Barrel

A odd Oud line up created by J for those with acquired taste of citrus, oud and musk. Barrel is a long lasting, floral-oud fragrance that comes in a beautiful, matte-black, sturdy barrel-shaped bottle. The bottle itself is packaged inside a much larger tin can, much like the Jean Paul Gautier Le Male's packaging. The presentation of the overall package is elegant and represents what the fragrance stands for - an oud oil based fragrance, akin to a barrel of unrefined crude oil. However, there is quite a bit of a difference in the scent between the two, as you will experience for yourself and discern from the reviews. The atomizer of the barrel gracefully sprays a cloud of mist with a press, soft on touch and sound, that is quite reminiscent of the vintage atomizer associated with fragrance bottles from the 18th Century. The fragrance itself is an Eau de Parfum that gives off the consistency, longevity and sillage you may get from a Parfum. Barrel starts off with a fruity floral fragrance that reminds you of a garden of citrus fruits and other florals that are not quite easily identifiable. Accurate notes of grape fruit and lemon with slight bitterness dominate the opening with a sweet and short burst of raspberry, quickly settling into a beautiful powdery fragrance with strange yet appreciable combination of citrus and sandalwood. With the passing away of time, a pleasant oud, citrus and floral base is revealed, that turns into a warm, alluring yet animalistic, mint-pepper, rich oud fragrance. Here, the credit mainly goes to patchoulli, cedarwood and citrus fruits for the mint and pepper notes, and sandalwood and cedarwood for the woody notes. This is probably the weirdest and confusing phase and combination of notes where the citrus and oud do not get along. Ultimately, sweetness of rose and perhaps geranium bring balance between bitter freshness of citrus and oud, transforming into a beautiful sweet citrus, powdery floral, woody oud fragrance for a few hours. Barrel is suppose to be an oud dominating fragrance yet its the citrus and patchouli that lingers till the very end (for more than 8 hours) while the floral notes completely dissipate turning the scent into a peppery animalistic one rather than an oud floral. This is an odd behaviour from a fragrance because citrus notes neither long lasting nor retain their initial strength for more than a few hours. For a fragrance to produce such a stark variety of notes is remarkable feat.The best way to describe this fragrance's transformation is the evolution of a caterpillar into a butterfly. This fragrance will produce a mixture of different notes that does wonders on your olfactory senses, by mystically switching between the citrus fruits, floral and oud. Barrel's middle and base notes are not short lived at all. Rarely do fragrances unveil their tones in such a recognizable manner as Barrel by J. does, which commands respect and appreciation for the perfume and its maker. Such a heavy and powerful fragrance is to be adorned on cool evenings, special occasions and dinners with family and friends. Barrel is one of those gourmand fragrances that will be cherished only by those that have an acquired taste for bitterness of citrus, oud and Musk's animalistic attribute. It is not a fragrance for the faint hearted and is meant to be worn by those that are mature and confident about their own sense of fashion.

Beautiful creation by J. The fragrance resemble to Oud Ispahan by Christian Dior. I have used it in all seasons. (spring, summer, fall, and winter) In my view this is a winter or cold weather fragrance but I have used this in summer and hot weather. Opening is very pleasant you can clearly smell Raspberry, Rose and Lemon but base notes are Sandalwood, Cedar and Agarwood. If you are new to oud base fragrances than this is for you. Go for it you will love it. Good packaging good bottle design. Overall good perfume and value for money. In my view : Lasting = 6-7 hours (In summers) 8-10 hours (In winters) Sillage = 3-4 hours Packaging = 9/10 Fragrance = 9/10

What A beautiful and power perfume. We can call it a clone of Oud Isphan. Compared side by side. It’s almost same. Really powerful perfume. Please try before buy. Bit Strong for people who normally don’t like strong perfumes.

Great winter scent - very intense

Nuclear fragrance. The smell is not really my style but damn this fragrance is POWERFUL. Legend has it if you wear this on a hot day, you might just start hallucinating or fall down unconscious. Do not blind buy and do not wear around picky sniffers. 6/10

I wear it many times, in all seasons, it irritates (specially in summer), from start to end, it irritates me every time. Yeah I found just one condition to wear it only if you're riding a bike or when you're in open and fast air. Yes it lasts very long.

Incense. If you are prone to migraines and allergies, stay 100m away from this. The scent profile is the best. but too irritating to the nose.

I tried this fragrance today in official J. Outlet at dolmen mall Clifton. And smell is stinky, there is no oud smell it rather smelled very synthetic and medicinal After dry down it even not smell any way near oud it smells synthetic rose, a very bad fragrance Not recommended to anyone. If you want oud based fragrance then try faqat lil rijal it smell very high quality oud.

Beautiful, classy and addictive. You need taste in oud fragrances to appreciate how refined and outstanding this fragrance is. It is classic and antique in the beginning while rolling towards modernity at the same time as it dries out. J. brings an expensive scent within reach of most people. The opening is strong, mildly fruity and musky but it becomes better and better with time as the rosy and oud notes take over with the sandal becoming more appreciable after some time. Silage is extraordinary and make everyone around aware of it. The bottle is brilliantly designed in black barrel shape to emphasise the strong nature of this scent. It isn’t crude or raw in any way though. Atomiser is good too. The cap feels like having a magnet though I don’t think it has one. One of the best oud fragrances I have ever used. Caution: Don’t blind buy. Try before you purchase if you are choosy in oud category. Smell: 10/10 (for oud lovers) Silage: 9/10 Performance: 8.5/10 Value for money: 10/10