Louban

I love this. It made my heart race! I don't know how else to describe it, but I feel like I might have worn something like this in another life. There is an opening blast of wood and what (to my novice nose) smells like the oudh (this opening reminds me of Oudh Lacquer by Soivohle, which is a masterpiece), and then about fifteen (yes, I timed it) minutes later it hooked me! The rose and the sandalwood opened up, and a touch of something spicy (the incense, I think), but the starting ingredients remained, only now they are mingling with the rose and the others. This is not sweet; it makes me think of a dark rose in the sun, confident and present, yet not having to announce its presence to everyone. It stays with you all day, it is not loud or harsh but you will still smell it softly as you go about your travels. I needed a rose/oudh combination like this. I fell hard and fast for this one! I didn't realize that there are so many Montales! A Montale for everyone, and Louban is for me. (happy dance)

I received this as a gift and did not like it at all in the beginning. It was heavy rose and heavy oud combo but mainly feminen rose with a touch of woody background. I did not give up on it and tested more on different occasions and even got a compliment which surprised me because I only sprayed it on my arm. So the less is better for this fragrance especially if you are a guy. The mid and drydown is quite good, reminds me of portrait of a lady by FM. They are not completely similar but I get the same vibe in the air. The performance is excellent like many other montale selections. You have to dress up a suit for this fragrance especially if you are a guy and it is strictly for an evening occasion like nice restaurant or some lounge bar. But then again, I have so many other oud based fragrances that I enjoy so I will not reach for this one as much but overall it is good. Do not blind buy, it takes few wearings and some time to like it and you have to like oud based complex fragrances.

This reminds me of a trip to Tunis I made a few years ago, it smells exactly like the perfume souk there in the Kasbah; Attar of Roses and something more like dried rose buds, Saffron, Cardamom, preserved lemons, and something earthy and milky, which I presume is the musk and oud base. I haven't been to Lebanon yet (the Louban of the name) but I imagine that a trip to the Souks there would smell very similar to those in Tunis. This is a perfect evocation of the Arabic love of roses and spices. Adorable if rather expensive. I've just received it today so I can't comment on sillage or longevity definitively yet, but I have a feeling the former will be decent and the latter better be good or I'll be writing to Montale to complain. LOL I love this so far though. Edit: Longevity on this is AMAZING, as is sillage, it doesn't choke everyone around you but it does subtly envelope one for hours and hours (coming on 6 hours now actually).

Another beautiful rose-oud combination. Here the rose is dry and austere, and the olibanum note is very pronounced. I feel the green powderiness of the violet leaf: what a great idea to add it to the composition! The drydown is purely woody: sandalwood and oud. So beautiful and refined! LOUBAN is completely unisex, as it is neither sweet nor too floral. I think this perfume may transform a nice guy into an irresistible one. I wish men wore that kind of perfumes ;) Or not... I guess I want a bottle for myself.

Louban (for me) opens like all the other Montales, overpowering rose, incense and oud. I sprayed my wrist, rolled my eyes and walked off thinking of roses musk, queen roses and attar all jumbled into one. BUT... wait for Louban to dry down, it will take some time. The Montale DNA dies off after an hour or so (amen) and you are left with a gorgeous powdery skin scent type of musk and a creamy sandalwood, with just a hint of violet leaf that dances above them. Lovely, if you can get past that opening.