Les Absolus d'Orient Oud Essentiel

So here we have a Guerlain Oud ! No Guerlinade, no Gourmandise, no Compromise, kind of a revolution for this house ... I was surprised by this new frag, though Amber Eternel & Santal Royal suggested that something like this could come someday. Other surprise: this one is already available abroad whereas it's not yet available in France, even on the website ... i needed to know well enough an AS at Guerlain's flagship boutique in Paris to get my hands on the ordinary 125 ml EdP bottle.. HackerX's comments are quite accurate but IMHO saffron takes a bit more time to come than half an hour. Is it natural Oud or not? I don't know, but it doesn't leave the typical oily film on the skin like Montale's ouds do, though it does have the power of Montale/Mancera's, Ford's and ADP's ouds, so maybe or not ... I'd be surprised that Wasser, who spends 100s of k$ to get a fantastic natural Ambre Gris, would play that kind of game. Anyway, for those like me who like Oud, this is a must: not aggressive but still not light, soflty enveloped in roses, leather, saffron, olibanum & cedar, oud at it's best ! Longevity is more than 12 hours: not sure that girls will like this as once sprayed in the morning, they can't wear flowers until late at night. Nice twice a month for me, like Ambre Eternel, maybe I'll go for a bee bottle once it'll be available in that form, but the ordinary flacon will last more than a year. BTW it's not a Harrod's exclusive as suggested by Q80, but at Guerlain they take their time to make it available everywhere ... a new strategy or a lack of ingredients to start full production ?

Exquisite! That one word could easily be the sum total of my review, but it wouldn’t be like me not to waffle on. The Santal royal in this collection has a very prominent, sharp and skanky, resinous oud note which is completely in contrast with this stuff, a pure tonepoem of luxury and perfumery excelllence. This is a purely indulgent smell with no one one note dominant, but a smoother resin, saffron and leathery oud smell of giant proportions but delicate and modest execution. I was told by the SA that sprayed me(with perfume;) at the Guerlain counter that it was made with access to ingredients other houses don’t (which I’m inclined to believe as it’s guerlain) and also he was big on the fact that I could keep it for years and years and it won’t spoil (again which is my experience of most perfumes ...kept correctly of course) Oh and also he was encouraging me to layer other scents on top of this, which I don’t do but I see how this emorphous, classy bed of woods and resin would enhance even the worst fragrance you sprayed on it. I love it. I think it’s incredible and an oud to get excited about, it’s not groundbreaking and I’ve smelled similar before but I think it’s a perfect storm this one, a perfect oud for ANYONE to wear and enjoy. It’s soft and retreats to a skin scent after hours of solid projection but then easy lasts 10+ hours and probably weeks on clothes. I want this.

WOWIE !!!! OUD HEAVEN!!! Had this thrown in as a sample vial and gave it a try at work!!!! OUD AND WOOD BOMB!!! I had to try it a few times before it grew on me because it was soon strong it was almost too pungent. It inspired me - I went on an Oud spree and hunt and tried about a dozen including Commes De Garcon WonderOud (CDG never fails me), Cartier, Creed et al and they were either too weak or went on tangents on the dry down presenting a layer or note that was just as prominent (except I think Wonderoud). I'm not sure what constitutes a technical Oud scent but for me this one won me over. It smells like strong damp OUD WOOD - thats it! Its linear, the smell combined with cedar given body with JUST ENOUGH leather smoothly blended (not so as to make the leather a discernible scent of its own) and sweetened with Rose JUST ENOUGH to round the smell rather than present an actual rose smell and take the dryness away and a touch of spice to add a tiny kick at the end. Now I see it as perfect - damn hard to find - I've been buying all the samples I can get - what a shame. Seriously don't get powdery, rough or frankincense references as per some reviews. Perfect, bold, strong, long lasting and smooth. Buy it and smell GOOD!

Les Absolus d'Orient is currently my favorite line of fragrances. Oud Essentiel is my fourth bottle joining Patchouli Ardent, Cuir Intense and Bois Mysterieux in my collection. This is surprising to me. For a while I couldn't justify buying OE as well. But I just spent a month abroad, and on my spare time I tested closer to a hundred scents. Then there was this one fragrance that I had tested on the airport on my flight there. I had kept the tester strip and it lay on a coffee table in my temporary flat - and that was the one my nose and my heart kept getting back to. It was Oud Essentiel. It's surprising because I never was a lover of oriental scents. I couldn't relate to them: maybe they were too far removed from my olfactive memories and surroundings. So admitting Les Absolus d'Orient is now my favorite line is a revelation for me. I guess one could say they are, at heart, French perfumery, just inspired by oriental notes and style, but for me Les Absolus is a game changer. Thank you Thierry Wasser for expanding my horizons. About the smell: I get why the flacon is dark green. OE has a dark green, almost camphorous forest breeziness to it. I even wear this beauty in the summer!

This is as close to a single note oud that I have ever experienced. There are many oud/rose scents, which create the olfactory equivalent of a wall of sound, but this one is refined, as I would expect from Guerlain. The other notes probably soften the overall impact of the oud, but are not discernible to my nose other than a mild hint of leather. Guerlain also has a Santal in the same collection and the leather overwhelms that scent. Longevity is all day and sillage is strong which is why lighter application is very important. I would never wear this to the office, to dining out, nor to any social indoor gathering out of consideration for others’ sensibilities. You won’t find oud based scents at fragrance counters. It is very unique and comparatively far fewer people will be wearing this than wear florals, citrus, marine or fruit, at least in the US. This will definitely attract notice which is fine with me. This is one of those scents which require personal presence; a confident demeanor. Having said all this I love it and would wear it to outdoor venues where I am walking about.