Ungaro Pour L'Homme III Oud

A bit different for a "designer oud" scent, as it is leathery but it doesn't go into that fruity Tuscan Leather direction. The oud-ish element is mild and while I get some dusty cocoa-ish quality, it's mild too. Instead, it's mostly a dry leathery scent fortified with a little non-animalic musk and spice. It's not especially strong but it persists well. I think the cocoa had to be strengthened to get this to the point where many (including myself) might say it's a great, niche-like scent for the price. As it is, I'd say it's a good light oud scent that is mostly notable for the dry but not harsh leathery quality. If you don't want to spend much on a strong medicinal oud scent along the lines of Montale's Black Aoud, there is Jovan's. And I do agree with those who see a similarity with Derby Club Ascot, but that one has more notes and I think the composition is a bit cruder.

The cacao pod being prominent here is a good thing as it adds originality, gourmandise and masculinity to an otherwise neutral scent. The combination of pepper, cardamom, and medicinal 'oud' merge into a faint smell of woody ash and embers. It draws in my mind the picture of a man warming himself up, on a cold winter night, sipping hot cocoa by his cabin's tiny fireplace. It's a warm, bittersweet, deeply contemplative, serious but enticing, timeless and highly masculine smell. The main downsides for me are: no actual oud, slightly dry, and very much limited to winter nights. This is a phenomenal men's winter fragrance. With higher quality ingredients, this could've absolutely been a masterpiece. Scent: 8.5 + Versatility: 2.5 Value: 10

A fabulous fragrance. I love the original Ungaro iii pour Homme which is a fantastic rose fragrance that smells avant-garde. This smells so much darker, deeper, woodier, spicier. It borders on slight gourmand territory almost like the wood was soaked in dessert and keeping the sweetness in check. The dry down has some pumpkin spice like feeling and it happens towards the 12-hour mark and it last even longer than that on the skin. Absolutely worth the bargain price that it can be found at.

This one grew on me, now I like it. It's a strong cacao oud combo with apocalyptic performance. Ultra rich, dark, sweet, warming, cuddly, drinking hot chocolate in a cabin in the woods. Middle way between gourmand and woody oriental. It's a "love it or hate it" one, some will say it's for mature gentlemen, others will find it even unisex, you have to try it. It's bargain price definitely unexpected for such a creative and good performance fragrance.

Hated this at first. Put it away. Then one day sprayed it on my shirt before bedtime and kept smelling something oud and coca sweet. Then realized this smells awesome on cloth and not my skin. Finding myself reaching for it over my other more expensive fragrances. The sweetness is not the boring sugary sweet like most designers, but it is deeper sweet of cocoa with pleasant oud. this is now top 5 in my collection.