Midnight Oud

Midnight Oud is one of the rare fragrances that I love from beginning to the end. It starts out strong like many have mentioned a blast of sharp bergamont quickly followed by saffron which smells amazing in this! It is rich and spicy. Slowly the rose and oud start to emerge it smells it a bolder scent compared to what many are used to and it is absolutely amazing. I'm quite new oud notes and haven't quite figured out how to describe them just yet, but it is pretty potent in this fragrance. Even though I say it is potent I find Midnight Oud to be a wearble fragrance that challenges me, because it is quite complex and multifaceted. The rose is deep and smooth and adds depth but balances out the potency of the oud. I also pick up a small about of patchouli. A big player in this has to be musk I can smell it in various strengths throughout the fragrance, its not quite clean yet it is not a dirty musk either. I swear there is also a tiny bit of sweet ambrette in this at the dry down when it still barely hanging on to my skin for the day. I also wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't some Iso-E Super hanging out in here somewhere too, because it has that distinct Juilette Has a Gun feeling to it that I found in most of the fragrances I have experienced from this house. I am absolutely in infatuated which this fragrance! I used to not be a fan of oud until recently and this fragrance is a great one to start with. The lasting power is great as well I would say about 8 hours maybe longer even. There is a lot of sillage at the beginning of Midnight Oud but it eventually calms down about an hour or so into the fragrance. If you ever have the chance to try this one go for it! I can say this has to be my favorite Juliette Has a Gun fragrance so far.

I would write a lengthy and loving review here but, alas, I find it somehow too magical to do so at the moment. Absolutely my favorite oud scent to date. FB'd the night after sampling it and it's remained just as wonderful as that first whiff ever since. There is something at once dark and upliftingly effervescent about this. If I didn't know better I'd say there was quite a bit of the signature JHAG ambroxan/cetalox in this one, too, but it could be just the most sparkling variety of amber. Either way something about this absolutely lifts it in a way I've never experienced an oud before. To take such a heavy theme as this and still make it feel 'zestful' is quite a magic trick. Ohhh JHAG. Fine, take another chunk of my paycheck ;) EDIT about a year later---------------------------------------------------- after having fallen madly for oud in general when it's well-presented, this one smells harsher to me. Up close and doing a side by side with several of my other ouds (samples or otherwise), I admit it now smells a bit too rough in the faux oud/saffron departments. It seems to take quite a while to mellow out into the kind of oud I really love, but once it gets there it's still very enjoyable. Just, why does the top have to take so long to mellow out? If you're willing to wait about 45mins it's much nicer. I can't understand why but somehow, over time, several JHAGs have gone from smelling intoxicating to me to smelling like they have a bugspray edge. I'm sure it's not for lack of proper storage etc, I guess my nose is just changing....

Speachless ^^. Midnight Oud is just beautiful, enchanting and.. you know, serious. It smells like I expected- distinctive thanks to precious ingredient Agarwood. There's still feeling to it that it's Juliette Has a Gun brand later when top notes settled a bit (I tried Citizen Queen). And later it becomes very sexy, I also love geranium note that perfectly fits here. Something also sweetens a little bit the woods and makes scent a lot deeper. But let's talk about the very top. Top lasts a long time and provokes not only memories but it made me think a lot about my grandparents with 2 more 'grand' at the beginning. My grandparents from dad's side come from village. They had a wooden house and heat it with firewood. They also had a garden and few cows I think, also bees ^^ When my dad grew up he loved to spend time in village house of his grandmother. When I grew up I loved to visit remnants of this house too (it was deserted ten years before USSR fell). You could find some stuff there (such as color pencils, fork, a white cloak to be able to deal with bees, also bee houses ). Imagine the smell inside the house- humidity touched wood that absorbed various smells from a stove and finally dried in many hot sunny days in a row. That's what I love about this perfume. It evokes these memories. I think now that house isn't standing there and it's a pity, because this place has it's charm and that's the place you'd return to think about life again and again. Whew.. to my wish list. Packaging is very gorgeous, especially velvet box and it's color.

I don't get the oud in this one; it's barely there which is strange since oud usually overpowers every other note in a composition. Like someone else here said, this seems to be more about the rose than the oud. Still, it's a nice, slightly medicinal oriental hinting at something dark and mysterious but not actually getting there. Lasting power is also moderate for an oud fragrance. Nice and unisex too, but not FB worthy for me. I must admit that to me, this seems like a safe and easily wearable oriental that anyone from 15 years old to 95 could wear in a daily basis and it would raise no eyebrows. Not what I was looking for, but others who are looking for such a composition should check it out. Update: I did cave in and bought a FB finally and this time the oud was more pronounced, as was the saffron and the musk, but in the end it's a rose fragrance through and through. Still I do find it softer than expected from such notes (except for the first 30 minutes) and a quite comforting winter scent, but also elegant and feminine. It's also very long lasting after all, but even my husband who complains about most perfumes, doesn't notice when I'm wearing it.Not sure this is a good thing though, as I do like my perfumes to make their presence known (like Citizen Queen which I also own and never fails to get me compliments). I can't stop smelling my wrist though, it's a very addictive scent and the kind of 'grown up' perfume that was missing from my collection, but I think I appreciate it more than others do on me :P

I got this onlineas a second-hand bottle, a lady was selling her almost full bottle for cheap. Few years back I got as a gift Lady Vengeance and at that time I didnt really like it so I gave it to my mom cause she loves rose frags. I got this one too cause over time I realized how well blended and expensive the Lady Vengeance is, so I decided to give it a go. When I first sprayed it, it smelled very medicinal and harsh. Then it would smell like a honey garden full of flowers/roses. This was my impression after first few uses. I totally get it why the lady sold almost a full bottle, I think she was put off by the medicinal opening. After a few uses I started to notice that the “medicinal” notes are bergamot and something else, maybe saffron? and I started to notice how pleasant it is. My skin supports all the heavy stuff like amber, oud, pachouli etc so it developed nicely. After that there was a full garden of ambery roses mixed with some other I cant really describe... I read online that it is supposed to represent middle-eastern garden full of exotic flowers at night (or something like that), and I totally get that image in my head. I love arabic perfumes and this is just the vibe. I think the oud is too syntheticy but overall I love it. I think it might even be great in the summer by night for someone brave, I might try it. I wore it in spring and it was just gorgeous. Im starting to love Juliette frags and Im motivated to try their other perfumes too.