Aoud Oman

Opens up to a great mix of rose petals and dried fruit - the fruit reminds me of a dry plum sweet raisin, dates, almost like a charcuterie board of winter goodies. A very slight sourness at first but after a minute or two the sweetness starts to dominate. This is all carried by a resinous (frankincense) and incense-y character that ties it all together, you have the fresh and clean rose petals, the sweet, dried fruit, and the woody resin and lightly incensy body. Much like an adult "candy" - it's not a sweet and synthetic sugarbomb, but like a plate of sticky, dried fruit at christmas. Very warm, oriental inspired although it doesn't smell strictly arabic. It's perfectly well suited for an upscale cocktail bar in the winter . The oud does show itself and is very well constrained in that it doesn't just smell like wet planks, swampy gym bags or dog hair, instead it just kind of pokes you on the shoulder like "hey, I'm here too" and adds depth and character to the notes around it, without stealing the show. Main smellers: dried fruit (plum, date), rose petals, jasmine, frankincense, incense, tobacco, oud, sandalwood. Overall on the sweet but not sickeningly sweet side, very sophisticated, well fitting for formal events and nice bars. It's decently unisex, but at least in and around where I live, this would never be something most women would be interested in wearing.