Oud for Happiness

Oud for Happiness isn't one that was necessarily on my radar. I knew of it, and I think I had tried it on a test strip at Nordstrom before, but I wasn't wowed by it. However, when I saw a sample being sold for literally $1 I figured I really didn't have much to lose, so I'll go ahead and give it a proper test. Not much else to say, so let's get into it; Scent: The opening is woody, sweet, and spicy. The primary notes I get are bergamot, vanilla, oud, and licorice. The strongest of the notes are the oud and vanilla. The vanilla hogs the spotlight as the fragrance opens with a rich and creamy accord. Right behind the vanilla is the oud with an intense woodiness. The oud in this fragrance is same type of oud you find in Oud For Greatness; natural, animalic, and attention-grabbing. This is followed by the licorice and bergamot. The licorice adds more sweetness with a healthy dose of spiciness to add contrast. Lastly, the bergamot slides in some spicy citrus to freshen up the opening a bit. I also get a hint of the ginger for a little bit more fresh spice. The dry down is sweet, woody, and warm. The primary notes I get are licorice, oud, vanilla, and cedar. The strongest of the notes are the vanilla and licorice. The vanilla has the same sweet and creamy accord from the opening, while the licorice has built in strength to add warmth and spice along with more sweetness. In the dry down, the licorice note reminds me of what I get in Sauvage Elixir. It's vague, but strong enough to draw that connection. This is followed by the oud and cedar. In the dry down the oud has stepped back a bit, but it still hits your nose with the same animalic tinge from the opening. Lastly, the cedar doubles down on the woodiness but with a much softer edge than the oud. Performance: Initial projection is nuclear and easily fills even a large room. Sillage matches that intensity with a dense and heavy scent trail that's impossible to miss. After a few hours the projection was about 5-6 feet and the scent trail was still easily noticeable. At the 7 hour mark the projection was about 3-4 feet and the scent trail was a little quieter but still noticeable. The fragrance became a skin scent around hour 10. When to wear: This is a fall/winter fragrance most suited for evening wear. This isn't a casual wearing fragrance, and it best reserved for special occasions like dates or formal settings. This would not be a safe wear for the office. Blind buy: If you like the idea of Oud For Greatness, Sauvage Elixir, and a heaping dose of vanilla all mixed together, this would be a safe blind buy for you. Outside of that, I would recommend you try it before you buy it. Final verdict: I went into this fragrance not expecting much and it turned out to be one of my favorite Initio's yet. To me, this takes what I like about Oud For Greatness and improves upon it with decadent vanilla and warm, spicy, and sweet licorice. Don't get me wrong, OFG is a great scent and does oud very well; but Oud For Happiness just offers more complexity and is more appealing in my opinion. As of right now, this fragrance has secured a place on my "buy list". This will be one of those that I save for when I want to make a statement. Scent: 10/10 Longevity: 8/10 Sillage: 8/10 P.S. @Fountain30 If you can't smell the oud in this you might wanna get your nose checked friend.

I have recently tried this and I was completely blown away by how unique this is. I really do no get why not that many people talk about it and I absolutely cannot understand how people think this has a weed accord. Well, if that's the case, please smell Oud Ganja by Jul et Mad and contact me later. Anyways, to my very picky nose, this gives a warm feeling in a weird, unexplainable way. It has something oily-like that offers a luxurious spa-like feel while keeping everything elegant and wearable. It creates a nice aura around you and it definitely gives you a sense of calm and happiness indeed. Definitely try it on the skin and judge it with an open heart as the combination of sweet licorice, herbal notes, musk and the dominance of the ginger definitely make this something that draws attention. There is synthetic oud so nothing animalic about it, just pure joy. I'm not sure why they chose the black-gold design of the bottle. Nothing to do with Oud for Greatness (that one is more woody and spicy) or OFG Neo (similar to OFG but greener and lighter), it's just in a league of its own. It should've been in the hedonist line (the white bottles) with a green or black metallic accent color. It is kind of sweet so I would wear this during colder days or chilly summer nights and definitely spray lightly if you plan on wearing it indoors. Also, it is 100% unisex and no soul on earth can convince me otherwise. P.S. I love the brand for the bottom of my heart. Therefore the review comes from someone who truly knows and has tried all of their fragrances.

I came back to repost a new review on this scent since my original review in December 2021 was blowing the scent out of proportion and I had subsequently gained valuable experience to offer a better description. In my first review, I stated that I thought Oud for Happiness was getting a bad rep for being, what is in essence, the successor to 'Oud for Greatness' while not being anything like that scent (which is true). Since then, I'd say its reputation has improved. I think Oud for Happiness was my most liked scent profile of 2021 because it seemed very easily wearable. The main thing I get is a sweet licorice/vanilla vibe with hints of citrusy and soft spicy. It has a small Christmas vibe to it, like spices & tangerine. The scent has a very bright feel to it, and is very much unisex. The scent does not evolve much which in this case I would say is a positive, and the only traces of oud/darker tones are spotable only when you go looking for them unlike scents such as Amouage's King Blue where they are very prominent behind the likable airy tones. There are 2 glaring problems with this scent. Sillage we are talking intimate from the start on a realistic amount of sprays, I'd rate sillage a 2/10. The scent also has a limited longevity, I don't think we can even get 6 hours. Expect closer to 4-5 hours (rating 4/10). To me, this is an evening wind-down scent or an intimate setting fragrance, but for €295 many would expect so much more.

In the opening you get a blast of ginger with a spicy lemon and a subtle vanilla on the bottom. The true protagonist however is liquorice, sweet but not gourmandy like it smells very sofisticated and rich, complex... The oud is not very prominent as for oud for greatness instead it takes a very green aspect here, in my opinion is cannabis lathogh it is not listed in here. once it settles down it becomes much more earthier and the liquorice starts developing and radiating giving the scent a beautiful sillage, not a roomfiller, but def a great sillage. this scent is misterious, rich and a very very original take... never smelled anything like it, if you wear this you are gonna stand out, nobody will ever smell anyhing like this you will not have the problem of reminding yor gf of the perfume of her ex. Now, it is not for everyone, if you don't like the liquorice stay out of this because that is predominantly what it smells like, vanilla liquorice and earth with a green touch to it. Does it last ? Not as long as i would like 6-7hrs is what i get but with very very good sillage and projection. I have not tried to spray on clothes but reading the other comments i might do just that. To me is a solid 8.5/10 the points i deducted are because of its price and because of the longevity issues i get. For the rest if you like the scent profile give it a try this is very good. If you liked the review remember to like it ;)

Here's my 2 cents. I love it. You get a HUGE blast of citrus and ginger. It lists bergamot but I get like more of a lime and ginger, but I think that's just me. Then in the mid, you do get that licorice-ish scent along with the cedar but the cedar is really hard to detect (at least for me). The drydown is where it really becomes wonderful. You get that vanilla with musk that smells so amazing, it's a very creamy musky vanilla, if you don't like the opening, I recommend you waiting for the drydown. I do get oud, but it's not that much present. It's kind of just...somewhere there wandering around the notes not knowing if it wants to introduce itself or just stay in the shadows. I understand why some people are bothered by that, if the fragrance is called "Oud for Happiness" I would expect a very present oud. But like I said the oud in here is not really all there, but I still bought a bottle because of that fresh, crisp, sparkling ginger note with bergamot (again, I think it's more like lime) and then the creamy vanilla musky with a soft touch of oud is TO DIE FOR. I do not regret it, I will say that it's not blind buy safe, just because of unique this fragrance is. Btw, Oud for Happiness and Oud for Greatness are not even remotely close to smelling like one another, 100% different fragrances.