Crystal Aoud

Oh goodness this is just magical! It opens with a lovely burst of oud, saffron, melon and crisp-green-juicy apple. It's simultaneously warm and fresh with a little sugar on top! I especially love oud fragrances in summer heat - like today (32°C feels like 37°C), I find they truly blossom in warmer temperatures and Crystal Aoud is definitely no exception to that rule.

I dont have this with me now, but I remember thinking it smelled like all things I cannot afford ;) Like what it would smell like in the taxfree area of an airport just in between a perfume shop and a shop that sells ties, leather wallets and expensive suitcases. The mix of all notes from these two shops combined: leather, high end make-up, sparkly perfumes (when it is impossible to pick out any notes..) clean pressed very dry very new textiles and something expensively crystally fresh on top. Get a feeling of money in the bank when wearing it, and seeing as I have none I almost feel like misrepresenting myself ;)

I can not detect the oud in this. It has a woodiness but it's not oud woodiness. This is a meh fragrance in term of smell. Just wood with a hit of orange. Doesn't justify its price at all.

The green apple is very dominant when it starts evolving on your skin. Also as if the saffron was present from the very beginning? The dryness of the oud is however very much balancing out the potential sweetness of green apples. All in all, there is nothing sweet about this perfume. I would not say it smell cleanliness either other than the lemony smell. Will come back on the drydown later though.

The first time that I tried Montale Crystal Aoud, I did not detect any fruits whatsoever--just oud and musk. Today, however, as I take this perfume up once again, I find the musk to be rather sweet, so that must be the fruits kicking in. I cannot say that I recognize either melon or green apple as the contributing sweet factors, but the musk is definitely a sweet and clean one, with the oud growing stronger and stronger until, by the end, Crystal Aoud has become essentially an oud solinote with musk as the base. I have to admit that the idea of sweet oud has never really appealed to me. When I read reviews about honeyed oud perfumes, I feel my stomach turning just a bit at the thought of the combination of sweet honey and strong dark oud. This creation by Montale has persuaded me to believe that it is possible to have a wearable sweet oud perfume. I should say though that this one is not overly sweet, just more sweet than it is savory. I see that vanilla is listed among the notes, but I cannot tease it out--to me, this composition is simply somewhat sweet. Crystal Aoud is pretty nice, all in all, but I prefer flowers with my oud, above all rose, and Montale has plenty of those on offer, so I won't be pursuing this creation further. Still, it was a worthwhile olfactory experience to wear this perfume.

Initial impression: The opening is a little rough with the notes all vying for dominance. Once it begins to dry down it becomes somewhat "floral" and feminine. It's not overly girly so I'm going to rock it and see how it does on me. I don't get a lot of oud in this one but perhaps it'll show it's face later on. Mancera's aoud violet plays that trick. No oud until a good 4 hours into the wearing. The dry down bares a strong resemblance to Mancera's Aoud Orchid. 4 hours in and still no oud.

I was given a sample of Crystal Aoud. First notes are opens like a bath line, you can smell some spa aroma there.Something clean, but without "distinctive" character.In a middle some hint of a wood, but somewhat sinthetic presenting, not just give you full feelling. Drydown- flowery vanilla, but again, this is knocking you down to impress at first time. May be it need time to get use to it.Staying power is not that strong,however at the drydown you can guess a hint of a lemon.

Smelling this fragrance gave me the most unexpected flashback from childhood: Hairdressers in the late 80s & early 90s, when PERMS were popular. In other words; Ammonium thioglycolate & hairspray. That's it! I'm as baffled to find words to describe this perfume as I was to smell it. I thought the strong chemical smell would disappear in the dry-down, but that never happened. Did I receive a bad sample?? (It was bought from a reputable seller) 😔

Montale's Giant Oud factory in the sky doing it's thing again, sowing it's weirdo seeds for World domination xD Your usual take (everyone knows), that fresh-saffronic, blast with a hint of fruits and the OOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUD -,- Meh. Ever heard of Amber, cinnamon or benzoin to replace the fungus, Montale? It's getting, really reallllly stale all these million and then some oudfests My rating: 4/10

Crystal Aoud is based on the typical Montale's oud note (strong and medicinal), enriched by prominent melon and apple notes. The overall effect is of a sweet, persistent and pretty linear fruity oriental fragrance of average quality. In my opinion this is not a stand-out in the huge offering from this house, but I've to admit that the fruits / oud combo is somehow succesfull. Rating: 6.5/10

Super glad Montale made some different oud mix other then rose. I just can't tolerate rose smell in my fragrances. Anyway, I didn't pick up distinct fruit smell here. The fragrance smells fresh, juicy, floral to me, but I loved it just the way it is. Fruity fragrances smell sometimes immature, but Crystal Aoud is pure elegance! Very silky, fine fragrance. Love it!

Crystal Aoud is another creative product from this respective house:Montale. A master blinding of selected fruit aroma to Oriental concepts of Woody-like taste, smothened by vanilla, musk, and saffron yeilding this great parfume. Thump-up for its smell, which ease the wearing of Aoud to the middle-age.

I find it hard to wear aoud typically. This perfume is an exception. It's a beautiful synthetic sweet aoud note in this one. Very, very nice. I am going to buy myself a bottle for winter. So comforting.

I do not like this one. At first it was reasonably pleasant like Armani Diamonds but then the musk came out and it just smelled like literal garbage to my nose, and I had to wash it off.