Strandluft

When I first applied the fragrance, I was greeted by a compact, rather sour pineapple note immediately accompanied by a strongly spicy, damp forest note.
After about 10 minutes, the pineapple faded, but instead of red fruits, a note of white chocolate joined the damp earthy note, which strongly reminded me of Callebaut W2 chocolate and made me understand what was meant by the delicate melt.
I did not expect this scent with the listed notes and could only attribute the Oud-like note to the patchouli.
After 24 hours, I tested the fragrance again. The pineapple was now fruitier and seemed to have opened up like a blossom. The strong spiciness was now somewhat muted. Test sniffers now described the scent as smelling dark red, not dark brown like on day one.
Another 24 hours later, the fragrance made another significant leap. Alongside the rounded pineapple, red fruits, primarily strawberries, joined for the first time after 10 minutes. The spicy damp impression was now hardly perceptible and rather contributed to a depth.
From then on, the fragrance developed in such a way that the red fruits became increasingly prominent day by day. The white chocolate note transformed more and more into a creamy vanilla, although a hint of a gourmand idea remained ever-present.
It seems that the fragrance needed to breathe and react with the oxygen.
The quality of the ingredients is unmatched in this price segment. The balance between performance and refinement while maintaining a deep complexity is something you can search for long and in vain among similarly priced mainstream niche houses.
A great, pleasing, and present fragrance.

Since this perfume did not specify any notes, I tried to figure out which direction it goes. By now, I am sure that the scent leans towards the Black Orchid Parfum DNA. What I initially associated with grassy freshness likely represents the interplay of truffle, ylang-ylang, and bitter citrus notes. The fruity and sweet aspects seem to come from the plum and rum-soaked orchids. All four fragrances "Dracula L'Elixir | Le Parfumoir de Grasse Lynne de R. / Guy Bouchara", Black Orchid (2023) Eau de Toilette, Black Orchid Eau de Parfum, and Black Orchid Parfum are very similar in the first 15 minutes. From minute 15 to 60, the EdT and EdP drift away from the parfum and from Dracula. The parfum develops a note from hour one that differentiates it from Dracula, while the EdT and EdP move closer to Dracula again. By hour 3, all four are very close to each other again. But now to the base, which also seems to consist of patchouli in Dracula but is accompanied by a wood note. The house states in the brochure that wood is included. This seems to sporadically break out from the DNA like a disruptive note. While the three Tom Fords remain relatively monotonous from hour three, Dracula develops this biting woodiness and completely shifts themes from hour 8 to 12. The patchouli and wood take over here, and one feels like they are wearing a completely different scent that has little in common with the Black Orchid DNA. The performance of the fragrance is very good and is rather on par with the parfum version of Tom Ford.

Elegant dark synthetic shower gel accord with strong parallels to "Al Fareed / الفريد | Arabian Oud / العربية للعود". The Gaïac Précieux feels much more complex due to the addition of honey and does not drift as strongly into woodiness in the drydown. The test sniffers perceived the honey and this dark deodorant noise right away without knowing the pyramid. An interesting balancing act of yellow gold and anthracite.

The scent immediately felt familiar to me. I quickly made a direct comparison with "Aseel Special Edition / أصيل إصدار خاص | Arabian Oud / العربية للعود". The parallels were instantly recognizable, even though the "Aseel Special Edition / أصيل إصدار خاص | Arabian Oud / العربية للعود" appeared much more complex, slightly greener, and stricter in the first 15 minutes. Presumably, the ozone and mulberry notes are responsible for this. After 15 minutes, the fragrances became so similar that it was hard to distinguish them. However, the Oud Vanille also produces a fruity tone that is close to the mulberry in the "Aseel Special Edition / أصيل إصدار خاص | Arabian Oud / العربية للعود". Essentially, the Oud Vanille is therefore somewhat more linear and skips the top note a bit, but it is by no means superficial.

The fragrance has the typical Arabian oud funk from musk with cashmere and sandalwood. Many fragrances from Arabian Oud are flankers of each other, even if the bottles and names do not reveal it. Five fragrances all revolve around this very specific funk and take different paths while always maintaining a certain basic DNA.
"Amiri | Arabian Oud / العربية للعود" “The Citrusy”
"Sultani / سلطاني | Arabian Oud / العربية للعود" “The Clean”
"Arabian Knight Silver | Arabian Oud / العربية للعود" “The Spicy”
"Diwan | Arabian Oud / العربية للعود" “The Strong”
"Al Fareed / الفريد | Arabian Oud / العربية للعود" “The Heavy”