Symmetry

This is a revelation. Now, while I'm pretty confident that I am someone that loves woody notes, I've always been a little cautious about oud. I love the smell of it and I love the smell of various oud perfumes on others, but I'm not sure that oud loves me. This consummate fragrance shows me that it was never oud that didn't love me, but its usual "olfactory language" that combines it with notes that take things in a rich, opulent, even overpowering direction. Enter Symmetry, which combines oud with pure freshness while still remaining complex. Hardly surprising: Maestro Maurice uses what I can only describe as some of the most classical ingredients from a gentleman's toilet requisite canon (and, no, ladies, don't let that put you off; it's genuinely unisex) to create something that is simultaneously classic and entirely contemporary. If there were ever a scent that was a "whenever you want to wear it" fragrance, this is it. It's sophisticated enough for a gala ball and breezy enough for a barbecue. My only moan is that it doesn't come with a screw-top bottle option. Because when we can finally all travel again, I'm going to blow the dust off my travel atomiser and fill the tank with this baby because I know that it will be the only fragrance I will need to pop in my dopp kit when I get back to gruelling travel schedules.

I wrote a review of this one when it first came out; fell instantly in love with its unique and unexpected combination of fresh citrus and oud. Yet this year, it seems to have nudged ahead as my most frequently worn fragrances in hot weather. I think in the past I was worried that the heavier oud notes would end up overpowering the bergamot, neroli and citrus notes, but that's not the case at all. Definitely the perfect choice if you're rushing around all day and don't have time to go back to the hotel before going to some dressed-up event.

I have a travel size of this and though oud is the only thing in common with Gold Spot, I can definitely smell the common DNA between Symmetry, Loudo and Gold Spot. I know there are no sweet notes in the profile but to me it smells sweeter than a woody citrus fragrance normally would. It's terrific - I honestly think all of the Sarah Baker and S. Baker are wonderful. The only thing I'm not a fan of is the price. I think it's moderately lasting. Perfectly unisex 9/10 smell 5/10 price.

#974 in my "Tour de Fragrance" I'm pretty easy to please with an oudy fragrance. Some agarwood, some cypriol, whatever else you want to toss in, as long as you don't overdo the rose. Or like this scent, leave the rose out altogether. I will probably wear it. But $150 for 50ml? This is a very nice scent. No complaints about it whatever. Excellent quality all around, absolutely versatile. Still, so many Middle Eastern houses making inexpensive, high quality oud scents, so many popular consumer brands like Gucci, Hugo Boss, Versace, Armani, Polo with nice affordable oud scents. But you really should check out Paris Corner's "Killer Oud" Line. Under $30 at Fragrancebuy.ca, dead on clones of Amouage's best oud scents, especially the one's for us guys. You'll thank me. https://fragrancebuy.ca/pages/search-results?q=killer+oud

The citrus opening married to the oud and amber evoked, for a moment, M7 just for a little bit, but this is definitely a different beast. The citrus gives way to the smoky, dry note of nagarmotha which blooms and actually becomes equally defining as the amber-oud chord. It all harmonizes nicely, albeit a little predictably. If I stumbled across this looking for a good "workhorse" casual oud scent and didn't want to go in search of the perfect scent, I'd probably be totally satisfied settling for this one, but I don't feel as if I absolutely need to go out and get this one with overlapping scents like Oud Wood and M7 in my collection already.