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03/12/2014
Apicius
222 Reviews
Apicius
5
A Riddle Of Oud
Montale was one of the first houses that brought Arabian style perfumery to the boulevards of Paris, the streets of London, and to New York's avenues. Their numerous oud perfumes focus quite much on the classic rose and oud combo. One could line up these perfumes on a scale ranging from the deeply intense Black Aoud to the most powdery variants of that theme – like White Aoud and others.
I have tested quite a few of their ouds, and besides that scale of black (or masculine) to white (or feminine), there are some Montale ouds that follow other concepts.
Another group of Montale ouds are actually crossovers between the rose-oud combo and a certain style of Western perfumery. I'd count in Aoud Forest which leans very much towards the so called „Sport“ fragrance wave, as well as Wild Aoud with its mainstream musk and amber notes.
For quite a long time, I had no idea how Sliver Aoud would fit in there – it just seemed something completely different. By now, I know that it is indeed quite traditional – however, in a different way than those with a focus on rose and oud.
Sliver Aoud is – a mukhallat!
Mukhallat simply means blend, and those perfumes are just that: only a sliver of oud combined with fruity-floral, citric and herbal notes. The result is very often a friendlier appeal that may make such a perfume more accessible to the Western nose. I once bought tiny decants of a cheap mukhallat for my colleagues at work, and for some of them I had to return to my local Arab shop for a refill. It seems, everybody loves a nice mukhallat!
Montale's Sliver Aoud is of very decent quality – much better, more elegant and congenial than those mukhallats I can get from my local Islam shop. Montale quality means for me: their oud notes have nothing to do with real oud oil. The oud hype that was initiated mainly by Montale does not copy the many woody facets of real oud oil at all. Instead, they went for the very cheap chemical replacements that Arab brands had invented for their mass marked “oud” perfumes. While those cheap “ouds” can be really horrible, Montale has always presented us high quality and refined copies of that. However, the main scent impression of artificial oud is musty, not woody. And that mustiness fits perfectly into the Western clichée of sultry oriental harems with opulent and mysterious fragrances evaporating from Aladin's wonder lamp. It is all a big lie, but one that people want to hear and smell!
Back to Sliver Aoud, it indeed contains just a tiny sliver of that false opulence. That fruity, herbal and citric melange has always made me think about classic Italian perfumery with its acque full of bergamot, orange and Mediterranean herbs. And this combination works! I have to admit, Sliver Aoud is the most wearable of all Montale ouds for me. It contains all the warmth of a Mediterranean summer's day.
There are so many more respectable and highly praised Montales: Black Aoud, Steam Aoud, Aoud Flowers – but none of them is as easy-going as Sliver Aoud. If Black Aoud was an oak aged Bordeaux wine from a famous Chateau, then Sliver Aoud would be a light and pleasing Grenache that people would love to drink at any occasion.
I highly recommend testing Sliver Aoud with an open mind. It is something special, and as far as I can see, no other Western brand has yet succeeded in catching the vibes of a good Arab mukhallat fragrance.
I have tested quite a few of their ouds, and besides that scale of black (or masculine) to white (or feminine), there are some Montale ouds that follow other concepts.
Another group of Montale ouds are actually crossovers between the rose-oud combo and a certain style of Western perfumery. I'd count in Aoud Forest which leans very much towards the so called „Sport“ fragrance wave, as well as Wild Aoud with its mainstream musk and amber notes.
For quite a long time, I had no idea how Sliver Aoud would fit in there – it just seemed something completely different. By now, I know that it is indeed quite traditional – however, in a different way than those with a focus on rose and oud.
Sliver Aoud is – a mukhallat!
Mukhallat simply means blend, and those perfumes are just that: only a sliver of oud combined with fruity-floral, citric and herbal notes. The result is very often a friendlier appeal that may make such a perfume more accessible to the Western nose. I once bought tiny decants of a cheap mukhallat for my colleagues at work, and for some of them I had to return to my local Arab shop for a refill. It seems, everybody loves a nice mukhallat!
Montale's Sliver Aoud is of very decent quality – much better, more elegant and congenial than those mukhallats I can get from my local Islam shop. Montale quality means for me: their oud notes have nothing to do with real oud oil. The oud hype that was initiated mainly by Montale does not copy the many woody facets of real oud oil at all. Instead, they went for the very cheap chemical replacements that Arab brands had invented for their mass marked “oud” perfumes. While those cheap “ouds” can be really horrible, Montale has always presented us high quality and refined copies of that. However, the main scent impression of artificial oud is musty, not woody. And that mustiness fits perfectly into the Western clichée of sultry oriental harems with opulent and mysterious fragrances evaporating from Aladin's wonder lamp. It is all a big lie, but one that people want to hear and smell!
Back to Sliver Aoud, it indeed contains just a tiny sliver of that false opulence. That fruity, herbal and citric melange has always made me think about classic Italian perfumery with its acque full of bergamot, orange and Mediterranean herbs. And this combination works! I have to admit, Sliver Aoud is the most wearable of all Montale ouds for me. It contains all the warmth of a Mediterranean summer's day.
There are so many more respectable and highly praised Montales: Black Aoud, Steam Aoud, Aoud Flowers – but none of them is as easy-going as Sliver Aoud. If Black Aoud was an oak aged Bordeaux wine from a famous Chateau, then Sliver Aoud would be a light and pleasing Grenache that people would love to drink at any occasion.
I highly recommend testing Sliver Aoud with an open mind. It is something special, and as far as I can see, no other Western brand has yet succeeded in catching the vibes of a good Arab mukhallat fragrance.
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