Oud Maison Francis Kurkdjian 2012Eau de Parfum

Oud (Eau de Parfum) by Maison Francis Kurkdjian

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8.0 / 10 341 Ratings

Oud (Eau de Parfum) is a popular perfume by Maison Francis Kurkdjian for women and men and was released in 2012. The scent is woody-spicy. It is being marketed by LVMH.

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Perfumer

Francis Kurkdjian

Fragrance Notes

Laotian oud, Singapore patchouli, Saffron, Atlas cedar, Philippine elemi

Ratings

Scent

8.0 (341 Ratings)

Longevity

7.6 (273 Ratings)

Sillage

6.6 (281 Ratings)

Bottle

8.5 (266 Ratings)

Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 16.09.2020.

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Reviews

07/15/2020

10
Scent 10
Longevity 8
Sillage 10
Bottle

Minzess

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Minzess

Helpful Review 5

My everyday oud

I used the MFK sample service a year ago and ordered a number of samples. Actually I only wanted to test the Oud Caschmir Mood and its siblings. I like the MFK Oud very much, but they are rather special for an evening or an occasion. A sample of OUD I had not tested until a few months ago.

I've gotten to that now. Ready for the office in the morning, sample found in my sample grab box and sprayed on... wahhh. At first I thought wow, the prelude is pretty medical, metallic and also kind of sweet. Then it gets a little heavier, oudier, but not as hard as you can't get out of it, I found.

I always wear a splash of M01 on my neck and spread the other fragrance on my shoulders and décolleté. On the way to work, the fragrance becomes softer, smokier, woodier... but does not lose its distinctiveness or originality. I find it elegant, special and luxurious. Pushy and unobtrusive at the same time. I get asked about the fragrance a lot during the day.

Together with the M01 it looks in my opinion even more interesting and cuddly, in my opinion like an expensive, luxurious (core) soap. Creamy-balsamic-soapy fresh and at the same time expensive, striking, mysteriously earthy and deep. And always a little bit of slightly flowery sweetness plays around it. Together with M01 it simply gets, I think, a little more interesting character.

For me personally it has become a real all-rounder! Lasts for 6-8 hours with a medium to high sillage. The start is very strong I think, in the first 3-4 hours, very present. I wear it in the office, for going out, for dinner with friends, for data nights, during the day, at night. It is something special and a comfortable oud, which is not too heavy, animalistic and resinous. But clean, sexy, cuddly.

5 Replies

06/10/2020

8.5
Scent 7
Longevity 6
Sillage

DarkWinterCS

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DarkWinterCS

Very helpful Review 11

The delicate Oud Wood alternative from the attic

Oud Wood by Tom Ford is a great scent, no question about it. However, the scent has become somewhat transferable and has developed away from my taste over the last years. Or has my perception simply developed further ?

In any case, I am looking for an alternative to the now well matured Oud Wood. I had planned to look for something softer, less hardwood, which also radiates a certain warmth. To be honest, this oud from Maison Francis Kurkdjian is not warmer
Through a nice recommendation I became aware of this scent, which is supposed to be much more reserved and not so dark.
Now I could test this after the arrival of my sample on my own body and judge for myself whether there is an acceptance on my part and to what extent this fragrance could arouse my enthusiasm. To partly anticipate the conclusion, I honestly do not know how to classify the fragrance. It is less a classification in not like or like, but rather whether Oud is a collection candidate for me for this money.

What I hear positively is that the fragrance is truly a gentle representative of the oud category. Although I can't tell whether it is real oud or, as Tom Ford is said to be, a substitute or artificial substance, I hear this softness very positively. It is soft, round and doesn't rub off at all. So really a master of the silent pedals. I also credit the scent with the fact that it has a really amazing light wood effect and doesn't let the woodworker hang out too much.
What I think is a pity, however, is that there is no sign of any development in the length of time it is worn. It is one of the kind of "here I am and stay I". Francis Kurkdjian seems to have been sure of himself that he conceived and selected the fragrance in this way.

Pure from the aroma, the scent is a bit tricky on my skin. It plays with associations of an abandoned attic. Because it shows a certain dustiness and dryness, which is not negatively noticeable by its transparent nature. It fits somehow to this composition and is also a bit unique for me. This dustiness, however, is distorted a little over time, so that one can hear even more of this light and soft wood note.
From the fragrance character the MFK Oud comes close to a gentle alternative of an Oud Wood in any case to 99%.

Of course, the sillage is not the absolute declaration of war of Oud for such a ninja under the scents. It is very reserved, but shows its wearer from time to time that he is still there. I am so semi-convinced of its durability. If you take light scents as a reference, this one does quite well and stays on the skin for 6 to 8 hours.

I'll probably have to ponder for a while, to what extent the scent will creep into my collection like a little ninja and kill Oud Wood. At the latest when looking at the account, the mess will show ;-)

4 Replies

03/21/2020

10
Scent 8
Longevity 7
Sillage 10
Bottle

Pinkdawn

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Pinkdawn

Top Review 18

The sun elicits a fine sweetness from the old wood

Actually, it seems frivolous to deal with such superficial things as good scents in times like these, overshadowed by a life-threatening pandemic. But I would like to spend at least a few minutes thinking about something other than the C-word, quarantine, curfews, empty streets and closed shops and restaurants. So I allow myself to think a few thoughts about a perfume I bought when Covid-19 was still a virus somewhere far away in faraway China.

Buying a relatively expensive perfume without having tested it first requires some courage and a certain amount of determination. Since I am unfortunately not blessed with immeasurable wealth, I usually consider purchases of luxury items very carefully. But this time I had to decide quickly. An online perfumery granted a discount, which was of course only valid until midnight. For a fragrance like Oud from the Maison Francis Kurkdjian Paris, a 22% discount makes over € 50,-. The perfume had been on my wish list for a long time. I simply trusted my gut feeling and ordered it
When it comes to oud, I'm a latecomer. I had no experience when the parcel arrived. Already the exclusive and amazingly heavy packaging under the cellophane shows that this is something very special. Lovely details such as a fabric flap with the MFK insignia, with which the flacon can be pulled out of its protective narrow embolage, complete the impression of value and luxury. The packaging, with its golden ornament on a black background, has an oriental feel to it, which is also suitable for an oud. Doesn't it? Oud is also the Arabic word for the currently so hyped smoked wood of the eaglewood tree. However, this tree grows almost exclusively in South East Asia. In the Orient, however, the fragrance was already used more than 2000 years ago.

The fragrance is allegedly more expensive than gold. Prices of € 250 000,- for 1 kg of best quality oud are not uncommon. Understandable, considering that the eaglewood tree is threatened with extinction and it takes no less than 80 years for it to form the coveted resin. All the more I am surprised that at the moment there is a huge amount of oud perfume being produced everywhere, which seems to be quite affordable - except for a few high priced ones.
There are countless legends and myths surrounding the Oud Wood. One of them says that it has pheromonic effects just like Iso E Super. Meaning it makes people more attractive than they are. This aphrodisiacal quality may also be questioned, of course. Oud is available in different quality levels and none of them smells like the other. Some have a spicy scent, others an animal or balsamic one. It can appear bitter, smoky, dry or sweet.

I am curious to see how Master Kurkdjian's famous oud will develop on my skin. Although oud is not the only fragrance in this EdP. It also contains saffron, cedar, patchouli and elemi resin
The flacon is like many other ouds made of heavy, dark glass, which suggests mysticism and preciousness.

And the smell? It's so complex right from the start, it's hard to describe. It is woody, spicy, smoky, earthy, woody, heavy and definitely fascinating. It reminds me of old wood that has dried in the sun for a long time. It is a headstrong, unusual scent, sensual, but also elegant, beguiling, a flatterer, which nevertheless does not immediately open up to you. That is also good. Because that way the fragrance remains exciting and never gets boring
It is said to form a bond with the skin of the wearer. This may explain why it seems different, new every time I wear it. Sometimes it is soft, gentle and warm, and sometimes surprisingly animalistic. Another time it shows its creamy-balsamic qualities, another time its resinous note dominates. It is precisely this complexity that makes the fragrance so appealing. What convinces me about this oud is the puristic, minimalistic. Few, but perfectly harmonizing scents, pleasantly far away from any sweet flower and fruit scents or gourmand vanilla tales. A quiet, restrained sweetness is present, but very natural and subtle.

There is also something abstract about it, which is sure to put many people off, because it is not easy to classify.
Some people therefore fantasize about nuances of horror vacui that are not there, such as raspberries, leather, rose, vanilla, fresh laundry, musk, cinnamon, Nivea or Penaten cream, even caramel, in order to be able to tame it. To have an association to hold on to, to bring order to chaos, so to speak. I'm glad that I don't notice any of this and that I can enjoy the fragrance in the abstract without having to compare it with anything. Just as I belong to those who do not automatically see any beautiful landscapes when listening to classical music. That would distract me far too much. But I'm not afraid of chaos and abstraction either.

Today the fragrance has something archaic to me, still alive, powerful but not frightening - and yet somehow sublime, regal. The Orient can be felt, but it is not a tourist kitsch Orient, but a noble, original one. Wild, but cultivated. Paradox? Yes, perhaps. But certainly interesting in this harmonic dichotomy. Another paradox? Not at all. Opposites can sometimes complement each other perfectly.

Of course, the fragrance can be enjoyed abstractly, i.e. analytically, with the intellect. However, it contains an inspiring sensuality that should not be closed to. It's a fragrance that you want to get into like the image of a landscape. And which landscape does this oud convey to me? Of course I am also influenced by the association of oud with the Orient. Therefore my oud landscape first of all breathes vastness. Shimmering light, sand dunes, superficially silent, barren and majestic, behind it you feel adventure waiting.

Oud evokes a wanderlust in me, a longing for the foreign, which perhaps does not even exist. It is silky soft like a gentle wind over the desert, at the same time tender, whispering, playful, strange, but strangely familiar. And very present. Heavy meets lightness, distance meets closeness. The sun elicits a fine, spicy sweetness from the dead, bleached wood, which one wants to perceive again and again because it has something intoxicating.
The fragrance is sophisticated - like modern art - and therefore certainly not suitable for everyone, because you not only have to be able to endure this vastness, the contradiction, abstraction and puristic beauty, but of course you have to be able to enjoy it.

9 Replies

03/08/2020

8
Scent 7
Longevity 6
Sillage 8
Bottle

Carpintero

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Carpintero

Top Review 18

Ophisticated Oud

Sophisticated.

Who knows the translation for this word?
In other words, do you know what it's like when I have a word in your native language for which there is an adequate translation(s), but you still feel that none of them fits correctly?

That's how I feel about "sophisticated" - especially in connection with this fragrance.

Sophisticated.

What follows is a series of linguistically appropriate adjectives, all of which could be translated into English with the word "sophisticated":

Cultivated, highly developed, worldly-wise, sophisticated.

But also:

Sophisticated, sophisticated, thoughtful, advanced.

Also possible would be:

Sophisticated, delicate, refined, complicated.

However, the best translation for me, a publicly appointed and sworn translator and interpreter, is:

Sophisticated - for high demands.
And this is exactly what this cultivated, highly developed, sophisticated, sophisticated, sophisticated, advanced, sophisticated, sophisticated, sophisticated, filigree, refined, sometimes even complicated fragrance is: for high to very high demands.

MFK's Oud is a high-quality composition of all these adjectives, created to meet, if not exceed, the highest demands of a cultured, worldly-wise experienced, educated and, often, complicated wearer.

Oud, patchouli, saffron, cedar, resins - a mixture that does not try to dominate each other, but miraculously complements and enhances each other. No note ever gets the upper hand, but each fragrance complements and accentuates the other.
The Laotian oud is the eponym, it is wonderfully reserved and present at just the right moment. The Singapore patchouli gives the fragrance with its deep, earthy bouquet an aphrodisiac and beguiling note, but the lightness of the very present saffron makes it very playful and casual.
The Atlas cedar gives the fragrance its woody-luxurious note. The heaviness of the oud and lightness of the cedar create a wooden yin and yang, two components that do not fight or try to dominate each other, but give each other power and strength.
The Philippine elemi-resin gives the fragrance a subtle freshness with lemony, woody and green notes.

The fragrance is comfortable, luxurious, cuddly, sexy, playful and aphrodisiac.
It is partly earthy and heavy, partly wooden and partly green and fresh. A mixture that I personally would never have thought possible. And yet I am sitting here now and experience exactly this on my forearm.

The fragrance is an aura to spray on. And this aura says about its wearer exactly all the adjectives that the word "sophisticated" describes.

Shelf life: At least 8 hours.
Sillage: Initially strong, after two to three hours about an arm's length, from 6 hours upwards only close to the skin.

My conclusion: Sophisticated, what else?

8 Replies

11/27/2019

9.5
Scent 8
Longevity 6
Sillage 9
Bottle

DerDefcon

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DerDefcon

Top Review 15

Away with the oud scent pyramid totalitarianism

Big, fat and big is the oud in the fragrance pyramid. If you look at such a fragrance, it is often, not always, but also quite often, the moment when you scroll on, close the TAB or enter another perfume name into the search bar, if you are looking for an everyday fragrance. Maybe you are also looking for a new signature, one that you can have decorated on your skin every day.
In addition to leather, cumin and many other olfactory "specialities", the famous but meanwhile well established eagle wood belongs to those fragrance elements with which not every nose gets along so well. This is often due to the fact that oud can sometimes smell musty-animalic, sour, bitter or medicinal. It can also tickle the nose sweet, creamy and cuddly. There is no uniform appearance here at all. Francis Kurkdjian demonstrates that this is the case with this fragrance. As unspectacular as the name is, so unspectacular is ultimately his composition, which should in no way be meant negatively. I'll try to explain.

The oud in Kurkdjian's creation is not animalistic. It's not medical either. It is neither bitter nor sweet, neither biting nor particularly cuddly. It's just woody - right, right. It is quite "primitive", dark wood, which is absolutely dry, absolutely unspectacular and almost too normal. This wood ain't out for no ruckus. It does not "enrich" the entire workplace, no seminar rooms in the university and does not bite anyone's nose. This oud exercises restraint and has no problem integrating other fragrance components into its present. So there is the Elemiharz to mention, which appears discreetly raspberry. Dry, a little bit bitter saffron also knows how to make itself felt, so that the whole thing never drifts into fruity sweetness. The dry-woody oud still pulls the strings in the background, but still discreet. In their symbiosis, balsamic cedar wood and slightly earthy patchouli give the impression of having a freshly sharpened pencil in front of you. You all know how one of these smells.

Oud as the main theme? Here? No, I'm sure I don't. This oud relies on equal rank in the fragrance pyramid. This is not one that makes olfactory-totalitarian demands.

If I try to combine Kurkdjian's Oud interpretation with impressions from my own world, I would spontaneously think of an old library - the smell of the sharpened pencil, the perhaps somewhat dark surroundings, dry and massive wooden shelves, the smell of paper.
Yeah, that's what this perfume reminds me of. It is an old library which still has its own charm and one day the young Hipster-Studi stumbles into it, who previously enjoyed his e-cigarette with raspberry taste. Consumption here fortunately dates back a few moments, so that this library does not degenerate into a shisha bar and continues to retain its very own character, which is contrasted by the modern, very authentic raspberry note, which, however, weakens from minute to minute. Here the opposites attract each other formally, merge with each other, so that one does not register the oppositeness at all. You do this only when you carefully work out this fragrance, as we perfumos and perfumas love to do. Then, after several attempts and frequent testing, one recognizes - at least I do - the masterly interweaving of those opposites, so completely without corners, without edges, without exaggerated excitement.

12 Replies

10/25/2019

8
Scent 8
Longevity 7
Sillage 8
Bottle

Serenissima

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Serenissima

Top Review 14

he's not doing anything; he just wants to play!

After "Oud" by Maison Francis Kurkdjian was described by Meggi very sympathetically, I naturally became curious. I need to meet this guy.
Meggi himself reminded me that his bottling should actually be with me.
Eureka! It was her!

Everything, which carries the designation "Oud" in itself, depends with me something daily form: either it lets me run away or I am enraptured.
With the here so controversial "Al-Khatt" by XerJoff I am still sad that my bottling is really empty in the meantime (were there scent thieves here?).
Because I found this scented monster extremely comforting and loved to cuddle up in his somewhat "stinky" embrace.

MFK's "Oud" proves to be extremely civil and environmentally friendly even when worn repeatedly, which does not mean that a boring person is looking out of the bottle. It's a swell sweeper, isn't it!
Only this creation seems to reveal secret reserves in me; whether the scent is really tilted (Meggi's guess), I can't judge.
I think the difference between female and male skin is more apparent here, with age and other circumstances also playing a role.
And it is well known that my sense of smell often heads for completely foreign worlds.

Anyway, "Oud" opens with me with a big basket of ripe raspberries! But "Hello!"!
Fruity sweet and yet slightly sour and a little bit tart, covered with a creamy patchouli hood - I am delighted! My darling Patchouli, united with my favorite berries!
A few threads of saffron are still coming before a very beautiful cedarwood nuance marries the smoky spice of noble elemi resins.
A very elegant, sensual scent variation (in eternally known and frequently composed scents) caresses me.
It's beautiful, this scented animal!
Because also Oud is here less "an animal", but rather "a pet".
All right, "animalistic", I'll let it go.
Maybe the hangover animal purring around me is already neutered, because an oud scent tissue is formed which appears house-trained.
No, not tame and even with me an old woman with a clear "Aha" effect; but also not of such animalistic directness, that first of all a release has to be made according to the JÖSchG.
This makes "Oud" from MFK so wonderfully wearable for me; I don't have to take any consideration - except for myself!
So I can look forward to a few hours together; once the scents have found each other, they stay true and fade evenly at some point; they fall asleep harmoniously.
What remains to my astonishment is a fine hint of saffron.

So "Oud" by Maison Francis Kurkdjian is a kind of "surprise egg" for me: but I love surprises!
Sometimes!
And I particularly like this fragrance surprise in the form of a sensual flattery.
Anyway, I don't think "Oud" has the tiger in his tank And that's a good thing!

10 Replies

10/01/2019

8
Scent 8
Longevity 5
Sillage 9
Bottle

Meggi

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Meggi

Top Review 30

No Oud for Manfred von Lausitz-Ölpen

The Stenkelfeld-Live-Reportage "Auf dem Hochsitz" reports on the efforts of the hunters to care for flora and fauna (youtube.com/watch?v=le_znaWeacI) using the example of the brave huntsman Manfred von Lausitz-Ölpen. However, the good man misses one or the other detail of the Waldes mood because of all the shooting overzealousness. For Mr. Kurkdjians Oud something similar is true: Whoever shoots straight away, even if it is just "into the keyboard" (I knock on my fins...), may not do justice to the scent. He needs rest and attention.

Even the opening is extraordinarily delicate. A gentle acidity is almost fruity, almost raspberry. Something creamy about that. That's the saffron - how does it do that? If the scent were not 'oud', I would think I was dealing with a wood-based, becremed fruitling. My as-if fruit soon smells like tangerine. In Quark. Yes, quark with tangerines from the tin, served in a wooden bowl. Accompanied by a touch of...dusty vanilla?

So what about the oud? Exactly that requires a certain amount of rest, a certain amount of letting oneself in. At first I simply smell wood, even relatively creamy and by no means typically woody as with other scents at the "oud edge". Only in the course of the day do I notice various hunches and hints, from stronger wood to the cowshed. The approaches are all there. And that's what delights in the fragrance. A light patchouli earthiness completes the experience and after initial irritation about the strange fruit hallucinations I am quite taken with it.

Conclusion: hinted oud wood, vanilla, dust, a little acidity - 'oud' is not a spectacle that wants to conquer by storm. Only who behaves completely quietly, as on the (naturally manfred-lose!) high seat, gets to know him.

I thank MisterE for the rehearsal.

22 Replies

06/21/2016

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

Very helpful Review 6

MFK'oud

Oud perfumes are the new “orientals”. Like their early 20th century predecessors, their fantasy/reality ratio is sky-high. They are less overtly culturally offensive, but in terms of authenticity, they are just as much a bill of goods.

Francis Kurkdjian avoided the pitfall of attempting to mimic Arabic style. Instead, he treated oud like any other centerpiece note in western traditional perfumery. His Oud has some of the characteristic scent of oud materials, particularly the band-aid note, but the setting is unexpected. Rather than pairing oud with rose, syrup or smoke, Kurkdjian made a sort of woody-floral with a soft oud note. (Though the brand’s list of notes doesn’t include florals.)

Kurkdjian approaches oud as a material rather than a genre. He seems to have given it the same scrutiny he might ambroxan or rosewood, breaking it down into its constituent notes and evaluating the olfactory dynamics, seeing how it interacts with other materials. Some of oud’s traits are underscored, others are played down. By treating it to classical western perfume analysis and technique, Kurkdjian assimilated oud.

In skipping the Arabian fantasy, he avoids the stereotypes of the material. Of the hundreds of oud perfumes to hit the market in the past 5-10 years, not many stray from a narrow interpretation of the material. Kurkdjian took a measured approach and demonstrated his signature talent for composing a perfume that is somewhat unusual but not at all strange. It smells deliciously of shoe polish + lipstick + floor wax. It is cool to the touch and reserved. Kurkdjian aligned oud with patchouli, a material with some similar characteristics, to create a new style of woody-floral perfume. Oud and patchouli are both woody materials that range from pitchy highs to durable, resinous bass ranges. Patchouli’s camphorous chill matches oud’s rubber band-aid note and both share a dusty, woody feel. They don’t smell alike, but the behave similarly.

Classical perfumery has always had a loving appreciation of ‘off’ notes. The most effective materials of traditional perfumery tended to have a stark, asymmetric beauty at their core. Modulating them created a well-proportioned aesthetic that captured the interest and the imagination. Oud is well suited for a similar use—it is idiosyncratic and quintessentially jolie-laide. Kurkdjian didn’t disguise oud, but he did make it his own and proposed a new, western style of oud perfume.

11/10/2015

Jubliant
70 Reviews

Jubliant

Baby Baby

Babies humans and animals give off pheromones which trigger a protective response in humans. I feel like this, is that pheromone in a bottle. I do love to smell babies, but it is awkward to hold peoples babies and smell them, I am glad for $300 I can smell my own "baby".

As other reviewers have commented I can not smell any actual oud in this scent, I do however smell somewhat of a very soft patchouli and peach. The patchouli is very lovely and wearable, perhaps so well blended I can not detect the cedar note or that it comes off as musky. There is certainly a sweetness to that the listed notes do not address.

Perhaps this is the child of two hippies who live in a peach orchard and keep themselves relatively clean for hippies. Mother has just rubbed her baby with some homemade lotion made from the peaches in her orchard and is putting the babe to sleep, in the background you can smell hints her drying some saffron she harvested.

With better sillage this could be a 9 or 10.
8/10

06/15/2014

10
Scent 10
Longevity 7.5
Sillage

Veserdar
19 Reviews

Veserdar

Helpful Review 1

What Oud?

Masterpiece.My wife hates oud and heavy perfumes.
For MFK oud , even she loves this soo much.This is absolutely fine art.Silage is average, longetivity is high.Unique and new generation perfume.I used to wear lumiere noir from MFK.Unlike many reviewers , it was an above average perfume for me.But this one is some kind of a magic.RESPECT!!

Show all reviews (12)