Hayat

I see this being compared to Oud Wood, but this is has far too much of a "no-nonsense" vibe to be a substitute for Oud Wood. OW has a very slight sexy playboy undercurrent to it due to the vanilla & tonka bean. Hayat on the other hand is just a straight forward masculine shotcaller boss type of scent. Hayat doesnt pretend to be sweet, cute, flirty or any of that stuff like Oud Wood does. Just very serious, stern and commanding smelling imo. This is more about a rugged masculine charm. This is also very iso-e-super/cedar heavy in the drydown. Significantly dirtier than Oud Wood too. Even dries down a bit leathery and mildly petrolic. This is more comparable to Kredo; whereas Kredo goes slightly fruity apricot & leather, this (Hayat) goes entirely woody & leather. I dont get any leather at all from Oud Wood or Carved Oud which are both a love for me. This is a firm like for me, as is Kredo. Editing to add: I've gotten compliments from women literally every single time Ive worn this. Now these are 40+ year old women if that matters to you - and when I say they compliment me on it, Im referring to the dry down about 2-3 hours after the initial sprays, but still...in my experience, women really seem to like this stuff. So much so that Ive had to get a couple of backup bottles. I knew I personally liked it, but I cant say I expected women to be so fond of it. I do think it goes better with a more tailored attire or at least a collared shirt, but this has been a winner for me so far.

Hayat succeeds where - in my humble opinion - the newer Ether does not: Blending a slightly cheesy oud with citrus notes. The cheesyness of Hayat's oud is restrained and adds the right amount of masculine ruggedness without the scent turning feral (or fecal). It is expertly blended with the cedar that grounds and rounds the whole composition, and the cypriol that really pushes the earthy / woody notes and carries the whole scent. The spice, aromatic and citrus notes fit perfectly, adding a bit of freshness and keeping the whole scent from becoming too dry. As it dries down and those notes start to fade, it becomes cleaner, calmer and very woody. This is certainly a bit of an acquired taste and not something you buy right at the start of your fragrance journey. I do think however that it makes an excellent starting point for somebody who wants to get into oud. It is not the most luxurious, refined oud in the world (I am not even sure it is natural), but also not too cheesy, sour or fecal to be off-putting. It sits right there in the middle. Performance is good to, it projects well for the first 3-4 hours and then stays noticeable close-up for another few hours.

Xerjoff Hayat is a strong and unique fragrance. It opens with cheesy oud mixed with citrus and cedar. The oud lasts throughout, sometimes becoming slightly animalic, but it stays balanced and never feels too barnyard-like. As it dries down, the scent shifts to a mix of patchouli and cedar, creating an earthy, woody vibe that feels deep and natural. The transitions in the fragrance are smooth, and the oud remains a key part of the experience. This is not a fragrance I’d recommend blind buying. It’s bold and might not work for everyone, but if you enjoy oud or like trying something outside the ordinary, it’s worth sampling. For those who appreciate daring scents, it can be fantastic—but definitely try it first.

Decant. The first time smelling opening is pungent and funky think it's the oud and the saffron, settles into an Earthy blend of light cinnamon, patchouli and spices with the oud and cypriol blanketing it all. The lavender is in their somewhere, the orange doesnt really make a presence on my skin. Weird scent at first I didn't like it but it grew on me something about the scent is captivating. Gotta let it dry down. Very addicting earthy scent. The more I come back to it the more I love it fr. Update: came back to it after a while and man it's just pungent and oud is kinda shitty, what a weird fragrance

this immediately reminded me of TF Oud Wood...the oud with the woody&cardamom is what is amazing about oud wood, and this have it, but the oud here is different than oud wood, TF have kinda a cheap vibe when it comes to oud...but here you smell a high quality oud, the bitter orange smoothens the sharpness, this actually really nice cuz i used to be a fan of oud wood and most people know how oud wood performance isn’t great anymore, so people gone to carved oud from thameen which is more close to oud wood imo, but this, this have more depth and waaay better longevity.

This stuff is just amazing. Super high quality fragrance, you can tell the quality of the ingredients is just off the charts. The oud is there but not off putting or unbearable. To me it is pretty wearable. Woody, smoky, rugged, complex.

A beautiful balanced oud with slight citruses and some cinnamon spice rounding it out, the oud is slightly cheesy but not too pungent. Smells rich and delicate!! Top notch 🪵 Stop by my TikTok for some fragrance content: nerolicannoli

This reminds me of Gucci guilty absolute, I can get some vibes from Tom ford oud wood but this is too Woody and istraight a really matured men fragrance nort youthful, and the longevity is superb and I will love to own a full bottle

Monster of a fragrances! This is a sleeping giant, Most youtuber dont know abouth this Gem its a refine version of Tom Ford Oud Wood and also stronger version of Carved oud. 10 out 10 make youself a favor and try a sample.

powdery patchouli oud ... i like Kemi Hayat better in the scent profile but this is a beast in true sense of the word. seems a bit synthetic as compared to Kemi version.

Amazing olfactory journey, spices from top to bottom and effervescence on the spicy side.

Xerjoff Hayat is a great woody/oud fragrance. A warning - regardless of the note pyramid, I didn't get any of the top notes. First and foremost, Hayat opened with stinky oud. Not the fecal kind but a cheesy oud scent which also isn't pleasant. As it dries down, the cheese smell retreated and I was left with mainly a really nice oud-cedar-patch scent with a very subtle touch of cinnamon. Very good longevity and sillage. Hayat is one of those perfumes that smells better in the air than nose to the skin application spot. Very masculine scent. Because of the opening, Hayat should be applied at least 30 minutes before heading out to give it a chance to calm down. lol Not for the nose new to oud. While overall I liked Hayat, it isn't full bottle worthy for me. It lacked depth. I was reminded of Amouage's Silver Oud, not because they smell similar, but because it has a more complex and deep development. I'd rather go with Silver Oud than Hayat.

I get a lot of oud here... Oud and Patchouli... Wealthy suited mans scent... Love the bottle, Like the Scent... I'm not a huge follower of Oud Heavy Scents but must admit this might be bringing me around... No doubting the quality here... Gets very interesting in the far dry down... A full 7 hours in and this is still radiating beautifully... Top Quality... Maybe its "Love the bottle, Really Like the Scent..." ;)

As another reviewer mentioned, the opening is sharp and pungent, likely due to the bitter orange. It dries down to a strong cardamom with a green background. It’s a complex fragrance but it just is not for me.

I saw a video that recommended Hayat as an alternative to the old batch of Oud Woud. I'm looking for a replacement for Oud Wood (old batch) and I love Oud Wood and I love Xerjoff. I ordered samples from 2 different stores. The first sample I received smelled so bad that I ordered another sample from another store to be sure... Finally I smelled it in a Bangkok store, unfortunately the samples I received matched the bottle I smelled in the store. It's one of the worst "perfumes" I've smelled in my life!! It really stinks!!! It's one of the biggest disappointments I've had in the world of perfume. Xerjoff who interprets Oud Wood, it could have been a masterpiece, but it's not a Xerjoff creation. Do not buy blindly and I do not recommend it as a replacement for Oud Wood.

This one in my main perspective, disappoints. It is decent in the other. This fragrance really pops in the sudden opening. Very sharp, pungent, I thought I was in for a good ride. That lasted only 1 min. Literally just one minute. I'm being generous here, so realistically perhaps 30 seconds? I wish I had more of that opening. Something aggressive, something exhilarating. It quickly settles down to a woody oud-based, patchouli leather type of oriental fragrance. Not bad but not distinguished? It is soft too. Perhaps a bit like Fragrance du Bois in a lot of their disappointing projections. This is too close to the skin for me, your mileage may vary. For an artsy brand like xerjoff and for why I buy it, I want it really exploring something that takes me somewhere in mind to a place or time or something lyrical, if not wearable everyday. I'm spraying it for the times I want to take a field trip to the mind's museum of art. This isn't doing it for me in that regard. For those looking into an introduction to xerjoff, this will leave you with a not so good first impression, and from there, it will just be a skewed look that gets really difficult to adjust into a clear viewpoint of xerjoff. As in terms of the scent during its course of its longevity on my skin, it is a steady soft woody leather oud accord. Not necessarily distinctive but it is doing a good job as a garment over my skin if I need something a bit dressy and masculine and a bit rugged and want something NOT SWEET at all in any facet. There is no sweet at all. This is sort of your Siene Tiziana Terenzi. Full masculine, dressy, rugged, no sweet accord, all leather all woody all patchouli. From that perspective this is like your stand-by, burgundy leather dress belt when you need it on the occasion. It will not disappoint there and for those with a large collection of dress belts to accessorize with, this is a decent buy. For what it is besides the price and for what is in line with my style and tastes, i give this a 7.9

A strange fragrance, I'm not sure how to feel about it. Like JuliaToothFairy a few reviews below mine says, the oud in Hayat has a cheese-like smell and it's paired with light citrus notes, spices and lavender. I'm starting to realize my nose has been acting up these past few days, since I've been having trouble smelling the fragrances I've been wearing how I potentially should, so I'd take what I say from this point on with a light grain of salt. I see what the scent is going for but frankly this smells like a poopy baby wipe, and I really hate using such a crass description but it's simply what it smelled like to me. I have worn and tried many animalic oud fragrances before but the strong, pungent animalic smell tended to subside for the most part and become "palatable" in a matter of minutes, here it doesn't really and the cheese smell is too weird to make people around you (who most likely have never smelled an oud fragrance like this) suspect it's a fragrance and not really bad body odor or dirty clothes. There was a point during the dry down where I could see a sliver of a similarity with Oud Wood but it was in a "you have to squint really hard to see it" kind of way, they're still very different scents overall, I don't see the "this is Oud Wood with real oud" comparisons. A few hours in the skin scent becomes just a leathery oud that smells really nice, but a few hours later I'm getting an Amber Xtreme smell from it so I'm not liking the deep dry down. Can't say how performance was accurately outside of longevity being objectively great, as it's been 9 hours and I can still smell it a bit faintly on my arms. Projection seemed moderate at best but sillage was very light, although not as light as Nuit de Feu yesterday, but again, my nose has been weird these past few days and I'm sure this is much stronger than what I experienced. I won't wear or smell any fragrances for a week to see if anything changes, I'll definitely come back to this fragrance soon.

This fragrance really carries the signature of Chris Maurice. It has that kind of aldehydic layer, like a bubble around the notes, where the scents are on the inside and you can feel a sort of airy effect on the outside. I’m not exactly sure how to describe it, but it’s what I feel, and it’s what I love about these kinds of perfumes. When you have these types of ingredients, they can sometimes be very strong and aggressive to the nose. But here, the perfumer does something magnificent: he envelops the notes in a way that softens them, making them more exquisite and refined to perceive. The name Hayat means “life” in Arabic, and this fragrance aims to represent the four classical elements: earth, fire, air, and water. For me, it’s simply delightful. It has a noticeable oud note that stands out, and you get that bitter orange touch at the start. The notes blend together beautifully, almost like a well-rehearsed dance, and the oud is definitely the star here. The spices are present but not overpowering; they blend well with the other notes. There are also certain mentholated nuances from the cardamom, which are very pleasant and add freshness to the composition. Over time, the initial aggressiveness of the oud softens and develops into a sophisticated, elegant character. It’s a fragrance that has earned me compliments, even from people not used to oud, and it lasts a long time. After several hours, you’re left with a woody base of cedar and cypriol, earthy and grounding.

Hayat, by Xerjoff, smells like guaiac wood and natural Cambodian oudh. The natural Cambodian oudh smells like salty feta cheese. A smell very familiar to me, since I was a child and me and my family would go to visit the sheep keepers in the village to buy some homemade salty cottage cheese from them. In my time spent during my adulthood in middle-east, I learned that the people from this area love to wear this Cambodian oudh scent. To me, it's a very weird scent to wear, personally, I would never wear it, but still, I understand it's character and appeal. Guaiac wood smells gummy, naturally sweet, smoky, like dried, burned leaves and agave syrup. Combine the two described scents, the result is Hayat.

Incredibly rich earthy aromatic woody, like frolicking through the wardrobe with Mr Tumnus. Yes it is mostly cypriol but it's fabulous. Slightly terrifying initial blast but then you are in the forest with the fairies and everything is fine. Bracing but relaxing at the same time. I might justify buying a bottle as genuine therapy.