Un balcón sobre el paseo del Prado

Summery oud is real. Even strong and heavy, very loud fragrances with oud as a main note, are most appropriate scents for summer in my opinion. This is probably because of my imagination of the best vacations we can have and which could be only in the Middle East. Thus I was looking for oud with touch of European taste that reminds Arabian culture and that can be digested by my environment. It wasn't easy to find a diamond, especially when oud is everywhere, even it is often used as ingredient of mass marked colognes we can find in the railway stations stores. But I got it finally - Un balcón sobre el paseo del Prado by Loewe. Oud very well done, loud but balanced by flowers and amber. A little bit sweet but this sweetness is not obvious - it comes probably from yland yland. Oud in this fragrance is extremely pure and the highest quality we can imagine - probably Cambodian one. It reminds ouds oils we can recognize in the most expensive perfumes from the Middle East market. I don't understand why Spain based company uses this kind of compound to celebrate the beauty of Madrid, the Mediterranean European city, but I'm glad creators composed this fragrance. Not only oud is main player here, similar power has saffron. It lasts from the begining to the end with the same intensity. In my opinion it could be named Quiet Morning Oud if the Miller & Bertaux would create perfume based on they most beautiful fragrance (Quiet Morning) with appropriate dose of agar wood. If you know QM you can imagine how unique and beautiful creation is the Un balcón sobre el paseo del Prado. Saffron is strong and harsh at the beginning as in many Arabian fragrances. But next is very buttery and mysterious. Recommended for middle eastern fragrance lovers.

Very odd this one. Yes its got rose, and yes its got saffron, but very harsh and synthetic. the notes pyramid looked interesting enough for me to blind buy a miniature from a discount site. but it severely disappoints. in india you get little packets of supari (betel nut pcs with synthetic flavors) at every street corner. The first spray of this instantly reminded me of that and every subsequent spray more so of it. I try to be very open minded when trying new fragrances, but its inevitable that smells remind us of a certian place or time or memory, and sometimes its impossible to disassociate them. perhaps this review would be less harsh if it wasnt for the memory assocation! Thankfully the drydown is more bearable with the powdery and woodsy notes taking over and the rose/saffron harshness is toned down. The sillage is quite huge, projection and longevity above average.