Shourav

"With utmost respect, I entered in the court of Santal Sultan, I was summoned with abundance of wisdom from the ancient treasures. The Sacred Sultan preached...

"I welcome you O! Lover of purity, with a blissful glass of drink made from the purest of the nature's citruses and a handful of precious florals that will bound your soul and let you prepare to enter the house of ancient Derviches with softest hearts who's remaining descendants are only found in the woods of Mysore, nature hid them deep inside it's sacred places.

Behold! Your heart must not doubt, your mind should not be unthoughtful and inattentive for you're about to make journey through one of the most silky, extremely creamy path of purity that will lead you to finest balance of sweetness that you could ever experience in this mortal world.

O! Bearer of pure soul, you must hold your breath and fine tune your senses for you're delving into a garden of heavenly purity that never forgets to cleanse a heart with a potion of unearthly fruits those not only contains most juicy aromas of heaven and earth but also welcome the disciples of purity to take rest in a palace of solace made from the precious woods that a mortal can only dream.

O! Seeker of truth, wake up! wake up! you have achieved a golden crown of peace and sovereignty, you will be rewarded with finest from the Ouds, and magic potion kept hidden for centuries in the hearts of rarest trees and a fistful of Musk, another potion from pure joy and ultimate supremacy so that you may go out towards the seekers of purity and preach them and guide them towards this land of sanctity and wisdom"

If I want to make it precise, Ghala is a real olfactive experience for traditional Oud-Rose lovers who are tired of experiencing regular, synthetic molecules based Oud-Rose combos available in the market. I wouldn't say, it's gonna be a complete departure from what we are used to of, yet it's different enough for me to fall in love at first sniff...
Yes, I'm pointing at it's quality of ingredients and high concentration of the pure parfum. To the best of my humble knowledge and inadequate experience, I have been completely in agreement with the Perfumer or the owner of the house that in Ghala, they've poured nothing but all natural ingredients, at least, to my nose. From the very first spray, It screams the legitimacy of the claim of the Perfumer.

However, Ghala starts with a beautiful deep, sweet, spicy Kalakasi Oud along with Anatolian Rose which is quite sparking and citrusy, a bit lemony I would say. Which is first difference from the traditional Oud-Rose combos to my nose, this is definitely missing in the regular things in the market. The opening last for may be 20-25mins.
After that, it becomes Oud dominating or I may say it's woody facets are unfolded by putting Cedar at work. There's Frankincense is listed but I can't get enough of it, may be suppressed by Oud, but yes, there's a resinous feel in it. Please don't think, Rose is gone here, rather Rose takes the sit just behind the driver (i.e.Oud).
From this phase till final drydown I can't pinpoint when Pachouli and Vetiver comes to the game, but suddenly I feel that something adding sweetness and earthiness to this already mesmerizing composition and making it even more enjoyable. I must not forget to add Pure Indian Oud take the wheel of this olfactive shuttle from here! But don't ever expect, it's anything skanky or barnyard like, it's just so thik, sour-sweet goodness of Pure Indian Oud.
And the journey of evolving aromatherapy stops here by fading away of Rose at this point and the scent settles down slightly sweet, slightly earthy and mostly woody structure of traditional Indian Oud till it's completely gone leaving a intriguing olfactive trail in the mind...

I'm not gonna compare Ghala with anything though, there are some phases in it having similar facets with some Niche or even Artisanal fragnances I have experienced. I'll let it open for others to explore... All in all, Natural Fragrance lovers should at least try it if they want something familiar yet rich and unique...

People who know me knows how much I appreciate Oud and other Natural Aromas from the beginning of my journey. Oud Maximus is one of most complex and beautiful Oud fragnances in my humble collection. As Demitri named this after his son, he made it worthy of that by designing it in such a way that it contains complexity and beautiful facets after facets without breaking the harmony of the total composition. Sometimes, I even prefer it over Oud Monarch, another masterpiece by Demitri Bortnikoff, for it's not being linear which gives me more of a satisfying olfactory experience.

"Oud Maximus Autumn '19 by Demitri Bortnikoff" opens with blast of Citruses wrapped in by some florals (most likely white) in such a way that I can't pinpoint them individually TBH. The blending is so smooth. Of course, there are some sharp edges as they are all rare naturals but it's nothing uninteresting let alone irritating. This monotonous citrusy-floral facet is quite brief to my nose at least. May be for 5 mins, there rises the beautiful Rose and Oud. In this point, not everytime but pretty much regularly I find Oud Maximus shares similar facet with Amber Aoud by Roja Dove. As because, this facet doesn't last long rather quite short, this may be reason that I couldn't catch this phase of Maximus each and everytime I experience Oud Maximus. However, from this point, true beauty of this fragnance emerges by blooming Oud, Rose and Beautiful Musk along with Frangipani and evidently soft spices. One thing I would like to add here that the whole composition or the appearance of the fragrance in any phase is not light, rather sweet, sour, almost fruity and obviously resinous to be precise, at least to my nose. In this particular phase, it shares one of the same Oud-y facet of it's siblings from the same house and that's Oud Monarch which I also own and that's because of beautiful Oud Co-chang from "Feel Oud", a join venture of Demitri and another master perfumer Russian Adam who owns the house "Areej Le Dore". To me, this phase along with the late drydown which I'm about to describe is the longest lasting facet of Oud Maximus. This phase loudly settles down may be at 20-25 mins mark after spraying and lasts may be for next 1.5 to 2 hours. After that the final drydown appears with dominating Musk and Oud though florals and spices still survives but most likely in the back sit. And... this fragrance surprised me again in this phase that it becomes so familiar with another masterpiece from the same house that is "Musk Khabib"!

All in all, Oud Maximus is such a meditating fragnance with facets after facets that sets me in a spiritual journey. I don't hesitate to admit that this one is the most characteristic fragnance from the house of Dimitri Bortnikoff that I tried so far, it's a 10/10 for me whilst I consider Oud Monarch of 9.75/10 (My humble opinion only). I tried Mysterious Oud, Triad, Musk Khabib, Sayat Nova, Amber Cologne, Vesna Cologne apart from these magnificent two I own.

Last but not least, I would urge every Oud admirers to at least try this, trust me... You will encounter something you've never experienced!

Stay safe, stay fragrant ❤️

As "Enclave" is a new Fragnance from the luxury house "Amouage", released in 2020, it's still on the pricier side comparing their old releases. Though I was planning to buy a tester blindly, I resisted myself thinking of it's high price tag. But luckily, I have been honored having an official vial from a friend as a gift. However, let's just get into my initial impression about Enclave...

"Enclave" starts with big big blast of Fresh and sparkling Spearmint which is quite natural smelling to my nose unlike Spearmint flavor used in our regular toothpaste, but still that can be a reference point in order to recognize the aroma profile. Just right after the spraying, may be after 5 second, a distinct Herbalish note emerges exactly like a high grade Pachouli Tincture if I'm not wrong and plays with the Spearmint for may be 20 more seconds... There comes into play, the mighty Cardamom and Cinnamon. At this stage the composition smells like Strong Clove surprisingly but doesn't stays long on my skin rather it's like a moderate punch of Clove for a very tiny amount of time, let's say, another 10-15 seconds. Then it's Spearmint, Cardamom and Cinnamon... Fresh and Spicy with some edible sweetness if that makes sense. Appearance of Clove is just an accident IMHO because of the masterful blending of Cardamom and Cinnamon. Because, as we all know Clove itself is a very dominating note and polarizing to some extent, if it was the fact that Amouage put Clove note into the composition of Enclave, it would definitely have lasted much longer than it actually does. However, From this point Enclave goes into a different territory on my skin or I would say It goes towards a surprisingly familiar territory of one of my all time favorite fragnances... and that's "Enigma" by Roja Dove! Yes, it is... Enclave definitely resembles Enigma in this stage for more than 80% (at least to my humble and apprentice nose). That Cola vibe of Enigma is there but not exactly the same, just a bit of it, rather they both resembles each other in the sweet, spicy tones from Cardamom and when I took close whips of it I found a very similar undercurrent of soapiness flows from both of them. This was something really unpredictable for me although I encountered that as a matter of fact. Thereafter, may be after 20mins since the initial spray, Enclave punched me with another fist of surprise!!! Ask me what? It starts to reminding me of another loving fragnance... and that's "The Dark Side" from the house of "Francesca Bianchi"!! That same Ambery, Incense-y, a bit of honey like sweetness on a very soft base of herbaceous Pachouli and semi-dark florals! and may be a very soft, almost unnoticeable touch of woodiness. The composition goes like this without any further transition untill it reached it's final stage of life that I found on the next morning that it only contains a soft spicy-woody aroma like a commercial Oud at it's last stage. I don't know why I felt like that as Oud, as a note is not listed in the composition of Enclave so far I know, but I honestly noticed that. And Enclave dies on my skin like that. So, as an obvious outcome of my experience with Enclave, I titled him "Enclave that connects 3 States"...

For me, though Enclave has some freshness within, I wouldn't mark it as a fresh fragnance, specially for our tropical weather condition. For performance, It has very good longevity with moderate to strong projection and sillage.

The whole experience is shared from my limited understanding. So, I do apologize for any mistake I made as fragnances are universally very subjective that gives different experience to different noses...

Last but not the least, I found Enclave to be a must try fragnance for fresh-spicy-oriental fragnance lovers. But undoubtedly, it's much more than that...

Your face is as bright as the stars in the heavens,
Your smile is as sweet as the treasures of the honeybees,
Your voice is as calm as the morning breeze in the springs,
Your approach is as intimating as you are Under My Skin...

And that's how I feel the fragnance...