Oud in A Minor

I won a giveaway for a bottle of my choice from the Cologne House collection through Sebastian Jara, the Perfume Guy on Youtube, IG and FB. After watching his ranking video for the fragrances and looking at the notes for each, I felt as though this fragrance, Oud In A Minor would be my best choice. The bottle arrived today and these are my first impressions. It opens with a woody sweetness right off the bat and the oud lingers in the background which is immediately detectable in the first 30 seconds to a minute. The leather comes across pretty animalic and funky almost immediately as well as the top notes start blend into one. As the initial blast in the opening starts to fade and the notes start to open up, a soapy iris starts making its presence known and the rice and quince are barely there. After the first five minutes the top and mid notes blend together nicely and the base of vetiver starts poking its head through but at this point it's still all about the sweetness from the molasses, the funky leather and the oud. There's a dry woodiness that starts becoming apparent at about the 10 minute mark which I can only attribute to the oak. There's also a citrusy sourness that starts to come through at this point which must be the quince. As more of the notes pop out and then blend with the rest of the notes, you can start to tell that this fragrance not only is pretty complex but also very well balanced and composed. So far, so good. I wasn't sold when I first got the blast of animalic leather and oud but the fragrance is developing quite nicely. I only sprayed my hand but I think I'll spray it on my neck now and wear it as my scent of the night and I can report back tomorrow and add an update edit. UPDATE - EDIT So, I wore it as my scent of the night when I posted the original review above and then wore it as my scent of the day yesterday and also my scent of the night. The fragrance is super well blended, so after the first hour it becomes difficult to isolate any individual note in the composition. The first hour as individual notes are popping in is the most interesting and fun part of the experience. As it dries down, it becomes a sweet and woody fragrance. The animalic leather and oud just blend in with the other notes and it's smooth and velvety on the skin. Unfortunately, at least on me, it doesn't last very long. About 5-6 hours longevity. It projects well until the 1.5 hour mark when it settles and basically just become a skin scent. Sillage isn't great at this point either. The scent is quite beautiful though and as a niche brand that's relatively inexpensive, you can afford to carry a decant with you to refresh throughout your day and you'll probably want to because like I said above, the most interesting part is the first hour as all the individual notes pop out and make themselves known as it dries. In that way, it is actually quite like a symphony, and the collection is called Signature Symphonies. So, I guess it is quite well named. It is quite a beautiful scent when it dries down completely and it's all blended but I wish there was a bit more beefiness to it. Leather and oud are normally pretty beefy notes in a fragrance but maybe since this is a fragrance from a brand called The Cologne House, they were going for a softer approach. It does kind of remind me a bit of Creed's Royal Oud and Atkinson's The Big Bad Cedar in the far dry down which both have large doses of cedarwood but there is no cedar in this composition based on the notes listed, so I'm not sure where that quality is coming from. Overall, I'm super happy to have won this fragrance and I do absolutely love the way it smells and plays out on skin. It's very much a symphony for the skin and for that reason, I fell as though it's very well named and quite clever. Scent : 9/10 Longevity : 6/10 Projection : 5/10 Sillage : 5/10 Overall : 7/10. I'm going to try layering it on top of Molecule 1 and Molecule 5 individually and see if that helps it last or project a bit better because that sometimes works to help a fragrance that under performs to project better and last longer. Even if it doesn't work out, I still do love the way this smells and I'm super thankful to have gotten it for free. Go follow The Perfume Guy on Youtube, FB and IG. He's a great guy with an incredible collection of fragrances and follows through with his giveaways. This is the third time I've won a giveaway from him and he's a super kind and awesome guy.

Summer Mink is listed as similar to this; Not sure if a coincidence or a joke that Drake's scent is linked to "a minor". I hope it's just a coincidence.

This fragrance made me wait for winter ❄️🌨️☺️