion of red powderiness and many floral notes like lilacs, white flowers, violets, and frangipani. There is also a zesty green facet to this introduction. The latter is not prominent on the skin, yet surprisingly so if you smell it from the bottle. Unlike Sultani, which takes a bit of warming up to explode into its purple floral glory, Kannan bursts like that, and unlike Sultani, this oil is bright red. After the powdery-floral opening, a sweet, resinous quality takes over. It feels like the flowers have been drenched in honey. The second stage of this oil is reminiscent of Oud Ahmad's musky quality, with its black incense fumes. This phase is short-lived, more subdued than with Ahmad, and not as dark. The final stage doesn't smell like the dark Malay dry-down of Sultani and Ahmad, is brighter, somehow dusty-vanillic with faint bitter green facets, and almost recalls the aroma of a few Microcarpa and Gyrinops Indonesian oils from Borneo and Maluku. The red color dims out a bit but never fades away. The bright red and sweet aroma are the main characteristics of this oil. However, its complexity stretches far beyond that. It features a beautiful vertical progression with many layers and a color spectrum spanning red, golden, gray, and green.
IG:@memory.of.scents
Waxy Narcissus
Narcis is my favorite perfume from Hendley, followed closely by Myst, and there is a good amount of Myst that I recall in it. Mainly, the tuberose and orris pairing. However, Narcis is all about the Narcissus, although I wouldn't call it a floral perfume. An agrestic-floral, even a pseudo-chypre. Hans explores the honeyed and the hay-like facets of Narcissus in this composition. The use of beeswax here is superb. Hence you get that honeyed quality Narcissus has, yet amplified. The orris and tuberose pairing provides a buttery texture, as it does in Myst, while there is a nice animalic touch from the beeswax as well as a waxy feel. The sweetness is offset by a chypre accord that feels bitter, grassy, and earthy. I perceive what seems like hay, which is not listed, so perhaps it is just a phantom accord. The composition is very well thought out and put together, round, and without weaknesses. In the end, it feels like an agrestic perfume more than a chypre or a floral one. A grassy, honeyed narcissus with a prominent waxy/buttery texture.
IG:@memory.of.scents
IG:@memory.of.scents
Unequalled Complexity
Grand Emperor Tarakan from Jinkoh Store.
Highly complex, with a unique profile. I discovered this oil by accident. A friend insisted on showing this oil to me after he was taken aback by it. I was past my desire to search for new oud oils but knowing his tastes and high standards with oud, I had to see what was all about. Only took a sniff from the vial and the oil remained deeply embedded in my scent memory. When the planets aligned and a bottle popped up on the secondary market I picked it up. Quite insane, picking up something like this off a single whiff, but that's what high-quality agarwood will do to you, so stay away folks. After receiving it, I realized two things: first, I was right to get it, and second, how incredibly complex and unique an oil it is.
I must admit, that I am not familiar with Tarakan oils or wood. From what I've seen around the oud community, it seems like they are quite hard to come by. So, I can't compare it to anything. It is its own thing. If anything, it does showcase some Borneo-like facets. Such as vanilla, some nutty notes, and prominent blueberry notes in the heart.
The opening is delightfully weird. A watery, ozonic, green cucumber smell paired with an almost candy-like sweetness. I picture, cucumber ice cream. What a feast right? At times, coupled with that, there is a sawdusty vanillic quality, but not always present. This introductory phase slowly fades away and it's replaced by a combination of notes like vanilla, faint peanuts, faint tuberose, and prominent blueberries. This is the mid-phase, where the blueberry note is quite strong. The watery-green chord remains but hums in the background. The woodiness starts to reveal itself slowly. A this stage, it feels like a textured, hardwood. The wood note has this faint nutty quality to it and smooths out as time goes by to an almost suede-leather-like texture, only to finally develop into a smooth brown leather with a woody smell. The other notes come and go. In the dry-down, the blueberries leave only a faint candy-like violet hue, the tuberose barely whispers, the peanut note becomes more prominent with the wood, and the green chord feels rather bitter now and faintly adjoins to the overall scent profile. It settles down as a brown suede-leather, nutty wood, with slight strokes of violet and green, and murmurs of sweetness. It seems to evolve both vertically and horizontally, sometimes going in loops. The color spectrum is all over the place with shades of brown, yellow, green, violet, blue, and white. A unique oil that still needs to be explored.
IG:@memory.of.scents
Highly complex, with a unique profile. I discovered this oil by accident. A friend insisted on showing this oil to me after he was taken aback by it. I was past my desire to search for new oud oils but knowing his tastes and high standards with oud, I had to see what was all about. Only took a sniff from the vial and the oil remained deeply embedded in my scent memory. When the planets aligned and a bottle popped up on the secondary market I picked it up. Quite insane, picking up something like this off a single whiff, but that's what high-quality agarwood will do to you, so stay away folks. After receiving it, I realized two things: first, I was right to get it, and second, how incredibly complex and unique an oil it is.
I must admit, that I am not familiar with Tarakan oils or wood. From what I've seen around the oud community, it seems like they are quite hard to come by. So, I can't compare it to anything. It is its own thing. If anything, it does showcase some Borneo-like facets. Such as vanilla, some nutty notes, and prominent blueberry notes in the heart.
The opening is delightfully weird. A watery, ozonic, green cucumber smell paired with an almost candy-like sweetness. I picture, cucumber ice cream. What a feast right? At times, coupled with that, there is a sawdusty vanillic quality, but not always present. This introductory phase slowly fades away and it's replaced by a combination of notes like vanilla, faint peanuts, faint tuberose, and prominent blueberries. This is the mid-phase, where the blueberry note is quite strong. The watery-green chord remains but hums in the background. The woodiness starts to reveal itself slowly. A this stage, it feels like a textured, hardwood. The wood note has this faint nutty quality to it and smooths out as time goes by to an almost suede-leather-like texture, only to finally develop into a smooth brown leather with a woody smell. The other notes come and go. In the dry-down, the blueberries leave only a faint candy-like violet hue, the tuberose barely whispers, the peanut note becomes more prominent with the wood, and the green chord feels rather bitter now and faintly adjoins to the overall scent profile. It settles down as a brown suede-leather, nutty wood, with slight strokes of violet and green, and murmurs of sweetness. It seems to evolve both vertically and horizontally, sometimes going in loops. The color spectrum is all over the place with shades of brown, yellow, green, violet, blue, and white. A unique oil that still needs to be explored.
IG:@memory.of.scents
Quality runs in the Family
Vietnan Special K, Agar Aura. King K Nam's older brother. Older in age but not superior in quality. However, I find the differences minimal and only detectable if compared side by side and under the lens. If you swipe it to enjoy a nice cloud of Vietnamese oud bliss, you'll be satisfied with either. It has all the qualities KKN has, minus a few. KKN feels richer and has a more prominent red kinam facet, an iron oxide soil smell, and a brown sugary quality. Smelled up close, it also tingles your nose slightly more so. Hence, yes, I think Vietnan is a lesser version of KKN, just slightly. I think it has more of a green kinam quality to it, more so than red. An amazing Vietnamese oil, surpassed, however, by his younger brother, who is turning slowly and surely into an absolute beauty worthy of the archives. The color spectrum for VSK is yellow, brown, golden, and green, with speckles of red.
IG:@memory.of.scents
IG:@memory.of.scents
In the Midst of a Summer filed
The best way I can describe Love-In-A-Mist from Providence Perfume Co. is the smell of a countryside field in the middle of Summer when the temperature is high and the sun causes all the Earthbound aromas to lift and permeate the air.
I would call this perfume a Floral-Agrestic composition, a rather unique approach to both these genres. I never smelled Love in a Mist flower so I can't pinpoint it in the composition, but I do get the clover and the mimosa. There is more to that, however. It reminds me of the countryside field flowers aroma, that I can say for sure. The opening is a bit spicy and warm, and I also get a hay and grass-like facet out of it. Especially that sun-heated hay smell that is so nostalgic to me. Slightly woody in the base. There is a nice interplay between the sweet and dewey aspects of the florals and the grassy-bitter ones. It doesn't develop much. And I'm glad, in this particular case. Sometimes you want to capture an image and hold tight to it, and that's exactly what this one does. The clarity and the vividness of the landscape this perfume evokes are incredibly powerful.
A transportive and unique perfume. One that is sure to please fans of natural perfume compositions, florals, and agrestic alike.
IG:@memory.of.scents
I would call this perfume a Floral-Agrestic composition, a rather unique approach to both these genres. I never smelled Love in a Mist flower so I can't pinpoint it in the composition, but I do get the clover and the mimosa. There is more to that, however. It reminds me of the countryside field flowers aroma, that I can say for sure. The opening is a bit spicy and warm, and I also get a hay and grass-like facet out of it. Especially that sun-heated hay smell that is so nostalgic to me. Slightly woody in the base. There is a nice interplay between the sweet and dewey aspects of the florals and the grassy-bitter ones. It doesn't develop much. And I'm glad, in this particular case. Sometimes you want to capture an image and hold tight to it, and that's exactly what this one does. The clarity and the vividness of the landscape this perfume evokes are incredibly powerful.
A transportive and unique perfume. One that is sure to please fans of natural perfume compositions, florals, and agrestic alike.
IG:@memory.of.scents
