It’s decidedly autumn here. The heat has now gone on for a bit each day, starting from the 15th. I consider that an acceptable date. I have a feeling that there was a year in the past few during which it went on on the first of October. Which is just inappropriate.
I realised the other day that all of my autumn/winter trousers are corduroy. Two black, one blue, one dark green, one dark brown. I had not realised I’d gone this direction but there we are. The spring/summer stuff is much more varied.
We’re on to the last of the samples I bought recently.
L’Oudh … I’ve been making noise for a few years now about wanting to find an oudh to call my own. I had forgotten that Tauer Perfumes had released a fragrance so popped it into the cart.
Launched in 2018, the notes include jasmine, rose, cistus rock rose, Cypriol, Styrax, myrrh, tobacco, vetiver, patchouli, oudh and sandalwood.
I think Andy Tauer resisted the oudh bandwagon for a while before launching this. He tends to go his own way.
On me, this starts sour woods. I don’t mean that to be negative. It’s intriguing. I don’t get any flowers up top and the fragrance pretty quickly morphs into Band-Aid. I like the smells of Band-Aids.
And that’s where it sits for a good many hours. Until it become sort of leather/suede oud. Which is very nice but I’m not sure how it got there, given the notes list.
I don’t know what real oudh smells like and most of the other oudh named perfumes are far more mixy mixy with florals, particularly rose (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing).
It’s only once I hit the drydown that I get a hint of sweetness. Maybe the sandalwood.
It’s long-lasting and, as I said above, intriguing.
In any case, of all the oudh perfumes I have sampled over the years this feels most like what I would expect a ‘proper’ oudh to smell like.
When returning from a holiday in the Maldives in 2019, I had hoped to sample something less mass market with oudh at the Doha airport. But alas no. Most of the Duty Free offer was what you expect from DF in any airport.
This one is a bit challenging and the better for it.
However, I haven’t been in a ‘challenge me’ mood regarding perfume for quite a while.
I respect this perfume but I don’t think I want it probably for the reasons noted above.
Do you own this or any other oudh-based perfumes? Does Band-Aid smell make you twitchy?
Pics: Wiki, pexels