04/18/2020

Carlitos01
367 Reviews

Carlitos01
Top Review
11
A multi faceted, seductive, quality Oud fragrance
[short review]
Oud is not any longer just an ephemeral perfume fashion, or a gimmick aroma coming from the Middle East. Westerners look at an oud perfume just as they do to any other type of fragrance. The oud perfumes became an industry group instead of just an olfactory note. The same phenomena happened in different occasions with lavender, florals, musk, patchouli, sandalwood, cedar, amber, and lemon notes. Now the market imposes every designer, or niche sorcerer, to have at least one oud fragrance in their range of products. Some perfume houses like Montale for instance specialized in producing almost every scent with oud, following the middle eastern steps of Lattafa, Nabeel or Ard Al Zaafaran.
Question - What is the connection we may make with Ferrari? - the perfume designer, not the sports car maker.
Answer - Ferrari sells fragrances as fashion accessories. They all display the "Cavallino Rampante" emblem. As a business, it's not so different from the existing merchandising of Ferrari polo shirts, t-shirts, and fancy watches.
After some mainstream inexpensive colognes, unexpectedly Ferrari started launching "varietal" fragrances, with a very good quality standard. It's the case of Amber, Cedar, Musk, Vetiver, Bergamot, Leather, Neroli, Fig, Lavender... and Essence Oud. The differentiated sports car company decided to differentiate their own fragrance business, getting a position halfway between being just a mere designer or present themselves as an innovative fragrance player. In the Ferrari perfume product range, this oud fragrance popped up naturally, and not only to follow the steps of other designers in desperate need of adding an oud scent to their market offer.
Surprisingly, all of the above-mentioned "varietal" Ferrari perfumes are recognized as desirable fragrances, and Essence Oud has a shiny place in that elite range.
Another fragrance market dogma it's the generalized idea that a very good perfume must be expensive as well. Well, Ferrari broke that hidden code and offers their "semi-niche" perfumes for a price under 30 Euros for each 100 ml flask... and even added an expensive and elegant bottle.
THE JUICE...
A strong untamed oud note is simply too pungent for the common western nose. The perfume market is full of medicinal or fecal oud examples. In order not to intoxicate their customers, the oud perfumers blend the different type of oud oils with either floral for smoothness and sweetness, or leather for animalistic accords, or rose for elegance, or saffron for bittersweetness and earthiness, or labdanum for extra amber, or frankincense for balsamic smokiness, or vanilla for sweetness. Nathalie Feisthauer just added almost all those notes and the final result is great.
Before buying my first bottle of Ferrari Oud Essence, I was a bit suspicious about its list of notes. I feared a blind buy to avoid the disappointment of smelling an oud cacophony, due to a possible traffic jam in the development. I later discovered that I could not be more wrong. I overcame that blind purchase fear with a couple of self suggested arguments:
- The bottle is gorgeous;
- The perfume is inexpensive;
- Nathalie Feisthauer made very good perfumes for Clarins, Amouage, Comme de Garçons, Versace, Etat Libre d'Orange and so on.
Instead of a cacophony, what I got was a fine-tuned symphony. The resinous and floral opening with a magnific rose note gives way to a balmy smoky oud that is later amplified with animalistic touches and a leathery background. A balsamic, leathery, woody, and pleasant drydown, ends the fragrance evolution. No hiding defects or unwanted sweetness is present here. The scent is more masculine than feminine but may be used by both genders. It's one of the best western oud perfumes I have tried.
Longevity is great with more than 9 hours after three sprays. Sillage is a bit less impressive with a top of six feet and 2.5 hours projection.
I truly recommend it. I already ordered my third bottle in less than a two years time frame.
Music: Sting - "Desert Rose"
Oud is not any longer just an ephemeral perfume fashion, or a gimmick aroma coming from the Middle East. Westerners look at an oud perfume just as they do to any other type of fragrance. The oud perfumes became an industry group instead of just an olfactory note. The same phenomena happened in different occasions with lavender, florals, musk, patchouli, sandalwood, cedar, amber, and lemon notes. Now the market imposes every designer, or niche sorcerer, to have at least one oud fragrance in their range of products. Some perfume houses like Montale for instance specialized in producing almost every scent with oud, following the middle eastern steps of Lattafa, Nabeel or Ard Al Zaafaran.
Question - What is the connection we may make with Ferrari? - the perfume designer, not the sports car maker.
Answer - Ferrari sells fragrances as fashion accessories. They all display the "Cavallino Rampante" emblem. As a business, it's not so different from the existing merchandising of Ferrari polo shirts, t-shirts, and fancy watches.
After some mainstream inexpensive colognes, unexpectedly Ferrari started launching "varietal" fragrances, with a very good quality standard. It's the case of Amber, Cedar, Musk, Vetiver, Bergamot, Leather, Neroli, Fig, Lavender... and Essence Oud. The differentiated sports car company decided to differentiate their own fragrance business, getting a position halfway between being just a mere designer or present themselves as an innovative fragrance player. In the Ferrari perfume product range, this oud fragrance popped up naturally, and not only to follow the steps of other designers in desperate need of adding an oud scent to their market offer.
Surprisingly, all of the above-mentioned "varietal" Ferrari perfumes are recognized as desirable fragrances, and Essence Oud has a shiny place in that elite range.
Another fragrance market dogma it's the generalized idea that a very good perfume must be expensive as well. Well, Ferrari broke that hidden code and offers their "semi-niche" perfumes for a price under 30 Euros for each 100 ml flask... and even added an expensive and elegant bottle.
THE JUICE...
A strong untamed oud note is simply too pungent for the common western nose. The perfume market is full of medicinal or fecal oud examples. In order not to intoxicate their customers, the oud perfumers blend the different type of oud oils with either floral for smoothness and sweetness, or leather for animalistic accords, or rose for elegance, or saffron for bittersweetness and earthiness, or labdanum for extra amber, or frankincense for balsamic smokiness, or vanilla for sweetness. Nathalie Feisthauer just added almost all those notes and the final result is great.
Before buying my first bottle of Ferrari Oud Essence, I was a bit suspicious about its list of notes. I feared a blind buy to avoid the disappointment of smelling an oud cacophony, due to a possible traffic jam in the development. I later discovered that I could not be more wrong. I overcame that blind purchase fear with a couple of self suggested arguments:
- The bottle is gorgeous;
- The perfume is inexpensive;
- Nathalie Feisthauer made very good perfumes for Clarins, Amouage, Comme de Garçons, Versace, Etat Libre d'Orange and so on.
Instead of a cacophony, what I got was a fine-tuned symphony. The resinous and floral opening with a magnific rose note gives way to a balmy smoky oud that is later amplified with animalistic touches and a leathery background. A balsamic, leathery, woody, and pleasant drydown, ends the fragrance evolution. No hiding defects or unwanted sweetness is present here. The scent is more masculine than feminine but may be used by both genders. It's one of the best western oud perfumes I have tried.
Longevity is great with more than 9 hours after three sprays. Sillage is a bit less impressive with a top of six feet and 2.5 hours projection.
I truly recommend it. I already ordered my third bottle in less than a two years time frame.
Music: Sting - "Desert Rose"
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