Tempest

I love this fragrance. Though the oud in Tempest is lighter than say, Hayat- the oud is there. Regardless of what some self-aggrendizing narcissists might say, the oud is there and it's real. While I wish it projected further, I still don't hesitate wearing this fragrance in any situation. Others might push back on this, but I believe Tempest is year-round appropriate. It's unique, but not challenging in my opinion. I wear Tempest anywhere, including the office. It always gets me at least a couple compliments. I even bought the Xerjoff K release of it as a backup. It's still too early to tell, but I believe the original Kemi release is possibly a little richer, maybe a little more complex, but like I said, it's still too early to tell. If you know the notes you like, and know the notes you're willing to gamble with, and you can still find it, this is easily blind buy worthy- if not at the retail price- but I've never paid retail for fragrances, this one included. If you can't find it, no worry. The Xerjoff K release is just about identical. Maybe exactly identical.

They literally did – they literally IGNORED the oud brands I namedropped, too... Share, share away. Get as many LOLs out of this as you can! After I read your 'retort', I realised I'm arguing with an imbecile. A clueless idiot. And the worst part of this is that you don't realise how much of an idiot you are. Seriously. You're ignoring all the established and reputable oud brands and returning with 'etsy' -- WOW. I'm not even going to address this. Like, somewhere in your logic sequencing you seriously thought "this will get him" -- you could've referenced, I don't know, ASAQ, Ajmal, even FdB (who own and harvest their own ouds). You are THAT far away from where you think you are, like, I don't think it's worth schooling you. You seem to be so blissfully unaware of all of this, as well, which adds to the entire tragic nature of your wafer-thin hubris. And the degree of how much you are narcissistically reflecting / projecting – it’s something I just don’t want to be any part of. You seriously have no idea. I don't mean that to be emphatic or even offensive. Seriously, google those Oud brands I mentioned. These companies are the be-all and end-all for anything oud (from a distinctly westerner perspective), and they are by-and-large for customers who (a) only speak English, and (b), don't have connections to all the Asian / Middle Eastern oud labels, but still hold weight in the oud biz and have a 'gold standard' name, but hey, they don’t impress you as much as 'etsy' does... You know, for a small moment, I thought you were going to fire back and reference your (hypothetical) experience with Japanese oud providers (Shoyeido, Baieido, etc.), Arabic/South Asian providers, possibly even one of the new Chinese oud companies that have popped up over the last decade. But no. Your name-check of choice was 'etsy' and James Barry (who makes amazing scents, BTW) – bloke, this is a random internet dispute, you could’ve LIED about your level of oud knowledge, you could have googled, you had the opportunity to get smart QUICKLY, but 'etsy' and James Barry shows just how much you know. Seriously. Not only does it show how LITTLE you know about the whole oud world, but it also shows how SMALL you actually think the oud world truly is. OMG James Barry!!! (If he is reading this, I LOVE your work, I own some of it, too, but he is NOT in that kind of pantheon I’m talking about.) Yikes. James Barry, with his legions of oud hunters, distillers and manufacturers in South Asia and South East Asia. James Barry with his decade-plus old oud hunting YouTube channel and blogs. This is who you chose to fire back your 'gotcha!' with. Wow. Also, you're an out-and-out snob. I put those mainstream cheapies on the first line of my wardrobe on purpose -- I pay respect to the cheapie, drugstore fragrances that got me into perfumes in the first place MAAANY years ago. I might not wear them anymore, but I'm not that much of a snob to pretend like I didn't like these and that I still own them. The fact that you trawled my reviews and wardrobe to find out about this says quite a lot about you... Lastly, if you're going to engage in some kind of robust debate with someone online, can you please do people the courtesy of proofreading your writing? Seriously...I've taught English language for over 15 years and your 'writing' gives me the same amount of nausea and strain that ‘beginner English student writing’ does. For God's sake, get your "your VS you're" sorted out. Additionally, I've seen 13 year old non-native speakers with a better grasp of "it's VS its" -- I get that you're trying to type like some TikTok millennial or whatever angle you're going for, but you're actually coming off looking illiterate and just uneducated. And yeah, I’m totally butt h u r t – I’m the one who got riled up by a random review from a random fragrantica user. Wise up. Oh, and just for you -- my humble collection: ht tps://imgur.co m/KIHX5Y4 Enjoy!!!

Shawn330 is 100% correct here. If you think you've had real, authentic Hindi oud in your ALDs, Bortnikoffs, Agar Auras, etc, THINK AGAIN. From the beginning, this scent is ENTIRELY Nagaland-- the whole essence of Nagaland, Assam and Manipur condensed into ONE entirely natural, artisanal niche scent. So much so, I kept looking around to see if Stuart Binny was in my vicinity. The heart and soul of a traditional Hindi oud is here on display. Actually, no, it isn't, as this is almost entirely synthetic. From the faux cheesy opening, through to the over-the-top barnyard elements. Nope. I've tried about 50 REAL ouds (Ensar: 20 - 25, Agar Aura: 15 - 20, Feel Oud: 5 - 10), not to mention all the ALD / Bortnikoff / Agar Aura scents which feature oud over the last 10 or so years. I know what it smells like, and to tell you the truth, I don't care for oud. I don't think it's bad, I don't think anything negative about it, I have 2 pure ouds (1 from Ensar, one from Agar Aura), and it just is not what I'm into, at all. I love Mysore Sandalwoods, Roses, but ouds just don't speak to me. I imagine I upset you when I said that this was synthetic, and I'm sorry I did that. But it's truth. There is NO possible way that there is ANY worthwhile amount of real oud in this. I know you think there MUST be because it's expensive, but I don't think it's possible anymore. I really TRULY don't. Not only are ouds in short supply, the are incredibly temperamental and nuanced. Crassnas from THE SAME FOREST in Thailand smell differently. Saplings sprouted in Cambodia and grown over the border in Thailand smell NOTHING LIKE their parent trees. It's an incredibly fussy plant that must demand the same soil/water/sunlight conditions for it to be similar. Look, you clearly have NO IDEA what you're talking about, and that's not entirely your fault. Seeing that you're so happy to spend big on Kemi (which is a GREAT brand, by the way. I paid through the proverbial for Kemi - Kemi, BTW), save your money and at least TRY some Areejs, some Borts, and Agar Auras. You know, real ouds. Get a good grip on what a Malaccensis (my fave) smells like, compared to a Papuan Gyrinops, Thai/Cambodian Crassnas, Viet/Chinese Sinensis, Borneo Beccarianas, and even Bruneian Microcarpas (my least fave). You have the cash to splash on this uber-luxe stuff, but you don't know the first thing about ouds and the vast array of scent characteristics. I would be surprised if there was anything more than a few drops of any read oud (this itself costs upwards of $50!) in this. I'd love to see the GC-MS test results. I am afraid that this line falls into the Kilian / MFK / Amouage category of faux-ouds, and there is NOTHING wrong with that. But don't fool yourself into thinking this is anything remotely real...

Yikes. There is a WONDERFUL translucent, sheer SMOOTHNESS in this, it's magnificent. And then you have this foetid cheesy GANKNESS (obviously the Hindi oud accord) which, quite literally RUINS the scent. I wanted to like this, hell, I even tried to TOLERATE it, but it's just too much. Stinky feet, funky cheese. Don't get me wrong, there's a place for this kinda note, no doubt, just not with the wonderful smoothness it has been paired up against. No thanks.

Came for the reviews (I have an option to sample the old bottle). Stayed for the incredibly well spelt debate/impassioned response to whomever it was. @Muzzbait I feel ripped off that only your responses still stand. The internet equivalent of shouting into the void. 😁 as someone who regularly reads your reviews this was interesting, you’re always so reasonable - we are all allowed these moments :). Carry on!

"I love the resinous notes in Tempest. Even the oud is lovely with some balsamic hints from the Elemi and Citrus. Compared to the attar, this one projects well and lasts all day long on your skin. Among all the fragrances in the Kemi line, this one is my favorite. Cheers!"

Beautiful and intoxicating the musk in this lasted longest of any of my perfumes it hangs and hangs it’s very bright metallic musk the opening is beautiful just to beautiful for words