Dark Aoud Montale 2011

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7.7 / 10 148 Ratings

Dark Aoud is a popular perfume by Montale for women and men and was released in 2011. The scent is woody-spicy. Projection and longevity are above-average. It is still in production.

Scent goes well with Fortis - Eau Delà

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Fragrance Notes

Amber, Leather, Oud, Saffron, Sandalwood, Black pepper, Teakwood, Vetiver

Ratings

Scent

7.7 (148 Ratings)

Longevity

9.1 (121 Ratings)

Sillage

8.3 (116 Ratings)

Bottle

7.2 (112 Ratings)

Submitted by Kankuro, last update on 16.10.2020.

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Reviews

08/23/2020

8
Scent 10
Longevity 7
Sillage 8
Bottle

Rquill67
193 Reviews

Rquill67

It was a dark and stormy night...

Montale Dark Aoud is my first fragrance from the house of Montale, and a blind-buy. While I read many reviews on both Fragrantica and Parfumo, as well as watched a couple YouTube video reviews; I still didn't know how this fragrance would really land on my skin. I love Aoud and most middle-eastern fragrances. What I didn't expect was the extremely strong medicinal opening that lasts for about 20 - 30 minutes. I'm used to spicy or sweet Aoud fragrances.

After the first 20 - 30 minutes heading into the mid (on my skin), the medicinal smell heads into the background, and I can smell sandalwood and Aoud. Very warm, balanced and rich smelling. Very balsamic, and I don't get a lot of powder (although a "powdery" accord is listed).

I love the dry-down. After 2 hours, this is a gorgeous fragrance. I goes dark and I almost smell a little chocolate. I know this is listed as unisex, but I think this leans more masculine to my nose.

This will not be the last Montale fragrance I purchase. As an Aoud and Incense lover I think I could fall in love with this house!

8 / 10 for me because of the medicinal opening. Longevity kicks *bleep*.... with 12 plus hours!!! Woah! Glad to have this one in my collection.

07/10/2020

8
Scent 9
Longevity 9
Sillage 7
Bottle

HIRH

Translated Show original

HIRH

Montal's unexpected dosing skills

Montale fragrances often have a very similar problem: the synthetic oud, which does not even try to hide its synthetic nature. This makes Montale's oud scents always seem a bit cheap compared to other scents from the same house like "Full Incense" or "Cafe Intense". The quality of the ingredients is not as important as with exceptional oud with its own unique scent character.

In the case of Dark Aoud, however, Montale has managed to get this problem at least somewhat under control. The oud remains unmistakably synthetic. But: Here it is not so important. Montale has succeeded here in doing something that he didn't want to succeed with other fragrances - the ingredients are harmoniously dosed and in a successful proportion to each other. Of course synthetic oud is much more negative when it is overdosed as mercilessly as in many a Montale fragrance.

The oud blends well with leather, saffron, amber and other woods. I can't smell all the ingredients in detail in this fragrance, there is somehow more. However, everything well dosed and a nice (spicy) bed, even for a synthetic oud. In this bed I even like the synthetic oud better than the authentic oud in the XerJoff OudStars Gao - this scent is generally drier and somehow more brown than the Dark Aoud. More pleasing despite a lower rating here. That's how subjective opinions are. (Whereby the rating is not much worse either)

That's why I like to wear it in winter when I don't feel like wearing one of my other perfumes.

Conclusion: One of Montal's best oud creations because of the successful dosage of the synthetic oud. Is in my collection and will be allowed to stay in my collection. If you expect real oud for 111€ (in the internet partly double-digit prices), you have lost control over your life anyway.

Cheers

2 Replies

05/24/2018

9
Scent 9
Longevity 8
Sillage 7
Bottle

Carlitos01
282 Reviews

Carlitos01

Top Review 9

A whiter shade of grey

Bats are black, fly only during the darkest hours and squeal in such a way that your blood freezes.
Blackbirds are black, fly only during the day and sing like a nanny cradling a baby.
If you take a can of Montale's Dark Aoud aiming at bringing home a bat, wou may get a blackbird instead for you to deal with.
I like Oud and I like dark fragrances. I confess I blind bought Dark Aoud. Why? Well...
- It has got "Dark" in the name.
- It has got (A)oud in the name.
- It has got Oud, Black Pepper, Leather, Sandalwood and Vetiver qnd other notes.
I was not expecting to buy an "bully ugly vampire bat" like Swiss Arabian Dehn El Ood Malaki. But I was quite far from imagining that this fragrance darkness was closer to Disney's ugly duckling.
Now that I gave rein to my disappointment, let me tell you that Dark Oud is a very nice Oriental Oud fragrance.
- It's not Count Dracula's reincarnation in terms of darkness,
- it's not the dark side of the moon,
- It's not even Malefica cooking dark potions in her cauldron ...
It's just a typical Montale western Oud well designed fragrance, trying to please a lot of oriental scent lovers and really not caring about using a misleading name to fool a bunch of Trolls that prefer to smell dark caves rather than flowering forests. I am included in that bunch of Trolls. You may tell me that it isn't so but in my opinion Dark Aoud is ment for Hobbits and Dwarves, not for Orcs and Trools.

I do think that this fragrance is more "sandalwoody and leathery" than "oudy". That's just an opinion and I like the heavy sandal and leather as well. The scent is quite linear - that's not a defect - with a bit of an evolution towards the sweet during the dry down, maybe due to olibanum or incense even if those notes are not listed.

In summary it's a very agreable wearable oriental woody fragrance with some very good quality ingredients, an above average performance and with the traditional Montale's golden can presentation.
Remark - I have the recent golden bottle and not the older one with black circles over gold. Probably the juice has been reformulated and watered down together with the current only gold color can release.

My math for Dark Aoud goes like this:
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Scent Opening:..............8.0 (my judgement; the oud note is a bit medicinal)
Scent Dry Down:............9.0 (my judgement)
Longevity:.......................9.0 (10 hours+ with two sprays)
Sillage:.............................8.5 (more than 8 feet at its peak with 2 sprays)
Uniqueness:...................7.0 (not so unique to me)
Compliments:................7.0 (not a serious compliment grabber; Typical of oud fragrances)
Wearability:....................7.5 (Use it day or night during winter and fall, and in cold spring nights)
Versatility:......................8.0 (You may use it in almost any event, although some perfumes are more adequate for specific situations. Beach, workout and kindergarden visits are ruled out. I consider it to be unisex)
Quality:...........................8.0 (my judgement; After spraying, there is an Initial unpleasant alchool burst)
Presentation:.................7.5 (efective and simple. The can container lacks a bit of class for a niche player)
Price:...............................7.0 (100 ml non tester for 60 Euros + shipping)
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Overall rating: 7.77/10.00
- between 7 and 8 =above average;
- between 8 and 9 = recomended;
- bigger than 9 = don't miss it;

I recommend this fragrance if you seek a nice wearable oriental woody, oudy and leathery scent. if you are looking for a very DARK and BOLD oriental perfume, just keep searching...

Music: Procol Harum - "A whiter shade of pale"

01/21/2016

ColinM
516 Reviews

ColinM

Dark what?

I may be anosmic to some components (I am very skeptical about “selective anosmy”, though) but I don’t get anything “dark” here, not even by mistake. And no oud either, but that’s no surprise with Montale offerings. Dark Aoud seems to me a very inoffensive, quite pleasant, slightly boring and extremely artificial cedar-sandalwood scent with a polite, understated, mannered dry look – almost minimalistic, in some way. It feels very clean, slightly earthy-herbal too, with a mild touch of spices to add a delicately sparkling edge to the core woody galore. That’s it. No oud, not even a synthetic hint of that, and no darkness for me, at all. Quite the opposite, actually (you know what scent Dark Aoud reminds me of, if any? A Quiet Morning by Miller et Bertaux).

Despite the criminally misleading name and a certain feel of flatness it’s a decent scent though, almost nice - a very clean and discreet everlasting woody blend with no particular sparks of interest, but effortlessly enjoyable. A very safe and versatile workhorse, I guess. One of those clean, generic “IKEA-like” woody scents, just with some spices and an eau de parfum strength and longevity. Not exactly the catchiest scent around and definitely overpriced, but there’s worse than this.

5,5-6/10

07/03/2013

9
Scent 10
Longevity 10
Sillage 7.5
Bottle

oliver1h
13 Reviews

oliver1h

Helpful Review 3

Black as the Pit from pole to pole.

A rather linear (not a negative thing), yet beautiful blend of truly dark, somewhat medicinal aoud and sandalwood. Aoud lovers will almost certainly like this. I like it myself. I can imagine waring this in colder months of the year, and maybe at night, which in my opinion goes well with the dark mood the scent creates. I do not think Dark Aoud is feminine at all, but that does not mean ladies should not try... Longevity is great, projection is very good. Very interesting!

2 Replies

06/05/2013

9
Scent 10
Longevity 7.5
Sillage

Steve0580
31 Reviews

Steve0580

Very helpful Review 2

Excellent Fragrance

Dark Aoud is one of my favorite fragrances.

Obviously, the scent is woody and Sandalwood seems to stand out the most. As far as woods and Aoud, this one doesn't seem to be very harsh and leaves a very nice trail.

Sillage and Longevity are outstanding. Don't overspray this one or you'll clear a room out.

05/10/2013

10
Scent 10
Longevity 10
Sillage 5
Bottle

Miaw2
339 Reviews

Miaw2

Very helpful Review 6

Dangerous stuff

Only few words can describe Dark Aoud: heavy, dense, linear, raw.

It's a very unidimensional scent: sandal, oud and musk from the beginning to the end.

Also there's a tiny note of incense (maybe frankincense due to the small sweetness that appears after some hours).

There's no comparision with other sandalwood bases fragrances: this is totally different.

If i could compare, i would say Bois des Iles is a little small bird and this is a hungry hyena.

Sillage, lasting power and projection are hazardous.

One of the best Montale releases so far.

03/08/2013

5
Scent 10
Longevity 10
Sillage 10
Bottle

Sherapop
1239 Reviews

Sherapop

Blindingly Black

When a piece of metal is cooled to well below freezing, say by dipping it in liquid nitrogen, it becomes capable of burning the skin, paradoxically enough. It's not really a burn but a freeze, but it has the same damaging effect and the pain is probably very similar as well.

Upon donning Montale DARK AOUD, I was struck by the unbelievable density of this composition. It's so black that it could easily induce the olfactory equivalent of white spot afterimages. For a brief period, I was even struck by what seemed to be a dark shoe polish-like scent. This is incredibly woody, including oudy, but it is also very dense and thick, as though the wood has been compressed to one-tenth its starting volume.

I initially thought that I was smelling the base of so many recent launches, and I do continue to believe that there is significant overlap with, for example, Le Labo ANOTHER 13 and Balmain CARBONE, but DARK AOUD pulls out all of the stops in its quest for absolute blackness, and the result is somehow better not worse.

I suppose that I can tolerate this woodishness in an exaggerated dose because it's not clobbering everything else around. Why? Because there *is* nothing else around: no flowers, no fruits, no citrus, no sweetness or light--nothing mitigating at all. This is deep, dark wood in every form, from fresh hewn to petrified.

To me, this is obviously a masculine perfume, and I'm not surprised to see that although it is classified as unisex, three times more gents than ladies own this prince of darkness.