Oud Cuiré

I love this stuff! There are two main notes in this fragrance: Dhanal Oud and Leather. The leather becomes more prominent at the drydown and is almost on the edge of the burnt-leather accord of Tom Ford's "Ombre Leather". The oud is dark, slightliy animalic, but not skanky - as I mentioned above - thick and has the typical "oily" smell of a Dhanal Oud attar. This attar has a very good longevity with a soft projection. I like to use perfumes, mostly attars, before I go to bed and "Oud Cuire" is my favourite one. I apply a dab on my mustache and I am in the arms of Morpheus. Deep, masculine, calming... Thank you AKAF for the great and affordable attars you offer!

This is strictly for oud lovers. I know many people wouldn't like it if they're not into ouds, so better get a small tester sample from the website or try it in the shop like I did. I tested the whole range of ouds that AKAF had on offer and bought 2 oud-heavy ones, sheikh Al faransi and this one. I wrote a review of the former on this website too. This is not like Oud leather from Montale for example, this is the real stuff. It's unapologetic Oud with a background of leather. Sweet notes are present but they're not the main players. It's very thick and syrupy, with excellent longevity. If you like proper Oud, sample this one.

Ooh, this is a seriously addicting leather wood. What I particularly love about it is that it dodges the unbearable enormity and the headache-inducing tendencies of most leather; this is a leather you can wear in summer! It's quiet and woody but lasts and lasts. This will be my recommendation for a leather scent from now on.

I layered this with "musk tahara" from AKAF and the blend was breath taking. The Oud and leather from this one blend really nicely with white musk, lemon, honey and hazelnut from musk tahara. Just thought it's worth sharing.

The oil is very concentrated, dark and thick. The smell is magic and it reminds me of a peaty scotch whisky from the island of Islay a little bit in the opening.