Paris Oud

When I first got Paris Oud, I was actually really excited because I already love the Grand Soir type of DNA. That deep, warm, ambery sweetness is just my thing. So of course when it arrived, I sprayed it right away. I’m gonna be honest, at first I was kinda disappointed. Straight away, it did not smell that close to Grand Soir to me. It was only after around an hour that I started getting that similarity, maybe like 80 to 85 percent. It had some of the vibe, but it felt like it was missing the depth and richness I was hoping for, so I ended up just leaving it on my shelf for a while. Later on I came back to it and realized it’s a water based fragrance, and I had heard that with fragrances like that, the oils can separate a bit, so you really need to shake them well before spraying. I tried that, gave it a proper shake, and wow... huge difference. Now I’m genuinely surprised by how close it gets. After shaking it properly, it smells way more blended, richer, and honestly around 93 to 95 percent close to that Grand Soir feel for me. That depth it was missing before is actually there now, and it smells seriously amazing. I’m lowkey surprised more people don’t talk about this one, but I honestly think part of that is because a lot of people probably don’t realize how important it is to use water based fragrances properly. So if you have Paris Oud, please shake it before judging it. It really makes a difference.

An interesting water based fragrance that does indeed invoke the characteristics of Grand Soir. Curiously enough, it tends to last longer on skin than most alcohol based fragrances I own, and the ambery, vanillic smells are front and center. Having had samples of Grand Soir, I must say, Naseem's Paris Oud does fall a bit short of the beauty that is Grand Soir. I'd say Paris Oud is about 80% similar to Grand Soir, with the missing 20% being its lack of depth and the roundness that Grand Soir has. It feels inherently less luxurious and exotic than Grand Soir but it still smells fantastic regardless. Honestly, for the price difference, Naseem's Paris Oud is absolutely much more bang for your buck than anything from MFK, but if you're a true fan of Grand Soir, you will definitely be missing that extra X-factor that Paris Oud lacks. Update: After wearing this for a longer while I've started getting a crazy amount of compliments. It's described by others as warm, infectious, strong, vanilla-heavy, incense-like. Regardless of its difference to Grand Soir, I've gotten more compliments with this fragrance than with Grand Soir itself. That's saying something and I've had to improve my rating because of it.