Sundry bits and bobs

Wow, I can't believe another week has flown by and all of a sudden we're more than a quarter of the way through the year!

This week has been a mad rush of work, a bit of holiday, a mixed up routine and in between all that, some haphazard perfume spritzing. From that you might guess that it has been hard for me to find time to write on this blog, hence my first post of April.

This is a bit of a random, whatever-comes-to-mind sort of post, which is just typical of the week that was, I'm afraid. I can hardly remember what I wore. 

I know that today I've worn By Kilian's Amber Oud. I know it was recently shortlisted for a Fifi award(?) - I certainly saw it mentioned on Basenotes somewhere. It seems to be really popular but it doesn't work particularly well on my skin and is a touch too sweet for my liking. Having just typed that, I realise that this statement is slightly contradictory, because I love Back to Black, from the same house, and it is certainly sweet. 

Yesterday I wore Oolang Infini by Atelier Cologne. It is fairly simple, in a pared-down sort of way, but smells very good nevertheless. It would work well in warmer weather I think.

That's where things get hazy. I know I tried Serge Lutens' La Fille de Berlin for the first time and that will be the subject of a separate post at some point, I think. My initial impression is that I like it and as many people have mentioned to date, it falls somewhere between the more mysterious and dark Rose de Nuit and the brighter, more in-your-face rosiness of Sa Majeste La Rose. That's all the perfume I can recall this week folks.

It's a busy few days that lie ahead. My wife Wendy has her birthday on Sunday (and is running a half marathon on the same day for good measure) while my younger daughter Daisy turns four on Monday. I'm taking quite a bit of holiday next week and in fact will only be working one and a half days all told! That's something to look forward to, it must be said.

As is fitting for one from England, one must mention the weather of course! It may be the 5th of April already, but blimey, it ain't half cold still! The temperatures this week have been colder than what we would usually expect for December and January. It is beyond a joke now. Roll on spring proper, is all I can say...

By Kilian Cruel Intentions

Regular readers of my blog might have gathered by now that I quite enjoy oud-based perfumes. Of course, with my limited experience, I haven't been fortunate enough to try the real thing yet (I think) and so my interpretation of oud is based very much on a Western oud-accord, which, some say, is nothing like the real thing. This in turn is a real simplification, as oud has many different facets and comes from different countries, each of which can differ remarkably, I've read. Anyway, having sampled Pure Oud, I thought I'd try an oud in the By Kilian line, Cruel Intentions. The listed notes include bergamot, orange blossom, violet accord, rose absolute, agarwood (oud) papyrus oil, gaiacwood, vetiver, sandalwood, styrax, castoreum, vanilla and musk. This is a serious list of notes, with some real powerhouse ingredients in there. Which begs the question why on my skin Cruel Intentions seems so tame, murky and indistinct. In fact, in a nutshell, Cruel Intentions smells like M7, by YSL. Don't get me wrong - I actually like M7 a lot. But why would I splash out an insane amount of cash for the Kilian when I can get M7 for probably a third or quarter of the price. Well, not for much longer - I think M7 is on the way out because it doesn't seem to be stocked much in the UK now. Cruel Intentions opens bright and citrusy, without any oud in sight. When I was writing notes for this, I wrote that I could detect cardamom, coriander and lavender, none of which is listed in the notes, so I must have been totally wrong. As the top fades I can detect a slightly muddy or murky oud note emerge that to my nose smells remarkably like M7. In fact, at this point I don't think I would be able to tell one from the other were I to wear them on each wrist. As the fragrance develops, it does become slightly more refined than M7 perhaps, quite woody, a bit smoky, but if I'm being honest, the host of notes listed above fail to make much impact to my nose. I'm obviously no expert, but styrax, castoreum, vetiver and musk were lost on my skin. It does become quite sweet later on, which I would think is the influence of the vanilla, gaiacwood and sandalwood, but this perfume is neither skanky nor particularly edgy to me, despite the name.

I'm sorry if this review seems slightly negative, but Cruel Intentions was a big let down for me, particularly as I enjoyed Back to Black and Pure Oud very much. I'm not sure I would recommend this. I would rather recommend you try M7, a groundbreaking mainstream perfume, very much ahead of its time in my opinion, and now, unfortunately, seemingly on the verge of being discontinued.

Image credit - Luckscent.com

By Kilian - Cruel Intentions

The By Kilian line seems to evoke strong emotions in perfumistas. You seem to have those who adore the perfume and those that deplore the prices (and the extreme luxury positioning of the brand). While I could never see myself buying a full bottle, I must say that I have quite enjoyed two in the line that I've tried, Pure Oud and Back to Black. I also have a sample of Cruel Intentions, the subject of my review today. The listed notes include bergamot, orange blossom, violet accord, rose absolute, agarwood, papyrus oil, gaiacwood, vetiver, sandalwood, styrax, castoreum, vanilla and musk. Crumbs, what a list. The opening is bright and citrusy. It goes to show how poor I am at identifying notes sometimes. Having not read any listed notes, I wrote down that I could detect lavender, coriander and cardamom! In any event, there is a piquancy early on, but as the top fades, the oud slowly comes into focus. What really surprised me is that the feel of the oud here is very much like M7 by YSL. It is a slightly sweet, peppery oud accord, with a bit of a muddy feel to it. This is the best way I can describe it. At one point, I was really struggling to tell the difference between the two. I don't get any of the other notes, especially the violet and rose. At about the half way point, the oud becomes less pronounced and a very familiar accord came to the fore. I couldn't quite pinpoint it, but then it struck me - Gaiac by Micallef. I sampled this only a few days before Cruel Intentions, but I realise now that Gaiacwood is a big component of both Cruel Intentions and M7. I'm afraid to say that Gaiacwood and I are not best mates. I don't mind the smell but I'm not doing backflips over it either. At the end of the day I found Cruel Intentions to be a decent perfume, but not really my cup of tea. I actually prefer M7, and at the very least a third of the price, I can't see why I would shell out the cash for Cruel Intentions instead. Cruel Intentions is perhaps a slightly more refined, sophisticated take on M7, but packaging aside, I don't personally see what the fuss is about in this case.

Image credit: Luckyscent.com

Oud you like to try some?

I find the whole subject of oud and its uses quite fascinating, but I also find it quite irritating. The reason for this is the exclusivity associated with genuine oud. What I am really saying is that I yearn to try some proper ouds but the price point is insane and my wallet barely stretches to sampling niche fragrances, let alone  a wood prized by Arabian Sultans and Oil Sheiks. To date I have sampled a lot of oud-based fragrances by Le Labo, By Kilian, Montale and Micallef. However, I am led to understand that none of these (possibly some of the Montales do) contains any real oud and that they are all based on oud accords, which is a synthetic recreation of the note. Please correct me if I am wrong, or go read some of the oud threads on Basenotes, some of which date back three to five years and are scores of pages long. I am toying with the idea of ordering some samples from suppliers such as Arabian Oud, Al Munnawarra, Oriscent, Ajmal, etc, but as I already said, the price point is staggering for what you end up getting. I understand a lot of this stuff is highly concentrated, but still folks, my daddy is not an oil baron and I am not the love child of Bill Gates, so I might need to seriously reconsider.

While on the general subject of oud, is it just me, or is there a lot of snobbery surrounding the whole real oud/fake oud debate? I find especially on Basenotes a school of oud lovers that sneers at people's appreciation of oud-accord perfumes such as those I mentioned above, just because they are not the real thing. In the next breath, some of these people then go on to brag about how they are going to "drop a couple of $350" this weekend on a tola or two of whatever insanely expensive oud is on offer online. If these guys are speaking the truth (and why should I doubt them, I'm not jealous - goddammit yes I am!) I still struggle to understand how they could spend these sums of money regularly on what amounts to a few millilitres of juice. To be fair, one person's $350 could be another's $3.50, who am I to judge! In any event, I still wish they would be able to accept that a lot of us just don't have access to these "exalted" ouds, or don't have the cash, plain and simple, and start losing their oud attitude. Actually, that would make a good rap line, don't you think?

Anyway, lets move onto the main subject of my post today, Micallef Oud Homme and By Kilian's Pure Oud. The Micallef opens very bright, with plenty of sweet rose. The oud is evident and is quite similar to the accord used in Czech & Speake's Dark Rose. There is a slight medicinal edge to the oud, but nowhere near as intense and forceful as some of the Montales. As the top fades, we are left with a fairly straightforward oud-rose combination, but a very well done one at that. I find that oud can often be quite a sombre affair, but in Micallef's case, the effect is bright, zippy and happy. It's a bit like Montale's Black Oud on happy pills! The heart notes contain a lovely, fresh rose accord that is on the sweet side and for some reason this phase makes me feel like I am being soaked by rays of bright sunshine, streaming in through a window - radiant, is how it makes me feel. In the dry down all the notes fade and smooth out, with that overall feeling of happiness and sunshine never leaving me. To my mind  this is a great example of an all-year-round oud fragrance. It isn't too forceful, yet it isn't bland either and would make a great introduction for someone looking to try an oud fragrance for the first time.

Pure Oud is a strange one. It opens with no sweet or citrus notes to speak of. It's a severe, woody oud from start to finish, with little embellishment. There is a hint of the barnyard, but overall it feels very woody, not resinous, but quite dark and brooding. I'm reminded of the elementalness of raw wood for some reason, but also of old, decaying wood, slightly mouldy and dusty. There is a slight camphorous note in there, not really detectable unless you sniff really closely. As it moves through the heart to the dry down, the woodiness becomes more complicated, with a mushroomy note and a vague hint of something sweet, but its hard to pin down. The fragrance remains quite severe, earthy, a little decaying right to the end. I would say this is one for the hardcore oud (or should I say ord-accord?) fan. I think quite a few people might struggle with this one and although I did find it quite compelling, I wouldn't say it is an easy perfume to wear. Again, I would recommend trying this one, although it has to be said that By Kilian is hardly the cheapest niche line in the world. Definitely one to sample first before purchasing.