Oud Pour Lui

*DISCLAIMER:This is not a note breakdown but my personal experience with the scent and the first feelings* Instant reminiscence of my childhood school workshop. It revives the smell of big sheets of paper, crayons, water and oil colors, burnt wood from woodworking, those sticky glues children used to glue everywhere on the workshop tables/flors, pencil shavings and even the smell of the cleaning products that was used some hours ago before children met in school. None might even get one of those mentions in the notes, and strangely enough the brain makes these association. Sadly no oud for me, but I'm glad i bought it. Will use for special occation. Big reminiscence and of good memories, therefore a big 8/10. It's not a big projection scent after the first 30 min It's skin scent for most of the life of the scent, around 5-8 hours of its life on my skin Definately a unique scent for my nose and NOT a dumb reach. It is of very high quality and for SPECIAL taste, so beware. It is NOT something you want to smell of for everyday and definately NOT office/date/formal or to impress someone with, so do NOT blindbuy.

Some 15 years ago I tried a sample of a karite body cream by I coloniali from their Spirit of Africa line. I was enchanted by its smell – it was mysterious, otherworldly, timeless. I had no idea what that smell was but I loved it. This magical scent evoked in my mind pictures of ancient times, faraway lands, mysterious knowledge and wisdom. Now when I tried Oud pour Lui by Alyssa Ashley this memory came back immediately – this is the exact same smell. I guess now that’s what incense is to me. It seems to speak to my olfactory senses in a very strange way. When I smell this, I feel ancient, immortal, body-less. Today it’s a cold winter day -17 C (seventeen below zero celsius) and I’m wearing Oud pour Lui. I find it a perfect warming scent for extremely cold weather. (I love Oud pour Elle too.)

Blind bought it after reading these reviews. I'm very happy with it. It's more oud than incense. If you are familiar with Comme des garcons kitchen and Montale than its easy to compare. Not a sweet scent at all, no rose, no sour marine, no flowers no bullshit! it's pretty great! Definatelly an churchy unisex scent! Its more familiar to some of the comme des garcons scent, i think less powerfull sillage but absolutely : if you are looking for a cheaper substituteof CdG - this is the best one so far. It is also similar to Montale Dark Oud but than more like CDG Black or Avignon. Defiantelly recommand.

great scent but I think it is very soft, for me this will be a summer scent; relaxing at home scent or a safe office scent. catholic church insence It shares some qualities with bois mysterieux from guerlain but this has way more insence and is less potent. update: I did some more sprays, 2 on each elbow and 2 under my shirt and it is very present now and man what a great scent. The oud and peppery smell is almost the same as Alma Colecion Privada Misterious Oud La Martina for women and men I bought it for 13 euros for 100 ml and I think I'm going to buy a backup bottle. 9/10

Straight up incense, as in frankincense, to my nose. I have just dug it out of my hibernated "winter collection" as I fancied some frankincense but didn't want to have anything burning around my room. This fragrance has a meditative quality to it. It works much better on me today than in winter, perhaps because my skin is warmer.

Little bit reminds the style of CDG Monocle Hinoki - gentle catholic church + oud. More incense than oud - this is true. In first 3 min. reminds Oud Imperial Perris Monte Carlo (nose Luca Maffei too). Excellent fragrance for this price (not cheap smell). Really like!

it's amazing how a scent is overlooked .... so beautiful !!!!!! The oud is felt at the beginning ... then slight sweetness becomes pure incense Catholic church .... 10/10 tùtto.credo to buy it and it will be in my top 5. It is a body Kouros incensed. beautiful.

More "Incense" than "Oud", but one of the best oud-incense combo available, at very cheap price. It reminds a walking inside forests, on high mountains. Really pleasant.

very nice dry-oud fragrance... it has also very enveloping warm balsamic incense note. A great siliage and longlivety!!!

incredible scent.start soft....and after...became....an incensy scent.best of various niche.i love it.

I blind bought this and, honestly, I'm bit on a fence with it. The bottle: Looks very cheap. There are several imperfections on the glass, the grey label is just a sticker that looks like it's going to come off any minute and the plastic cap & sprayer feel cheap. But I can live with that. What's inside is what matters. The juice: Now the juice is indeed what I was looking for. Starts off with a zesty combination of citrus and saffron that quickly vanishes to let the incense-oud combination come forward. I agree with all the previous comments, there's more incense than oud and it definitely resembles a catholic church. Similar to my nose to Armani Prive Encens Satin. I do enjoy the smell quite a lot and it's definitely better than the bottle. Performance: Here is where I have concerns. Disclaimer, when testing this, I have a bit of a flu going on, so my nose is not operating at it's best parameters and I might be wrong, but ... I feel that Oud pour Lui has no staying power and sillage. Certainly not something suitable for an EDP ... It is gone in a couple of minutes. Or at least I don't feel it anymore. But due to my health issues, I shall revisit this, as I doubt this is a fake (who fakes a 50eur bottle of Alyssa Ashley?) or a watered down version and hopefully performance would increase, as I do enjoy the scent, in the minutes that I can smell it. Edit: so I've revisited this, with a proper working nose. Unfortunately, my previous statement stands. It's not a silage monster (you need to get your nose close to the skin to actually feel it) and on skin lasts between 4 to 6 hours. Oh well ...

This is all about a linear powerful cumin/saffron/incense (olibanum) trio. Cannot spot any oud in this one, but who cares! It's well blended and surprising for a premium brand... or maybe not so much, since Luca Maffei also blended a few great fragrances for Houbigant and Histoires de Parfums, just to cite a couple. This is a one-stage carbon copy of Laurent Mazzone Black Oud's drydown, and also reminds me of L'Artisan Parfumeur Al Oudh. Would I recommend it over LM Black Oud? Well.... I would say that it depends at what price you can spot it: it retails currently online around $65 for a 100ml bottle (not really a low premium price), and LM Black Oud is now around $130, but could be spotted until recently around $80. At $80, I would say without hesitation: get the real deal, go for LM Black Oud (which is definitely more complex and a step higher in terms of quality). At $130 for LM BO, I would say: get a 50ml at $40 of AA Oud Pour Lui while you wait for LM BO's price to drop. Just my 2 cents. Anyways, a good under-the-radar frag, but not really a "cheapie", so think twice before buying imo. Fall/Winter evenings, 30+ Edit: I recently spotted LM Black Oud for $70 on ebay.. no more hesitation!

No oud listed? Well, it is predominantly oud. To me this is a fairly low sillage oud that could easily be unisex. I'm usually no fan of oud and this is one reason I'm excited about trying every one in sight, proving there might be one out there for me yet. Oud Pour Lui is very basic and light for an oud lover, but easily adjusted to for the oud-sensitive nose. The cedar and saffron support so beautifully I don't even notice the cumin. There is freshness from the citrus and geranium, and slight sweetness provided by the jasmine and smokey wood. I'm wondering if they used iso e super to get the woody effect. The cedary smoke instantly brought to mind a much milder version of one of Olympic Orchid's creations. This is great in mild weather and I've been thinking of layering it with something equally dark and amazing for this time of year: Black Sugar. Think of this scent by an open fire, while turning leaves fall around you in the chilly night breeze. Medium longevity and fairly low sillage...as ZELJO said below," soft and strong at the same time"!

I have oud fragrances, and this one is NOT MUCH of an oud scent. When in Dubai, I tried oud and I was blown away by the power, and yes they warned me. Oud is really a potent and lasting unisex scent of that tree, a real wood. This one is gone in three-four hours, I'm not blown away at all, yet this is still from a tree, a resin of frankincense. Anybody mentioning church here. Yes, brother Leonard, I'm following you. Of course, you smell like a monk being infused with the scented smoke of incense after a church mass. Difficult to wear with the church associations on any occasion. Apart from that, a solid scent. If you going for a walk or on a hike, this one might be quite good because you are having nature on you and then maybe... for Xmas. No sweetness and heavy floral undertones keep it pretty much down to earth. I would not wear it in office or a to party, unless there are clerics there.

A dusty, church-like composition. Incense and candle wax. If you're looking for a Middle Eastern-style powerhouse oud, prepare to be disappointed. It's a far subtler take. There is a slight synthetic quality; comforting old chemicals and a touch of sawdust, too. Like a woodshop or an old hardware store. A beguiling, nostalgic feel. For a male-targeted fragrance, it's refreshingly free of that intangible "generic aftershave" smell, without lacking a subtle masculinity. Comfortably unisex however and the best of both oud fragrances (Pour Lui and Pour Elle) by Luca Maffei for Alyssa Ashley. For an eau de parfum however, its performance on my skin is disappointingly short-lived, wearing more like a moderate toilette. A mild take on oud, but nonetheless an interesting effort full of atmosphere and charm.

Oud no, incense yes, very, church like vibe. Not bad for the price unfortunately I don’t get any cumin, and I love cumin frags. Where to wear? not sure with this as it might annoy some but the dry down isn’t bad and sits close to the skin. Definitely not a blind buy.

I blind bought this recently while Alyssa Ashley was having a 2-for-1 sale. Admittedly, I probably should have known better than to buy fragrance from a manufacturer who does "2-for-1"-type promos, but lesson learned. I'm a fan of both oud and incense, but this fragrance is a mess and shouldn't fairly be classified as either. As other reviewers have already noted, this is much more incense than oud. However, the incense here is so terribly synthetic and screechy that it barely references smoldering resins. It's not particularly liturgical, but nor is it very woody or earthy. I'd imagine that this fragrance approximates the aroma of someone who has lightly applied CdG's Avignon, followed by a massive amount of cheap hairspray (think aquanet). While there is some incense and oud to be found here, both are buried beneath a nasal searing opening that never fully resolves. So I'm stuck with two full bottles of this stuff....it was inexpensive, but still among the poorest blind buys I've made. I very rarely buy a fragrance without testing, and this one reinforces my proclivity for sampling before buying.

A lot of varied reviews here. Here is mine. Presentation. The bottle is transparent, not blue. The symbols are actually on the back of the bottle, in relief. The box is extremely sober but who cares. The sprayer is strong and more narrow than anything else I have. Silver cap. Sticker on the front. All in all the bottle looks decent. I was really curious and hopeful for this one but I do not like it. I smell one thing and one thing only: church incense. The thick sharp incense they put in the burners and gently swing around. This is really sharp to the nose! To me this is a 100% match of church incense. Longevity is moderate at the least. Update 1-MAR-2021: this is the last time I will try it. Hideously sharp.

Scratchiest fragrance I've ever had in my nose. BIG on the iso-e super, couldn't smell much incense over the scratchiness, and consequently never tried it on skin. If you're sensitive to low quality iso-e then avoid it!

No, it doesn't smell at all like CdG Avignon nor Montale Full Incense. It's a poor quality fragrance, camporish, fastidiously chemical.