Agar Aura‘s Layali has achieved something that I haven’t experienced in years with a modern fragrance: It has left me simultaneously at a total loss for words from sheer stunned, overjoyed impact and also gushing with so many hyperboles that I don’t know how I can do the scent justice without sounding like a blithering, stuttering idiot.
Photo: the fantastic fashion photographer, Kristian Schuller. (Direct link to his full website is embedded within.)
Oud Maximus by Bortnikoff is a thoroughly enjoyable fragrance that veers between being an animalic floral oud, a floral oud leather, and a slightly gourmand, ambered fragrance. I truly did not expect to like it as much as I did.
Oud Maximus. This is a photo of an older bottle without the date, which the most recent 2020 fragrance has.
A brief look at Serge Lutens’ Périlleusement Vôtre, a rose oud. I was not enthused, to put it mildly.
Périlleusement Vôtre
Chinese Oud, the latest release from Areej Le Doré, is a perfect example of a self-taught perfumer honing and refining his style over time to become the equal of many professional, big house noses today. The opulent parfum is the result of a collaboration between Russian Adam and his friend, Jamira Oud, who distilled and worked on many of the rare Chinese raw materials, including wild, aged, nearly extinct Hainan agarwood which is considered by many collectors to be one of the top varietals in the world due to its unusual floral, fruity, and citrus tonalities.
I’m going to tell you upfront, right from the start, that I loved Chinese Oud and I thought that it was not only complex but also one of the more approachable, versatile, refined, non-blocky, and smooth floral leather ouds (or floral oud orientals) from Areej Le Doré.
Chinese Oud, 10 ml bottle version. Photo: Areej Le Doré
Chinese Oud, 10 ml bottle. Photo: my own.