Gold Rose Oud by Tiziana Terenzi

Last week, I made a point of saying I hadn’t had enough time with a new-to-me brand and would write about it this week. Alas, no. Over the course of a week and a half of sampling I came to the conclusion that the fragrances in the brand were so mediocre I just didn’t want to write about them – and I’m in a place psychologically where I don’t really want to do big negative. Just not where my head and heart are at. Also, over the course of my research, I discovered that while they are widely available here (for some unknown reason) they are not stocked by Lucky Scent. This sort of tipped me over the edge because if something is even remotely interesting or good or just odd LS will stock it.

So, that ended that and I started looking through my samples for something else to write about as I did want to write about perfume.

I picked up and discarded a few things before coming upon Gold Rose Oud (2012). While I don’t see myself buying this it was decidedly interesting on first spray. So, off I went.

I’ve never really fallen down the oud rabbit hole. No good reason – just hasn’t happened.

Anyway, notes list for this is fir, sand (? – maybe they mean an accord), bergamot, rose, patchouli, black pepper (as opposed to pink), oud, honey, musk and sandalwood.

I just love love love the beginning of this: band-aids and masking tape – ie, dry, slightly astringent resinous something (I’m guessing oud – smart me). The nose on this, Paolo Terenzi, deserves accolades for this opening alone. Maybe there’s some fruitiness (the bergamot?) that helps to keep things from getting too dry, but it’s just a whisper, not much.

As things move along, I start to get rose, but I really have to stick my nose on my wrist and smell hard. If I don’t do that I still get the band-aid/masking tape but with the pepper becoming more prominent. But as the fragrance opens up on my skin it becomes a fruity rose with a very gentle undercurrent of resin. The pepper recedes.

The drydown is even gentler: pepper, musk, a whisper of sweetness from the honey, all smoothed out by what I guess is sandalwood, as sandalwood doesn’t appear for long on me. But having said that, then, there’s a surprise: around 8 hours in, after I thought we were done, I get a slightly musky, fruity, rose. It’s not shouty and I could still just smell it on my wrist the next morning.

This is a shape-shifter, especially at the end. I’ve seen different pricing for bottles on the nether web, but it’s always over £150. So, not cheap.

So, yes. Do you know this brand and the perfume? What are your feelings about oud?