Oud Maison Francis Kurkdjian (2012) Eau de Parfum

Oud (Eau de Parfum) by Maison Francis Kurkdjian

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8.0 / 10 279 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 still in production.

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Perfumer

Francis Kurkdjian

Fragrance Notes

Oud, Patchouli, Saffron, Cedar, Elemi resin

Ratings

Scent

8.0 (279 Ratings)

Longevity

7.5 (215 Ratings)

Sillage

6.5 (223 Ratings)

Bottle

8.4 (211 Ratings)

Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 21.11.2019

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Reviews

10/25/2019

8.0 7.0 8.0 8.0/10

Serenissima
0 Reviews

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Serenissima

Greatly helpful Review 13

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!

9 Replies

10/01/2019

9.0 5.0 8.0 8.0/10

Meggi
0 Reviews

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Meggi

Greatly helpful 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.

21 Replies

06/21/2016

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

Very helpful Review 5

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

7.5 10.0 10.0/10

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!!

02/24/2013

5.0 5.0 10.0 8.0/10

Apicius
220 Reviews

Apicius

Very helpful Review 6

Softness And Protection

Is this a reaction to the oud hype? Releasing perfumes under that name with almost no discernible oud note in it?

I would classify Kurkdjians Oud as a musky fragrance – it has lots in common with a very good body butter or skin cream. Almost a cosy scent for cuddling, if there wasn't a certain hint of that “hairspray” note that we know from so many Montales and others that refer to oud. By its character, not necessarily by its ingredients, Kurkdjians's Oud approaches the dark, vibrant and slightly animalic “Musk” by Keiko Mecheri, and it can be recommended as an alternative of it.

Besides that, we find discreet resinous notes and a minimal fruitiness mostly in the top notes, which suit this fragrance quite well. If at all, there are only traces of saffron. There are powdery aspects and also something woody. In this case the perfumer shows his abilities by leaving things open. None of the notes are in any way dominating the fragrance and so, this Oud makes a very discreet appearance – but not without beauty!

The discretion and the integration of the notes which was conducted here makes it difficult to associate images or pictures with this fragrance. I suppose this Oud will appeal to those who use cosmetic products and appreciate a good skin cream. The positive and relaxing feelings but also the beauty that a good skin cream may evoke are being quoted by Kurkdjian's Oud.

Next to the expected softness typical for this kind of skin cream perfumes, also, this fragrance transports a feeling of acerbity, a kind of distance, maybe aloofness. Whoever feels the notion to protect one's skin against the environment with a thin transparent layer might feel addressed by it. Possibly, the environment will not notice this fragrance as a perfume but rather as a freshly applied skin cream.

I regard softness and protection as the main theme of Kurkdjian's Oud, and the link between both that the perfumer succeeded to establish may provoke your heart to beat a little faster. However, one has to get engaged a little with this perfume. A quick test in the shop will not suffice to cope with this tender high quality fragrance. If possible, get a sample! (I thank The Different Scent for it)

2 Replies

12/17/2012

7.5 10.0 10.0 7.0/10

Drseid
671 Reviews

Drseid

MFK Jumps On The Oud Bandwagon...

Oud immediately opens with the apparent star making itself known before anything else. This is not the semi-animalic smelling woody oud you might expect, but rather a watery, rubbery oud that is rather tame, synthetic and pleasant smelling. The oud remains into the heart, now pairing with the *real* star of the scent, saffron, which pairs up with the oud for the duration and even dominates to a small degree it as time goes on. The minimalist concoction uses patchouli as a supporting note to sweeten the composition just a hair with it too being a more "cleansed" patchouli and not the dirty variety frequently used. Projection and longevity are both excellent.

Oud is a good scent, but I must admit to being a bit disappointed considering its pedigree. Kurkdjian is way late to the oud party and as such considering his vast talent I expected something extraordinary here... and did not get it. Instead, Oud ends up being a pleasant smelling polished Western oud concoction that really is more about the saffron than the oud on skin to my nose. It is linear in nature and while I find it hard to fault the composition it lacks passion and is just another sterile entry on the long since departed oud gravy train. Maybe that is a bit harsh criticism for a scent that I am awarding a very good 3.5 stars out of 5, but I expected so much more from such a late entrant to the field from a super-talented nose like Kurkdjian. This one is worth a sniff, but at $300 for a 70ml bottle there are much better choices to be had for less money elsewhere.