Secret de Rochas Oud Mystère

This is from Luca Turin's review: "...despite its shifting perspective, the overall effect from afar is a remarkably coherent accord uncannily like the delicious smell of labdanum resin." I don't get anything "shifting" here; the oud note is obvious and it's on the dry side. The other notes are subordinate and I can't say I get much of any of the others. Now this was just a dab sampling so I'll have to wear it in the usual way and report back. I obtained a bottle at a very low price so I'm content, but if you aren't an oud scent fan, it's not a safe blind buy, and if you are, you may already have something you'd prefer to this one. UPDATE. Regular wearing: I don't know why anyone would call this delicious. I would reserve that descriptor for gourmands or scents that have a major gourmand element. I'd go with the reviewer who says it smells like chlorine, actually, though that's more like a texture than a scent (unless you don't have much experience with oud notes, especially in such "mainstream" fragrances). The main element is a dry/woody/ oud that isn't too strong. And contrasting with that are gentle, slightly sweet florals. There's no reason why this can't be marketed as unisex niche, as the woodiness is quite strong. A good "starter niche" scent and also good for those who want a clear oud scent that isn't going to frighten the neighbors. UPDATE #2: After a couple hours, it comes together to be a dry, spicy scent with the oud as a kind of background hum. The florals are barely detectable, and only as a sort of texture. What's great about it is that I don't get any major "chemical" quality, such as iso e super, cashmeran, or a "woody/amber." I really like this composition, though to be fair, there's a lot of competition and it doesn't have any kind of monster note to appeal to some in the niche crowd.

I thought and I still think that this fragrance is a unisex one. I bought it for me (as my name is Carlos, it's easy to deduct my gender). I just want to quote an opinion from this page: "Seductive, mysterious, sultry, woody, oriental and altogether gorgeous!" The Oud-Rose-Safron that dominates this scent is fabulous. Nevertheless the overall effect from afar is a remarkably mieterious one with an also proeminent note like the delicious smell of labdanum resin. This fragrance does far better than most, and gracefully tapers off to a presentable masculine accord of woods. A very fine piece of work. Yes I do have to share it with my wife. I still have not decided if I like it on me better then on her. It's damn sexy! General performance is above average. Will I buy it again? If I don't, my wife will!!! General note: 8.5~9.0/10.00

This perfume is fabulous! Paris meets Middle East! Just goes to show how subjective fragrance is and/or how differently our olfactory systems work. I find this to be one of the most unique fragrances in my collection and it smells like nothing else. This is LOADED with osthmanthus and I don't even see it listed in the notes. Maybe it is the "secret" ingredient, I'm not sure. The osthmanthus used is very similar to what is in Parfum d'Empire Osthmanthus Interdite. It lasts several hours on me. I'm not sure how long because I kept craving the opening and respraying. I'm so glad I went ahead and made this blind buy. It is old school meets modern meets Middle East. Love it!

I am dismayed to read so many negative reviews, but let's face it, fragrance is entirely subjective and there are so many factors at play. Your own skin chemistry, your olfactory sense, the environment, the season, the temperature. I bought this in summer and liked, but didn't go crazy for it, so I pushed it to the back of the wardrobe. I wore it today (start of winter) and it absolutely blew me away around 3-4 hours into the morning. Seductive, mysterious, sultry, woody, oriental and altogether gorgeous! So glad I persevered. May I suggest that you give this another go if you didn't like it to start with...it deserves another chance.

Very beautiful graceful elegant unisex perfume with delicate chord of oud, roses, saffron, olibanum, gardenia. Oud here is very soft, covered by roses, spices, patchouli. You feel classic french school and Rochas style ❤

i find it so similar to newyork oud of bond9 that's why i loved it

Mango, Rose, and Leather Luca Turin published a review of Secret de Rochas Oud Mystère that was complimentary, informative, and hilarious. This perfume is also dirt cheap, and with that magic combination, a bottle was quickly put onto my shelf. Well...I tested it a few times and was not prepared for what happened. Just smelled from the bottle this seems to be an essential-oil-of-rose type of scent, but when I put it on initially it smelled very woody, sharply floral, and a bit plasticky, with a hint of liquid roses underneath. It simultaneously smelled compelling and synthetic at the same time. I tested this several times, but ultimately I was put off and couldn’t understand what Turin liked about this perfume. I’m not always the best ‘nose’ in the world, and reading the review of this perfume again helped me understand what the heck was going on. Actually something really clicked and everything finally fell into place. Turin listed this as a “Mango, Patchouli, and Oud” perfume. I just had to tell myself that Oud can smell a little sharp, medicinal, and even a bit plastic if you’re not used to it. So that was settled. The real part was realizing that I was smelling a wonderful representation of the scent of a fresh mango. Mangos have a very astringent, floral, woody smell to them, depending on how ripe they are. The opening notes were made of fresh mango, oud, and a medicinal, camphorous patchouli. Click. Everything felt right when I was able to place all the notes, and I ended up really enjoying the discordant opening. What is really neat about this perfume is that the mango, despite not being listed as a note, is a big player. At first it has that sharp floral scent, but as it warms up, it compliments the rose and becomes the sunny sweet fruity mango scent that most people think of. After the mango-oud accord dries down a little, the rose comes out more, and becomes leathery with the saffron, and a bit spicy, too. The ‘oud’ part dies down quite a bit, and for the long term this perfume is what I thought it would be: a lovely red rose with a hint of leather, ripe sweet mango, and spice on a bed of woody patchouli and olibanum. This is such an interesting perfume! Try it, you might like it. And like Moppety below me says, if you were initially put off, give it another chance, I'm glad I did. And read the review! It's really a good one.

I bought this a couple of years ago, when I was going through a "test everything by Rochas" phase; I wasn't terribly impressed. I am giving this another chance today, testing on a chilly but bright February afternoon. I must echo Angela Agiannidou - the mystery here is "Where IS the oud?" Like Angela, I have a number of Arabic scents which are far more oudy than this and I also agree with her assessment that this is a good beginner oud. I am surprised that leather isn't listed in the notes, although saffron is, which may be the "culprit". There is also a distinct fruity note; TillyWave (below) states that Luca Turin identifies this as mango. Rose puts in a very faint appearance and I can't smell gardenia at all. To me, this is a lightly spiced fruity leather perfume. It's not bad quality for the price, but I find it... unimpressive? I am trying to be fair, but my original impression of this being rather boring still stands. I respect Luca Turin, but cannot understand why he gave this such a glowing review.

I tried it once in a perfumery shop and was immediately seduced. It was an opulent wood with a hint of something interesting I never smelled before. I suppose it was oud. Some time later I ordered it. But strangely I didn't get the same feeling even if I tried to wear it several times to get used to it. It became quite intrusive and cold (gardenia I think) fragrance for me. Wood is still there but on the background not as the first player. But oud is very prominent. There is a sharp note in addition and I think coming from patchouli. All in all it is a good quality oriental fragrance. Quite unusual oriental type by the way. I would advise it for oriental lovers who don't mind patchouli in fragrancies (by the way patchouli is not strongly prominent here). As for me it renders this fragrance rather sharp for my liking. And I would prefer slightly warmer perfumes. But definitely this fragrance worth a try. It does not leave indifferent.

I like it. It is very fresh and very safe oud, more for the summer and/or day time fragrance then night. You need something stronger for the nights, generally. I can clearly smell the shaffron and other notes listed, some citrusy gardenia as well. For me this is a light skin scent that would be safe even for a child to wear. Still interesting, if it was stronger I would consider it backup worthy.

sharp and alcohol blast in the opening then tones down to a sharp green pretty rose mainly with lots of saffron and some fake western oud; kind of like a distant cousin of Calligraphy Rose and Saffron without the depth and richness. This needs amber and musk. It's actually a bit green. Very one dimensional. I like it but don't love it. There's other better examples out there.

Wow the hate! I feel I must offer a defence. I saw this fragrance heavily discounted and then I almost didn't buy on the strength of the negatives here. I read Dr. Luca Turin's positive review and decided to give it a go anyway on the basis of wanting to form my own opinion. I confess I am no oud expert, I love Body Shop's Amber Oud and J Del Pozo's Arabian Nights for men and am not too keen on Body Shop Rose Oud. I have never smelt an expensive oud so for the fragrance upper classes, my opinion may not be of any importance. BUT with all due respect to the opinions of others: Firstly, the outrage over the use of the word Mystere in the name I feel is overdone. I am aware of the legendary chypre with this name but I have never had the impression that it was meant to be related. Secret de Rochas Oud Mystere, Mysterious Oud flanker of Secret de Rochas in Secret packaging, it is a word, no more. The fragrance reminds me a lot of Patou ENJoy when you get under the Oud, a beautiful fruity rose by the same perfumer, J-M Duriez. The 'oud' here is soft, warm, woody and seems to sit beside the spiced fruity rose, in balance. I smell both but can focus on each side or let the whole wash over me. It does not smell as medicinal as some 'oud' scents seem to and the effect is very different from the loud ouds. I can happily wear this in the office (small doses) or out and about and so far nobody has shown any sign of revulsion! No semen, no chlorine, no fly spray and it lasted the whole working day with enough left to not be able to just spray over with something else. Make your own mind up if you can get it. If you don't like it you can always sell it on ebay :)

What a travesty to associate this bug spray with the great mystere de Rochas. I despair at the rubbish that now passes for "fine fragrance". Poor sillage and longevity too but maybe that's a blessing...don't waste any money satisfying your curiosity on this one....

Found this in my mom's closet, opening reminds me of cheap glue. Name was rubbed off but started laughing when I read this was supposed to be an oud. Cheap perfumery at it's worst.

I know why this is called 'Oud Mystere', because there is a mystery as to what happened to Oud. I like it, but frankly there is more oud coming out of Shahrazad's tray than from this concoction, so if you expect it to evoke images of Lady Chatterley visiting the barnyard for a bit of 'how' s your father' with the stable groom you can forget it. It starts off with a strong gardenia and olibanum combo that creates a rather camphoric effect with some hints of wood and spice. Olibanum's life span is short and the floral and wood soon take over. The best phase is towards the dry down where wood and spice leave a beautiful trail, semi spicy and quite aromatic. Smooth Rose and wood stay until the finale. I don't find it unpleasant, or heavy, it is perfectly wearable if one likes a light and more camphoric interpretation of oud. Good for Oud beginners.

I was looking for it for a while as one of my favorite YouTube reviewers said it has a sparkling champagne opening !! when I tested it, it really does !! It has a sparkling opening that immediately reminded me of sparkling white grapes with slightly sweet and light roses (hints at the roses in delina - PDM) supported with saffron witch is a perfect link between the fruity-rosy opening and oudy heart. After 30 minutes or so the oud comes in but very light (not full-bodied, not animalic, nor smoky) With 8 sprays, I got 1 hour of shy projection and 3-4 hours longevity, which is totally ok baring in mind the wonderful smell at arond 30 $ tag. It can be easily worn all year round, but maybe with caution in summer days, it can be formal feminine scent, and semi-formal male scent. 8/10

A dominant green and somewhat powdery rose, a rose with a vintage feel. Underneath, a leathery saffron, a hollow synthetic Oud which just gives a little dirty bitterness to nullify any sweetness, and a somewhat sour olibanum. The spices and patchouli are much further into the background. The gardenia overlaps/supports the rose giving it some indolic carnal attitude. Altogether the rose is the star of this one, and to my nose it’s a unique and interesting rose. Definitely can be unisex. A decent mature “serious” fragrance for dressing up. I do enjoy this one but it’s not my style, I rarely ever dress up and when I do there’s far too many other scents I own to reach for. Recommend for rose connoisseurs who are looking for something different.

This is more of a statement than a review. A defense, if you will. I just heard about this Rochas Oud Mystere. I was excited because my decades old signature scent is Mystere de Rochas, ca 1978. I wondered if they had reworked my precious and re-released it. After reading these reviews I will not part with my money to try this travesty. Original Mystere is a Great Fragrance, timeless, mysterious, unique and alluring. For me, Balmain fell off the wagon with Ambre Gris - I love Balmain's classics, but Ambre Gris did not have the 'Balmainade' of the old school. What a shame they sullied the name of a truly beautiful and unique fragrance with a trendy washout.

Finally managed to get hold of a bottle, the notes sounded gorgeous BUT sorry to disappoint its awful, the only thing I can smell is OUD and then only for about an hour, after that an awful smell of chlorine. Bought this because luca turin gave an excellent review, which just confirms my thoughts on the subject of smell, it is purely subjective. I suppose if you like the smell of Oud then you might like this, but if you after a complex fragrance with all the notes arising this is not the perfume for you.

As soon as I heard that Rochas is going to discontinue their Secret de Rochas series, I bought this perfume just to complete the lot. I already used the Secret de Rochas for many years and Rose Intense for some time and loved them both. Oud version was I blind buy but I don’t regret it. They all agree with my skin and they have gentle and soft bouquet.

Beautiful and full of grace. It's not either rose nor oud in your face. Not opulent, not daring. Just respectful with people around. Much too subtle for a oud some might say, but this is what I love about it. It's warm, comfortable, discrete, almost shy, but graceful. I feel so feminine wearing it!

This has a great leather shortly after the sharper top notes lift but unfortunately it doesn't last long on me. Really interesting, beautiful in its own way but too shy.

wow tried this and it was aweful. High hopes but i too got the chlorine note. office safe and weak enough not to have others even smell it.

This smelled so awful. Too much face powder scent mixed with so much of the olibanum that made it smell like frankinsence fake oil.

Ooooooh, please share a review with us, those of you who have been lucky enough to test Rochas' take on Oud!

Where's the oud in this? Nothing special