Black Oud

I was keeping my eye out for Incense Oud after sampling from the NYC Kilian store last year (bottles all gone though and discontinued) as it was a wearable Oud that incorporated one of my favourite notes in Incense...but luckily for me Black Oud graced a fragrance group and I pounced on it “blind”. So comparing side by side with Incense Oud, Black Oud opens up way stronger with a punchy not quite barnyard but noticeable Oud layer. Someone else mentioned it reminds them of ink, and yes I very much agree, a spicy dark ink. IO lays more on the cool austere spices and incense side here, its more elegant and softer in this stage and more pleasant an opening (its really nice). As things dry down however I think Black Oud takes the cake. It’s oud layer fades into the base and you start to get a much more complex scent that dances back and forth from slightly gothic floral notes, mild non churchy incense (this isn’t Avignon style, maybe a touch more Amouage) and noticeable vegetal green, I suppose from the papyrus. Over time you eventually get to where Incense Oud lays too, but the journey is more interesting in Black Oud and is a little stronger and longer lasting to boot. I would say Incense Oud is more wearable around novice noses though in the first hour. If you spot either for sale and like dark scents try to pick them up, they are not just another rose+oud frag so quite unique, yet very wearable.

Okay, to be honest, this one is a tough one! After by Kilian`s "Amber Oud" (which is a lovley scent by the way) Black Oud plays in a completely different league! This perfume is so intense and unlike any other scent with its rich bouquet of spices and of course tons of pure, animalic and seductive Oud. The first sniff was a slap in my face, simply because I was not prepared for this kind of smell. Agarwood is unique and either you love or hate it. At first the perfume opens with geranium, cardamon and pink pepper but the woody smell of Oud is already present. After about 20 minutes patchouli and cedar begin to balance out the intensity of agarwood, giving it more depth. The drydown is simply spectacular. Musk, sandalwood, sensual incense and oud give this perfume its elegant and seductive body. But beware. This is not stuff for an everyday office visit and be careful with how much you apply. One spritz lasts for days and even a shower or two. It lasts very long on my skin and it will draw the attention of the people around you, I guarantee it. All in all Black Oud is not for the fainthearted and should be applied with caution. Enjoy a very special kind of olfactory experience. P.S.: I personally like the smell of Black Oud on my skin the next day. the incense is stronger and alluring.

Opens with a blast of skanky oud and incense. Right away it reminds me of incense oud. The noticeable difference being that this oud is a bit skankier. Don't get me wrong, it is not -that- skanky. As it dries down, it becomes nearly identical to Incense Oud. I think Black Oud is definitely redundant with Incense Oud, but I'm not yet sure which one I prefer. This fragrance definitely evokes the color black in my mind. LOVE IT! I am really loving By Kilian's Oud fragrances! Incense Oud, Black Oud, Musk Oud, and Rose Oud. Now, I must try all the rest! After reading By Kilian's description Black Oud, it is in fact supposed to be a more intense iteration of Incense Oud.

This is my of my decant of By Kilian Black Oud, the discontinued Arabian Nights release that is essentially the intensified version of Incense Oud. Like many seem to have noted online, Black Oud is has more oud and is more animalic than Incense Oud, so it’s less smooth and agreeable than Incense Oud while still having the balance of both incense and oud and of course, some slightly bit of rose. The balance feels 40% oud, 40% incense, 20% rose, more or less, and like the other entries in the line, it performs well, albeit not as strongly as the oud-named Pure Oud and Pearl Oud. I believe the retail price of Black Oud was in the $350-400 range, which would be roughly the same as the main Arabian Nights collection (Amber, Musk, Rose, Incense, Pure Oud) for $395, so perhaps the higher / more intense tier was even more. Regardless, that’s too high of a price to pay, as with most Kilians, and the discounted $200-or-lower price that’s seen on many secondary markets is more line with demand, it seems. For example, FragranceNet currently has both Musk Oud (from the original Arabian Nights collection) and Pearl Oud (the Doha city exclusive) for under $200, under half of retail. Overall, Black Oud is a nice oud-enhanced take on Incense Oud but in being more oud-laden, some of the ease of wearing is lost that I enjoy in Incense Oud. If I wanted more oud, for example, I would reach for Pure Oud, myself, even though Pure Oud has its own intense version, Extreme Oud. Still, Black Oud is nice semi-animalic winter option on its own merits, price notwithstanding. 7 out of 10

(1mL decant dab sample) The opening is oddly like Chinese calligraphy ink. The black rectangular blocks of ink that one grinds on an equally black ink "plate." That is to say, deep medicinal patchouli-wood with a hint of menthol greenness, reminiscent of my grandfather's office where he stored all of his calligraphy supplies. Half an hour in, it stops smelling like ink but rather like what one would expect of intense ouds. Smoldering lava and incense oud, with a strange animalic sweetness that reminds me of a note in L'Artisan Passage d'Enfer. Flaming orange-red, oozing resin oud, which continues into the drydown. That being said, the projection and longevity are impressive, even from a dab sample. The full-sized spray would no doubt have quite a sillage. Not the most wearable for me, but interesting to smell.