Noir de Mars

This is my first oudh, and I wasn't sure what to expect. First spray, and the first thought that hits my mind is "This must be it. This is oudh". Oudh and earth and wood. It reminds me a little of hot rubber in the mud. A smoky taste then follows, almost incense-like, perhaps from the myrrh? It just swirls around, half-trying to intoxicate you. As in progresses, it seems to become a bit more tame somehow, albeit mildly sooty. The wood and leather in this becomes a bit more obvious, and there's even a hint of greenery. For some reason, my mind keeps going back to fires - a forest fire in the midst of a light drizzle. I almost expect to here wildlife. 2 hours in and it starts to lose its scent on me. As K1 mentioned below, it becomes even more woody and smoky, but not overpoweringly so. This just lingers around until for another 6-7 hours, with the last couple of hours being rather muted. Overall, it's a dark, dark scent. There doesn't seem to be anything immediately joyful about Noir de Mars, but it somehow comes across as rather intimate. I found it overwhelming at first, but it does grow on you and by the end, I was quite taken by its strangeness.

Pleasant enough oud & leather perfume, not very complex, very soft and demure in nature. It is an easy-to-digest fragrance for people like me who enjoy leather and oud but can't handle them in large doses. In other words this is not a "challenging" fragrance. I greatly prefer the beautiful Brun Sicilien.. This is like a more masculine version of that because it doesn't have the sweetness. I really can't detect the other notes that are listed, so while I do think it's a quality niche, I'd first recommend the other perfumes in this line, as they are more impressive.