Intuition

for oud lovers i smell greatness

Very challenging opening. While the drydown is much more pleasant.. even after 3 hours I cannot bring myself to like this fragrance the way I enjoyed the 1st two I tried from SOK. Too anamalic and oudy for my personal tastes. If you are into those scents then by all means get a decant and try it. My daughter said I smelled "burnt". Perhaps I will let this one mascerate and come back but for now this one is a no go for me. To me I smell mostly a faint vanilla after the drydown but when I sniff check the spots on my arm where it was applied - I concur it smells like char, smoke or something burnt.

I got a manufacturer’s sample of this with an order I placed. Once I saw the nose I was so excited to try it! Boy what a let-down! A boring saffron-rose-vanilla-oud combo that has been done countless times before, even by the perfumer himself, yet done better even by his own self! I’m baffled! If you’ve smelled any number of perfumes with that combo before, you have already smelled this. There are no twists, nothing special, nothing even remotely unique. Flat and linear. The ingredients don’t seem special or high-quality. I can only really sense those 4 notes. Any other complexity is totally lost on me. Hard pass. I don’t even want my sample. This is almost a direct copy note-wise of Salim Bagh 1619, but that perfume smells more complex and ingredients really speak for themselves. Like the vanilla in that one smells like slightly smoky vanilla bean marshmallows, while in this it smells like chemicals, no complexity to speak of. This collection is supposed to represent the qualities of kings. What is “intuitive” about a common blend of notes that Middle Easterners have been using for thousands of years??? I just don’t get this at all.

“Sometimes an instant's intuition is worth a lifetime of experience.” (Holmes) And it's really true: only with a life full of positive and negative experiences can one very often come to understand intentions and behaviors; indeed, this is hardly a gift that belongs to those who have not fully experienced situations of all kinds. And where does intuition come from? Obviously from deep inside, from that baggage that we have inside and that has been involuntarily created, but which is present and often we don't know we have. This is a deep, dark fragrance that seems to want to emerge from the depths of our soul: a combination of saffron, flowers and Oud that is well balanced and opulent. Excellent for lovers of the genre.