Top Notes 
Heart Notes 
Base Notes 
02/20/2015
Drseid
819 Reviews
Drseid
5
Sweet Synthetic Oud (and by "sweet" I don't mean "good")...
Perfume Calligraphy goes on with a mild, amber sweetened cinnamon and vague sharp citrus, supported by traces of saffron spice and Oud. As the composition moves to its early heart the Oud takes its place as star, gaining a slight barnyard animalic facet as it grows in intensity to the point of dominating most of the other composition aspects. Joining the Oud in the background is the supporting hay-like saffron, the relatively sweet, smooth amber and barely detectable dulled rose. The composition remains highly linear through the late dry-down with the Oud taking center stage throughout, only allowing remnants of the saffron detectable with the smooth amber providing mild to moderate sweetness through the finish. Projection is excellent, and longevity outstanding at around 20 hours on skin.
Usually one samples the original composition its flankers are based off of before trying the flankers themselves. In the case of Perfume Calligraphy this was done in reverse. The Rose and Saffron flankers both proved excellent, so it would stand to reason the composition they were based off would impress as well, right? Enter Perfume Calligraphy... As soon as I sprayed the composition on skin disappointment immediately set-in. No, this was not the kind of disappointment from a terrible composition, but rather the kind where you go in with relatively high expectations only to find the composition more in the range of average, maybe even *just* good. The culprit here is the primary Oud note used in Perfume Calligraphy. Definitely the composition shows significant Oud-like qualities with its mild barnyard facet, but to those who have experienced the real thing this will quickly reveal itself as synthetic. Certainly Perfume Calligraphy is not alone in its reliance on synthetics to recreate super-expensive high quality real Oud as most of the "Oud" compositions on the market are equally guilty, but the amber-driven sweetness just doesn't mesh with it well at all. Also of little help, is the synthetic Oud is so dominant that excluding the previously mentioned sweetness, only the saffron spice can hang with it throughout the entire composition's "development". I put quotation marks around the word "development," because there really isn't any. It is the same overall accord throughout from near-start to finish, and the underlying sweetness mixed with the synthetic Oud can get annoying as time passes. In the end one has to appreciate the composition as being well-made with its outstanding performance metrics, but the real question is whether one would want to wear it? In the opinion of this writer the answer is a somewhat hesitant "no". The bottom line is the $120 per 100ml bottle Perfume Calligraphy shows off it performance chops in fine fashion, but its highly linear sweet synthetic Oud focus is tiresome, earning it an "above average" 2.5 to 3 stars out of 5. Having worn its great flankers that are both highly recommended, this one I feel completely indifferent. Word to the wise; buy the Rose and Saffron flankers and leave this one on the shelf, gathering dust.
Usually one samples the original composition its flankers are based off of before trying the flankers themselves. In the case of Perfume Calligraphy this was done in reverse. The Rose and Saffron flankers both proved excellent, so it would stand to reason the composition they were based off would impress as well, right? Enter Perfume Calligraphy... As soon as I sprayed the composition on skin disappointment immediately set-in. No, this was not the kind of disappointment from a terrible composition, but rather the kind where you go in with relatively high expectations only to find the composition more in the range of average, maybe even *just* good. The culprit here is the primary Oud note used in Perfume Calligraphy. Definitely the composition shows significant Oud-like qualities with its mild barnyard facet, but to those who have experienced the real thing this will quickly reveal itself as synthetic. Certainly Perfume Calligraphy is not alone in its reliance on synthetics to recreate super-expensive high quality real Oud as most of the "Oud" compositions on the market are equally guilty, but the amber-driven sweetness just doesn't mesh with it well at all. Also of little help, is the synthetic Oud is so dominant that excluding the previously mentioned sweetness, only the saffron spice can hang with it throughout the entire composition's "development". I put quotation marks around the word "development," because there really isn't any. It is the same overall accord throughout from near-start to finish, and the underlying sweetness mixed with the synthetic Oud can get annoying as time passes. In the end one has to appreciate the composition as being well-made with its outstanding performance metrics, but the real question is whether one would want to wear it? In the opinion of this writer the answer is a somewhat hesitant "no". The bottom line is the $120 per 100ml bottle Perfume Calligraphy shows off it performance chops in fine fashion, but its highly linear sweet synthetic Oud focus is tiresome, earning it an "above average" 2.5 to 3 stars out of 5. Having worn its great flankers that are both highly recommended, this one I feel completely indifferent. Word to the wise; buy the Rose and Saffron flankers and leave this one on the shelf, gathering dust.
ScentedSalon
