Bengal Oud

Opens with a unique bergamot and bitter orange accord with the zest levels kept to a minimum. I suspect this is meant to give the impression of a forest as per the marketing material because if you defocus attention on the two opening notes, it does smell a bit like wet green leaves at this point, likely because the “bitter orange” is actually bitter orange leaves and opening notes are influenced by some cold notes that are coming up. The bergamot vanishes quickly leaving the bitter orange to mix with a hissing musk, icy vetiver and a rooty orris. The leather begins whispering. A bright sandalwood note in the background gives a subtle impression of wet wood chips. A light rosey floral accord rounds things out. At this stage it is feeling fresh. 15 minutes in, the leather gathers steam, warming things up. The leather is similar to that used in Aoud Leather, but the volume is turned down. Gradually the bitter orange fades but the rest of the notes dance together for a few hours . By the end of the journey it has simmered down to the leather and that hissing musk that gives the fragrance a vaguely soapy quality. Notice that I haven’t mentioned oud because I failed to pick up any. Longevity is at least 8 hours. Overall a solid outing by Montale, but ultimately I expect it will fall back to a third tier offering from the house because it is missing the signature Montale ouds, is a bit muddled at times and the musk is a tad irritating at points (I suspect it is clashing with the icy vetiver note). But overall it is an engaging fragrance, it does smell pleasant and exotic so they have succeeded in that respect. While I see the strong similarities to Aoud Leather, I also feel this has been heavily influenced by the work done at around the same time on Mancera’s Deep Forest, although mercifully the dusty orange blossom accord from Deep Forest has been cast aside for Bengal Oud and in its place is the very competent leather note.

Aoud Leather + a Dose of Oud. Bengal Oud is an interesting one from Montale. You may not like it but you will respect it. I guess that is why they called it "oud" and not "aoud". Bengal Oud is a strong, woody scent. It's an oudy (at last!), leathery fragrance with a touch of smokiness. The jasmine adds a very light floral aspect, & their light soapiness as well. It smells like an oudier Leather Aoud, a clone of Tuscan Leather. Nonetheless, this mature cool weather wear is finally something worth trying from Montale after a series of releases that were misnamed "Aoud" or were, without sugar-coating, outright clones of other popular fragrances. Fans of Montale have to try this. It is not for everybody, though. Bengal Oud gets a big "Like" from me.

This is my test fragrance for the day. I must say that it definetly leans towards a masculine fragrance altho a woman can rock this in some occasions. Dirty (in a good way), leather, metalic smel (that comes from the citruses), and a lot of wood. At the beggining it smells like a mechanic working in his shop with a great perfume on, afterwards it develops in to a more leather oriented scent mixed with freshnes and a bit of flowery creaminess, with nice lasting power and moderate projection. I will be definetly giving this to my boyfriend and maybe borrow it from time to time for layering (which I feel that this fragrance will be great for, to give an edge to a quite feminine scent) or for when I feel the need for a bit more masculinity.

Yep, ditto to what the others have said - this is very similar to Montale Aoud Leather. In fact, I've even had leather heavy batches of Aoud Leather that are EXTREMELY similar to this, however there is a slightly slightly animalic overtone here. Basically, Pierre Montale gave the "Mancera" treatment to the Aoud Leather DNA (building on it, making it more complex) and the end result is phenomenal. However, if you already own and love Aoud Leather, this would likely be redundant, unless you want more leather and less of the sharp bergamot. Surprisingly, this still retains the slightly soapy quality that I found personally in Aoud Leather, so it's just as clean to wear.

A more powerful Ombre Leather with more animalic undertones in a pleasant way. Take Tuscan Leather, bring some citrus and Gucci Guilty Absolute leather notes in the formula, add longevity and polish everything with some vetiver. Chapeau!