Just Before

I love a warm, resinous, ambery, balsamic vanilla with touches of saffron, myrrh, citruses and soft, creamy woods. I absolutely adore ylang ylang and last year I discovered that I like palo santo as well. Therefore, I was 100% confident that I would be obsessed with Just Before by THOO since it contains all these notes so I decided to blind buy it. A bit risky since I didn’t have any previous experience with THOO, besides seeing their bottles on display during my trips to Italy, and their perfumes are expensive. And I was not wrong, I do really love how it smells, exactly how I imagined it would, after seeing the notes listed on Fragrantica! It’s such a smooth, creamy vanilla, with warm ambers, soft, aromatic tones of palo santo and sandalwood , balsamic, resinous facets from myrrh, floral, tropical accents from ylang ylang and bright citruses accords in the opening from lemon and bergamot. I am not quite sure how the name relates here but whatever THOO would have named it, Just Before is a dream scent for anyone who loves a multifaceted, complex, smooth, warm and cozy, semi sweet vanilla fragrance! And a scent that smells more natural than artificial or very perfumy... The only drawback of Just Before is that it has a more subtle presence. It’s not a heavy, intense, loud, strong performing scent, like I love my fragrances to be. It’s moderate to long lasting if oversprayed but it sits close to skin. Doesn’t create a scent bubble around me or a scent trail behind me the way I would want. I quite bummed about that, I am not going to lie, but what it lacks in performance, it compensates in scent’s uniqueness. I have so many of these warm, woody vanilla in my collection, but nothing smelling similar to Just Before. Palo santo makes this scent really stand out from other vanillas. Like mentioned in a previous review of another scent from this Italian niche house I had the chance to try in a store, I am not crazy about their bottles design. It’s original and unique for sure, and I do love the idea of having a hand painted, one of a kind bottle, but it’s something that still bothers me about their design!

#1507 in my "Tour de Fragrance" Got this as a decant. I'm not into clumsy but artistic spray bottles. I just want a clear rectangle. They store more easily. So I have not been chomping at the bit to acquire anything from House of Oud. But I did want to check out their scents. This one is basically Moresque "Seta", which I already own, plus some palo santo, So for me it's a slight improvement on the Moresque. If you have or have had Prada's popular but discontinued "Amber Pour Homme Intense", an early favorite for me, this will be very familiar and an acceptable consolation buy. It's not as citrusy as you would expect. The ylang ylang is not prominent. Mostly you get the woods and amber. It's a moderate performer. Inoffensive in any space. Versatile. It's priced the same as the Moresque and I think it's a bit better. So if you don't mind a clumsy decorative sprayer, I'd choose this over the Seta on scent.

won a 7 ml decant together with the other two from the colorful collection. super eager to try this out,i sprayed on about 3 full sprays. first thing i smelled was a note that on my nose reminded me of nail polish or cough syrup. strong and quit offensive. then after about 20-30 minutes, it started to come alive. beautiful to say the least. the ylang-ylang and bergamot and an amber mix with the sandalwood and saffron that was so beautiful i couldn't stop sniffing my arms. got great compliments to be honest,but it is pretty linear and lacks a lot of depth. which i don't mind. but if you are looking for something groundbreaking, this is not it. the silage and projection were great. and people got whiffs of this lovely scent for hours and kept on complimenting me. i would say it's a good blind buy,but the prices are outrageous.

First blast of warm honeyed floral woods that deepens into a light sweet sandalwood and saffron. There's a hint of fruitiness that feels like warm orange blossom and spiced peaches. Evokes images of sunset filtering through a peaceful kitchen, jars of homemade jam and honey on the counter. Very lovely and soft notes, stays very close to the skin, but I will wait a bit to see if this intensifies with the dry down as with so many others within this house. More feminine leaning and I think would work best almost all year. Light and floral enough for warm but not hot weather yet cozy and sweet woodsy enough for cold weather. 6+ hours later: Scent has turned more warm caramel amber over time, still going moderately strong. The dry down is very much like their What About Pop.

This smells warm and spicy. When you put it up close to your nose the notes come across too sharp but when you just let the sillage naturally project it smells so good. I have BR540 and this does not smell like it. I also have hypnotic poison and this doesn't smell like it. The saffron, palo Santo and oud mixes really well. Yup I've definitely smelled wiffs of this in Dubai Mall near Armani cafe. Who would wear this...... Definitely rich.... Liquid gold rich.... I usually like fresh scents, I blind bought this and have no regrets. I would say its a safe blind buy. I hope you like it as much as I am. YouTube: The House of Oud Just Before review by Lan Gonzales