Whoever follows me here knows how much I love the Oud Wood and how big my problems with durability and sillage with this fragrance were.
With my first bottle I had such a poor shelf life that I returned the 100 ml to the seller after 7 days.
In the months that followed, I spent hours and sometimes days researching possible reformulations, batch codes, ingredients, bottle sizes, etc., until in April of this year I decided to give the fragrance another chance and then added a 30 ml bottle to my collection. At the same time a 50 ml bottle was in my nest at Easter, for which I am really, really grateful to my dearest partner.
And what can I say - I simply love the Oud Wood more than anything else! The smoothness, the woods, the coolness... The coolness? Yes, the coolness: It radiates a distant coolness and at the same time a comforting warmth. Cool, aloof wood with subtle nuances of oud. Soothing cardamom. Noble sandalwood. Rounded off by the warmth of the tonka bean and the restrained sweetness of the subtle use of amber. A dream.
If it weren't for the shelf life - 5 to a maximum of 7 hours - then even in the best weather conditions and with the most powerful air conditioning, this fragrance would be over. Unfortunately.
So an alternative had to be found. An alternative for which I would have been willing to spend a lot of money just to get a longer lasting Oud Wood fragrance.
During my research I came across the Bois Oudh from DUA Fragrances. If one believed the reviews, Bois Oudh was an identical clone of Oud Wood, only with massively improved durability. "Oud Wood on steroids" so to speak. When DUA just had another action, I struck: blindly I ordered 3 bottles - who dares wins. And a little spoiler right in front: I have definitely won.
I have already written several comments on other DUA fragrances: F'ing Fabulous and Royal Chariot Attar. Where the former is still easy to guess, Royal Chariot Attar is a dupe of the fragrance Layton from Marly.
These comments were always direct comparisons between the original and the dupe. I have brought down these comparisons into a FOREWORD and then the EVALUATIONS of FLACON, OPENING, HEARTNOTE, BASICNOTE and a CONCLUSION.
And that's exactly what I'm going to spare myself at this point.
Because:
Contrary to all my scepticism and doubts, Bois Oudh is actually an almost identical clone of Oud Wood. Bois Oudh has a subtly sharper (and in my eyes actually better) opening while the Oud Wood is very, very balanced and smooth right from the start. The Bois Oudh is very, very present from the very first moment, not loud but clearly perceptible. It is like a more intense version of the original.
At the latest from the drydown on you can save yourself the "almost" identical - because: The scents are identical. The Bois Oudh is minimally creamier and sweeter, yet a wonderful and balanced scent. A really successful composition by DUA.
While the Oud Wood becomes very, very reserved in its base note, which unfortunately starts very early in this fragrance, and lets the scent fade away pleasantly with amber and tonka bean, the Bois Oudh never seems to leave its heart note and therefore never gets to its base note. From the heart note onwards, the Bois Oudh features amber and tonka bean, which make the fragrance with its beautiful, cool woods appear at the same time fantastically warm and creamy, but this masterpiece only really comes to an end very, very late.
The Bois Oudh is possibly more subtly linear, but at least as fantastically beautiful and multi-faceted as the original.
The big advantage of this fragrance is its durability: I already have an above-average shelf life. While the Oud Wood unfortunately only lasts between 5 to 7 hours, I can smell the Bois Oudh the next day, i.e. 10 to 12 hours later. Then only very discreet and light, but still clearly recognizable as Bois Oudh. But on the clothes it actually stays on until the next wash.
The sillage of the Bois Oudh is also much better than the original, although it is not a sillage bomb. Freshly sprayed on it is still a room filler. After about one to two hours the sillage from the start will subside. However, even after several hours with Bois Oudh one is still clearly noticed at a certain distance and in only two days I was asked three times if I wear Oud Wood. After 7 hours the Sillage still radiates on about half an arm length. - Please read the update on Sillage below. Spoiler: Stronger than described here!
CONCLUSION:
I frankly have no idea how DUA manages to create such ingenious dupes, hitting every nuance so perfectly to the point that you'd think it was the original.
However, I'm absolutely convinced of the fragrance itself as well as the performance in terms of durability and silage, and I think you definitely get more for your money - apart from the ugly bottle.
But I don't want to deny my favourite brand Tom Ford either. Tom Ford is a brilliant fashion designer and for me an undisputedly outstanding artist in our wonderful world of fragrances.
The flacons are worlds more beautiful, elegant and prestigious.
And yet: With the Bois Oudh you get a really great oud-wood alternative with clearly better durability and silage.
However, at this point one must also mention in all clarity that with 50 USD for 30 ml plus transport costs and customs duties it is a discreetly cheaper variant, but it is by no means a chemotherapy.
Peace Oud. Uh... Out.
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@!* SUPPLEMENT / UPDATE
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I had to correct the sillage from 7 to 9 up.
I wore the scent for the first time at work today - in the morning I had sprayed two times on my shirt and two more on each side of my neck (so a total of four on my neck).
At noon, that is 4 hours later, when another teacher was about to take over my classroom, she asked me if I had taken a bath in perfume today, because the room smelled of it so strongly. She added that the scent was even present in the corridor.
When I came home tonight, about 9 hours later, my partner said she could smell me when I came into the foyer of our apartment (she was sitting in the living room, a good 30 meters from the foyer).
NEWS RESUME:
(Blind) Buy recommendation: 100 %. Dose carefully because of extreme durability and silage. Even now, 12 hours after application, I still smell the drydown extremely intense.
It seems to me, by the way, that the fragrance has "matured" - when I first applied the fragrance a good week ago, it was already very strong in terms of durability, but the sillage was still far from being as pronounced
Tonka bean
Cardamom
Amber
Teakwood
Sandalwood
Oud
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