Tempest

Firstly, there's no oud in here, not even according to Xerjoff. Now the perfume. It's a great scent, extremely complex and dynamic, and must be sprayed on skin to open up fully. On card you will mostly notice the amberwood, which will fool you into thinking that's how it'll be on the skin. It starts with a very dry, very robust, fresh collection of spices, herbs/lavender and citrus, with a chalky undertone, and something resembling leather. This part is amazing but could be quite overwhelming if it went on for too long, but it doesn't. The real surprise is that then, it makes way for soft rose, jasmine and cypriol, as listed. This part becomes sweet and almost powdery, and it's the only part that seems Xerjoff-y to me. Then the woody, musky base takes over. It's a dusty, dry vetiver affair, bolstered by the musk and patchouli, absolutely charming and subtle but present, and then this is how it remains. This ride took about two hours to unfold on my skin, on a pretty warm day. This is the least sweet Xerjoff perfume I've tried by a long way. It's a scent that people who hate Xerjoff could fall in love with, and definitely constitutes a hidden gem to my mind. I've never heard anyone mention it, and there are so few comments here.

So happily surprised by this one. I wasn’t quite sure when I bought it but it was exactly the type of oud scent I was looking for.

Xerjoff, WHY WHY WHY???? I'm extremely disappointed in this fragrance. I love this house, it gives me everything i look for in a fragrance: Longevity 8+hours, Sillage 6ft/fills the room, and that automatically makes the price range ok for me. Tempest is the first I've tried from the Kemi collection and i don't think I'll try another (I'm sure i would, Xerjoff has my heart). But Tempest, this Tempest, lovely and well blended fragrance when first sprayed, turned soapy after about 20mins, then the barnyard oud kicked in (which i really liked, it's ambery). That lasted for 2hrs with an arm's length projection and the disappointment kicked in. The Inspiring Tale of Alchemy and Socery was gone, COMPLETELY GONE. At this point, my clothes were like i didn't have any fragrance on, just freshly laundered outfit. That broke my heart. Compared to More Than Words, Zefiro, Al Khat (which i have) and Naxos, Richwood, Alexandria II and III, Luxor, La Capitale, Red Hoba (i have tried), this Tempest just isn't giving what Xerjoff usually would. P.S: I'm looking for Xerjoff, the pefumer and all the fragrantica people that listed the longevity as long lasting and sillage as enormous, y'all got some explaining to do.

First and foremost, if you aren’t into niche you probably wont enjoy this. Cutting to the chase: Tempest to me is highly unique and very niche. It opens with a salty rose oud combo. The rose is slight and comes across as mildly sharp at first because of the lightly citrus notes that blend in the opening. The Oud is great and definitely not the super skanky kind. Tempest is by no means a citrus forward fragrance like I thought it would be. It’s more of a woody oriental style. Contrary to the note break down the orange is actually in the heart of this. After about an hour the rose dissipates and the orange really starts to poke through. From here I get a slightly boozy scent mixed with the sweet orange note before you’re finally left with a resinous woody accord that honestly smells fantastic! It sounds weird to say, but a pirate would definitely smell like this! I hated it the first time I wore it, and now I absolutely love it! (So does my wife) It’s just got something super addicting about it... I will also add that this is definitely a mature men’s fragrance and I would not classify this as unisex at all.

Thought I edited my review in 2024 when I revisited it after several months, guess I didn't and here it is: Tempest is Ah-Maze-Ing!!! Lasts over 16hrs and that's coming from someone in a humid climate. Dabearjew82, you're right. It's a challenging fragrance though, I believe it's the oud & citrus mix. When you get used to it, it's a beautiful wear.