"Against her father's wishes, Scheherazade volunteered to spend one night with the king. The king lay awake and listened with awe as Scheherazade told her first story. The night passed by, and Scheherazade stopped in the middle. The king asked her to finish, but Scheherazade said there was no time, as dawn was breaking. The following night, Scheherazade finished the story and then began a second, more exciting tale, which she again stopped halfway through at dawn. And so the king kept Scheherazade alive day by day, as he eagerly anticipated the finishing of the previous night's story. At the end of 1,001 nights, and 1,000 stories, Scheherazade told the king that she had no more tales to tell him. During these 1,001 nights, the king had fallen in love with Scheherazade. He spared her life and made her his queen." I envision the Persian King Shahryar wearing a beautiful and wealthy attar during those thousand nights. In a more modern era, that scent could match with the sound of the dunes and the silence of the old cities. The gold of the sand bathed in sunlight at dusk and dawn.
With an unusually mild winter here in northern Italy, I'm reaching for this scent more and more often and loving it more each time. This scent is on par with Ferrari Essence Oud and worth experiencing for any oud rose lover. I do confirm the two fragrances when compared side by side smell very similar in the first hours, but then Essence Oud takes a resinous oud path, whereas Amber Our is all about leathery oud, which makes the two apart. Amber Oud turned out to smell rather fantastic to my nose. Upon several applications, I detect a strong leather accord along with an oud note. To me, that is a good thing.
It starts with a strong smell of oud with blossom and spicy, a slightly dark yet sweet welcome. The first thing that came to my mind was undoubtedly not amber, nor modern ambroxan, but instead rose—a precious, warm, not particularly sweet rose. When I read the note breakdown, I realized it was geranium rather than a rose. Perhaps, the misleading note is the geraniol molecule, which as both a rose and a pelargonium odor. But while geranium absolute smells decidedly rosy, here it lacks the tickling sweetness that real roses can have.
Oud appears mentioned as a middle note; however, I feel it as an overall backdrop note. On the heart within an hour, the rose becomes fainter while the oud s paired with some sort of smoky, sweet balsamic resins; the mixture together very much smells like incense, but with hints of rose and soft gums.
Amber Oud goes on to reveal a dense leather base. The geranium persists well into the dry-down, along with something slightly sour and earthy, which prevents the scent from becoming cloying. The sourness might derive from whatever creates an "oud" accord. On the final, it is sweet, smoky and leathery oud, just a tad dirty in the best way. Amber Oud is a very western take on the traditional middle eastern rose oud. It is an Italian take on the Oud combination. As such, if you are used to the middle east and south Asian attar blends, this is slightly different and in the right way. The Oud note in this is not overpowering, and there is none of that medicinal smell that most of these synthetic oud frags have.
I felt comfortable wearing Amber Oud. It is currently cold where I live, and this is a fragrance for the cold months. This particular fragrance is a beginner's oud, as it is not so animalic or in-your-face as others, but is more of a pleasant chocolaty gourmand type. I've worn this to bed a few times! It's the perfect scent to wear to bed. Maybe not for the office, but nights out. Sillage is strong with this, so it's perfect for wintertime. At the same time, longevity is also reliable, projecting loudly for the first hours, and then continuing with less projection, with over merely all night.
-Elysium
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