Oud Dream

After sampling in-store, my bottle finally arrived from an online order today. Ahh yes, Oud Dream, what a mysterious, dark, sexy, and slightly sweet fragrance. Love, love, love this one. I'm a sucker for most fragrances that feature either oud, rose, and/or patchouli, so of course I was going to love this. The oud is very beginner-friendly, none of that barnyard faecal stank. The patchouli is strong, and the hint of rose helps to provide a nice sweet balance. If you are curious about getting into Oud fragrances, this is a great starting point. To enjoy this fragrance you must also be a fan of patchouli, it's dominate here. I was recently looking for a new signature scent, previously held by Tom Ford Oud Wood. I've been comparing those two side by side, one on each arm, and surprisingly they have some similarities. Oud Wood has a lot of character and depth, which is sweetened with a touch of vanilla. Oud Dream is heavier on the patchouli and sweetened with rose. Both are seriously amazing, but considering Oud Dream was much cheaper, I have to give it the win here. These are extremely classy scents, date night and special occasion worthy. It's only been a few hours, but the performance, projection, and sillage of Oud Dream seem more than adequate. It's created a lovely scent bubble around me. I seriously can't stop sniffing my arm! Overall 9/10. It's everything I wanted in a fragrance: dark, mysterious, sexy, and unique, all at a fair price.

Montale Oud Dream’s familiar note listing of rose, patchouli, and oud—no strangers to the Montale/Mancera catalogue—add a fairly sweet, creamy twist that doesn’t seem to be indicated by the notes. It’s instantly pleasant, with reasonably balanced blend of the three main notes but with almost a honey and whipped cream blend to creamily render it sort of a sweet fragrance while still being a rose/patchouli/oud. Also, there are powdery nuances, which make the blend not totally sweet-leaning but a little more nuanced, despite the brief note list. Like most of the cold-weather-leaning Montale/Mancera fragrances, specifically with rose and/or oud, Oud Dream performs very well, with only a few modest sprays providing great sillage, density, and, so far, longevity, as expected. This might be the most impressive Montale/Mancera release to me since Montale Arabians (of 2017), as much as I know that Montale Ristretto Intense Café and especially Mancera Instant Crush have been popular in recent months. Oud Dream has the standard Montale retail pricing of $170 for 100ml and is available not only on the house’s website but great boutiques like Osswald NYC, Luckyscent, and Krystal Fragrance, though it’ll usually move to the grey markets and Facebook sales eventually for less. Krystal Fragrance even has various decant sizes available at good prices. I’ll enjoy my decant for a while but this will surely get bottle consideration too. 8 out of 10

My nose has evolved so much over the 30 years I been passionately into fragrance. I got this cause I just got a gut instinct (mostly from negative or describing details actually). I got it when I went thru a period of buying a lot of niche like scents. Many are powerful. Like in the eternal category. I never seemed to think a scent was there when it really was so I would think it was average or poor performing when in reality it was longer. A mistake many make, even when I read comments or reviews here. I kind of got around 50 scents. Discovery of how clones evolved saved me so much and allowed me to realize I can now chill with the new buys unless I lost an old bottle by attrition. Run out either replace or keep it at 50. Went on to become addicted to Invicta Watches. Especially replicas of Marvel stuff especially their Punisher ones. Like I did the same as with frags. Who needs 23 watches? Same person who needs 50 bottles of cologne. Anyway I got off track I meant to say I didn't smell this in about a year and I just put it on and it's a new 10/10. Love love this. It's so rich, inviting and it has that Bvlgari Man In Black type scent but with wayyyyy better ingredients. First time I could tell how good this was and is. Soooo glad my bottle is 70% full. Love it. It's strong and masculine and oud is yea and rose I can't tell. Just the ingredients are so well blended it's one good smell.

And another misnomer from Montale. Oud Dream is Spicebomb. Viktor&Rolf's Spicebomb. Which also means it is Bvlgari's Man In Black. Again no oud and I really wish that people would stop voting for notes they do not know how they smell. Terribly misleading and is helping some sketchy designers mislead the public. Yet, Oud Dream is a smooth and charming spicy cinnamon scent with a dash of sweetness. It's almost smokey, too. I really like it the best from all these cinnamon scents that are in the vein of Spicebomb/Man In Black. I'm not counting Burberry London, which is different and a more beautiful "scent", personally, than Spicebomb/Man In Black but some people put all 3 together. Back to Oud Dream, the cinnamon is very real. Like food-grade cinnamon, and that makes it pack a punch of sharp spiciness in the opening that might off put some people. However, the dry down is unmistakably identical to Spicebomb. I really dig it more than Spicebomb. It just feels warmer and deeper. Really good! Now, look at the voting at the top. Which season is voted the highest? Fall! Just like every other one of these cinnamon scents! Supports my cinnamon-y point. Do not be deceived by the written notes. A mature cool weather wear. "Love"!

Oud Dream opens with a very strong Oud that smells Woody, yet oily, like an Auto Shop. The Patchouli is there adding a Soil like Earthiness to the Oud. The Patchouli is also lending a subtle green freshness. The Rose is there adding a mild floral freshness while also adding a Fruitiness. Think Red Fruit like Raspberry. After about 3 hours the Fruitiness of the Rose settles & the Floral aspect of the Rose begins to blend with the greenness of the Patchouli & the dark oily woodiness of the Oud. Oud Dream is a Dark, Earthy, somewhat Fresh, Woody, Floral fragrance at this point. But in the 4th Hour, seemingly out of nowhere things change & the entire scent profile turns into BVLGARI Man In Black...But rather, a Niche version. At this point its like bougie BVLGARI Man In Black with an Earthy Oud that smells like an Auto Shop. ...& even still, Oud Dream & Man In Black arent redundant. Oud Dream has Nuclear performance with an Oud thats there from beginning to the end. This fragrance projects very well for 6 straight hours. Then projected subtly for several more. It lasted on Fabric for 3 weeks.