Oud Essentiel

Oud Essentiel by Guerlain is a standout from the Les Absolus d'Orient collection. In fact, this fragrance is a modern classic. The East according to Thierry Wasser. This is not your usual sweet, "popular" Oud fragrance. It is an austere, magnetic and deeply refined perfume. Thierry Wasser has managed to master the bestiality of agarwood making it incredibly elegant. Although the pyramid seems minimalist, the sensory experience is complex: as soon as it is sprayed, the impact is strong. There is an almost metallic and green note (given by saffron and geranium, although not always officially mentioned) that cuts through the air. The Heart: The Rose is not a dewy garden rose, but a dark rose, almost "withered" in smoke, which serves to smooth the edges of the leather. Leather and Oud dominate. It is a dry leather, reminiscent of the inside of a luxury bag or antique saddlery. There is no trace of sugar here: it is a fragrance for those who love pure and dry woody scents. It is a "monolithic" perfume: it does not change much over time, it remains true to itself from the first spray until the drydown. It is ideal if you are looking for an olfactory signature that conveys authority, mystery and a deep connection with French high perfumery that looks to Arabia. If you are not used to "dry" Oud, try it on your skin first. It is a fragrance that does not compromise: either you love it madly, or you find it too intense.

If you’ve tried a lot of oud, rose and leather scents then this won’t blow your mind. Nevertheless. This is still pretty underrated. Opens with a dry, peaty, somewhat bandaid-y oud. Not barnyardy or animalic at all, but still quite dark due to all the smoke. After a few minutes you’ll get a very nice patchouli rose that isn’t too far off from you might find in Portrait Of A Lady. At this point you might be tempted to write this off as nothing more than “another one of those”, but fortunately, this isn’t the end of the story, because as it dries down it uncovers the familiar Guerlain DNA, an almond-y vanilla amber accord that underpins scents such as Shalimar and Habit Rouge. It’s not to say that this turns into anything remotely similar to Shalimar, this is much more about the oud and the rose, but that “Guerlinade” is definitely there. If point of this is to combine middle eastern and french perfumery, then it succeeds, it leans more towards the middle eastern side, it’s dark and heavy but it’s easygoing enough as to not offend most people who aren’t used to this type of stuff. It’s far from the only release that goes in this direction, so it’s not innovative in that regard but I would definitely consider it one of the stonger “western” or “entry level” ouds. If you expect something more raw you’ll be disappointed, but I don’t think that’s the point. After all, it’s called “Oud Essential”

I'm not a huge oud fan, it's always smelled like a poo to me! This concoction is no different, but instead of the distinctive oud I'm getting some prominent screechy metallic note and very strong one and overpowering, too. How did the three ingredients manage to do that is a mystery to me, probably the rose with the leather reacting in some way. It's very herbaceous and astringent and almost foresty in a coniferous resin type of way. Oud peeks through at times but I'll need more time of testing to determine whether I like it or not. Right now it's a meh for me. It's the type of very typical middle eastern oriental that I don't particularly care much about. As far as leather in this collection, Cuir Intense, with Osmanthus instead of rose, fares far better than this in my book... EDIT: As this dries down the screechy coniferous resin/weird metallic note dissipates substantially and a very pleasant, good quality sweet oud with just a hint of leather remains, which is very nice and doable, I must say. It's dry, woody, manly, sophisticated, slightly powdery sweet and comforting in a way. The wild opening would still dissuade me from buying, though.

My review is for the Absolus Allegoria reformulation (? - I found conflicting information). I did not know the previous scent. I tried this in the Guerlain store. It opens nicely - hypnotizing, with an off-putting note that I could not help but come back to it, and the dry down is the oud that was promised with a leathery envelope ornate with a hint of roses. I totally disagree with the previous commenters which have said it smells like Santal Royal. Santal Royal's rose is way more prominent and much sweeter and smoother. This is a punch to the face followed by a woody caress. Performance wise it is totally performing with long longevity and massive projection, very well blended - pricing wise, I would pay Spanish retail price (150 euros), but not the $240 of the online store. On discounters I see it at $130~. If it drops below 100, I would snatch this up, but I would rather take Santal Royal over it. Give it a shot. You may enjoy it.

Mysterious, dark, delicate, raw. A rider makes camp amid a thicket of wild roses. The campfire of the night before exhales ribbons lit by the morning twilight—barely warming the leather of his riding gear. Dry, airy and surprisingly cool for a perfume with a significant leather note. Neither classic nor novel in the way that nature can be neither of those things. Definitely not a recommended blind buy. Performance and overall quality are outstanding and the price therefore is extremely fair. It is a 125 ml bottle after all and it's easily on a par with Eau Sauvage Parfum. A deep love for me and my first true signature scent after quite a search. Thank you Guerlain. P.S. if you sort of like Encre Noire but want something 100x better, try this.