The Slants

In recent months, ZARA has accustomed us to frequent launches of new perfume collections that bear the signature of renowned and emerging noses, starting with the series signed by Jo Love (aka Jo Malone). From here, one after the other series with the signature of more noses followed, up to this series that I want to describe to you today. Imagine hiring an expert senior perfumer and asking him to reproduce four trendy perfumes with a distinct inclinations and a common key. Of course, there is an assonance among the four scents, a sort of shared core made of same molecules. The nose in question is Alberto Morillas, who is also the nose behind ZARA's "A Journey With" series, and the recurring theme is the oud, which here appears cleaned up, modern, silky, graceful, nothing heady, faecal, medicinal, barnyard, suffocating, or oppressive. 
As a master perfumer, Alberto Morillas did not use any oud here—not affordable in a €25 fragrance, come on!—but created fragrances around oud without incorporating any real oud notes, curtesy through the notes of burnt wood, cypriol, and incense, highlighting its racy, almost smoky character. Some time ago, ZARA had already released a series dedicated to the oud (e.g. Bohemian, Perpetual, Hipster, and Endless Oud) among the women’s lines. Hence, the result has been available for a few days at the ZARA stores among the men’s lines, four black boxes that enclose a minimal squared bottle, in a blue colour between Navy and Royal, refillable, with a larger cap than those used in the recent series Fragrances and polygonal shape. I’ve tried them all, on paper strips and on my skin, and these are my first impressions. They are not in order of preference but of shelf exposure. My suggestion: I notice that many people didn't like them after trying them on in the Zara store. These perfumes are non-linear, in Perfum concentration, and change a lot on contact with warm skin, much more static on the paper strip.

Virtuous Oud - The most Aqueous

Virtuous means a person possessing good moral qualities. It is the most watery and citric of the four. Here the maestro has opted for one of his best-known masterpieces, making a restyling with white oud, lighter than regular bold oud. Virtuous Oud is an airy, citrus, feather-light oud that takes life lessons from one of the Acqua di Giò family. Essenza seems the closest. The master’s hand is the same, and I feel it. The opening is citric, full of citrus and watery notes. As the perfume grows, the resemblance to Acqua di Giò emerges more and more, whose DNA is intertwined with floral, salty, and woody nuances with puffs of gentle oud. It remains a fragrance for the warmer months, pleasant, and recommended for those who love the aquatic genre with an out-of-the-shower vibe. Not linear, the next day it is still present, more on the strip and less on the skin, but perceptible from a close distance with its watery vein.

Continue reading A Pastel Cloud Of Oud

Blooming Oud - The Muskiest

Misleading, the name makes me think of a redolent bouquet with oud touches. Instead, Booming Oud is the muskiest of the four. Already in the opening, it reveals a scent of animal musk, dirty, earthy, virile, and very masculine, in contrast with the blooming buds of its name. The perfume has a sympathetic reaction to my skin chemistry, and its musky nature reminds me of Narciso Rodriguez for Him at times, not a clone, yet similar mossy vibes. I feel it a perfume suitable for autumn and spring. Other influencers define it as weak, yet I perceive it well after many hours, even if more attenuated than the others. The next day it is still present in the form of a leathery-musky accord, more on the strip and less on the skin. On my skin, it leans more on the musky side and less on the leathery side.

Update: in the second round, after a few minutes, a soapy bloom appears to me, the flowers make their way between the musky oud and a menthol undertone.

Continue reading The Rarest Flower In The Desert

Elevated Oud - The Creamiest

Elevated means greater than is normal or reasonable. Elevated Oud is the sweetest and most gourmand of the four, the strongest of the four with perceivable oud. For this creation, Morillas seems to have been inspired by the sensations that Baccarat Rouge 540, Haltane, and Oud for Greatness give us. Initially, I observed a citrus and spicy departure which actually hides warmer and creamier accords of coumarin and chocolatey things. Crescendo takes woody and earthy forms, balanced by warm gourmand tones and dirty tones of oud, always contained and not baffling. This is a genre that I like to feel on the bitter evenings of late autumn and winter. The next day it is still present in the form of a burnt-gourmand warm accord, typical of the perfumes I mentioned.

Memorable Oud - The Woodiest

Memorable means likely to remember or worth remembering. Apt adjective. Memorable Oud is the most leathery and woody of the four, perhaps the most performing, and is remembered. Already at the first puff, the similarity with Santal 33 is perceived, because of the massive dosage of sandalwood not creamy yet woodsy, which we find here loaded with leathery notes and soiled with slightly medicinal oud, but always under control and never annoying. I don’t recognise the white flowers, but the drier notes of the woods clearly emerge. It is in my ropes, a genre that I love to wear on autumn evenings and in early spring when the weather is still fresh and pungent. The next day, it is still present in the form of a woody-leather accord. From the strips of paper, I get puffs of his leathery and virile notes.

Continue reading A Course During A Prayer

Zara Oud perfumes by Alberto Morillas seem to have character, quite long-lasting, I put them on at 7:00 p.m. in the store and the day after my arms and the strips still smelled. For these first impressions, I relied on my nose and testers that I sprayed both on the blotters and on my skin on September 2023. Now I look forward to testing the Olivia Giacobetti collection, the white one.

I am not a blogger, influencer, or part of an affiliate program. My reviews are based on perfumes I own and purchased in September 2023.

-Elysium