Oud Ankaa

Oud Ankaa, from the house of Ys-Uzac. A fitting name for this perfume, chosen after the brightest star in the Phoenix Galaxy. I feel Oud Ankaa is, in many ways, much like that, among the myriads of Oud perfumes that saturate the market. To think that something like this was released back in 2014, and still, to this date, there is nothing remotely close to it in the realm of perfumery, only speaks volumes to the craftsmanship behind it. Once again, the composition goes way beyond the materials and transcends into a vision. Yes, it will satisfy the Oud purists, but if you just want Oud, then you'd be better off looking elsewhere, as here, the Oud is used to tell a story, not only to justify the name and the price tag. To me, this perfume smells like you would enter an Egyptian tomb. That's the scent association I had the instant I smelled it. It smells ancient. Closed air, dust loaded, old wood and stone. The air inside the tomb is heavy and cold, but there is warmth also coming through the main entrance from outside the crypt. If you close your eyes, you can sense the ceremonial rites that took place thousands of years ago - the incense burning, and the floral and fruit arrangements that used to embellish the chamber. As much as I try to think of other things, I can only picture ancient artifacts. That's how deeply rooted that sensation is in my brain. How Vincent Micotti managed to capture and evoke that feeling is spectacular. I don't detect any trace of facets that one would associate with fermented oud oils. There is nothing off-putting about the oud accord in here. It uses a blend of oud oils from various regions, hence I suspect the complexity of the scent profile is partly attributed to that. There are incense, soft leather, and slightly fruity and earthy facets. Moreover, I detect a beautiful use of saffron in the opening, complementing the leather-like facets and imbuing a beautifully spicy and fiery feel to the introduction. The third major player after the two, and the one that dominates the dry-down on my skin, is the Ambergris. The latter seems to be another favorite material of Vincent and one that he uses incredibly well in many of his compositions. It lends a beautiful and gentle warm muskiness to the dry-down. Overall, it is difficult to pinpoint notes, but the three accords are what I can separate. All in all, for me, Oud Ankaa is all about traveling back in time, deep beneath the earth into the Pharaoh's chambers where now only silence rules, and where at night, glowing from the desert sky, the brightest star from the Phoenix Galaxy sends its beam for the ones willing to see, or smell. IG:@memory.of.scents

Oh my gosh, the berry facets are out of this world... then dusty, aged furniture, and what I consider the scent of halls of art museums, which I normally mostly associate with iris. There could be said to be a powdery aspect here as well. Very delicate. Also picking up some paper and tobacco nuances, which I must admit with the berry notes and my immaturity had me proclaiming my first time smelling it, “sophisticated blunt wraps!” Haha. But this time I’m much more able to perceive the depth of the “antique” smell here. It really feels like the inside of an old mansion, potentially haunted, and actually reminds me of a recurring dream of mine, in which I progress through a seemingly neverending, austere, nearly entirely wooden manor, each floor about 40 feet high, lined with bookshelves and adorned with an unlit fireplace and old furniture in the center, a set of giant, ornate doors to each side. Through one, an impossibly expansive staircase leading up, through the other, down, but each leading to an identical floor... and this goes on, until I eventually travel downward far enough, and reach—the basement... and what happens there I’ll spare you the horror of... Instead of a door, at the bottom of a suddenly spiraling staircase I find an opening—a small window blocked by iron bars viewing into the top of the cellar, and crouching down and looking through I can see some of the ancient treasures hidden in the dark below—sarcophagi, a stone altar, instruments of a prehistoric ritual... in the far back, I can make out what looks like a tunnel, bore straight into the earth, leading deeper in and around the corner... I blink—and I’m transported through the iron bars, suddenly in the middle of the cellar. I glance back up at the opening I was just looking down through almost twenty feet up the stone wall. The sarcophagus next to me begins to creak. A torch by the entrance of the earthen tunnel alights. The cavern begins to shake as giant footsteps resound from down the tunnel, approaching slowly at first, and then quicker and quicker until you can tell they’re just around the corner—the sarcophagus now rattling off it’s hinges, the wood and stone scraping and screeching until it BURSTS OPEN---and we’ll just call that the end of this fever dream hahahaha. Eventually reveals some faint smokiness! Sillage moderate longevity incredible. My sincere apologies for the unorthodox departure—I truly hope I didn’t frighten anyone too much hahaha. The fruity/berry aspects of the scent don’t actually let it come off so frightful. :) Bravo, good sir!!!

This is a true masterpiece. I went to the store today and asked the Perfumer for an Oud centered fragrance. He showed me about 10 different ones (Pana Dora Oud Republic, and some others I've never heard of), all good in their own right, but I knew I wanted something else. I asked him to show me something with an even more Oud centered character. Then he took a small, dark red bottle, sprayed it on the sample paper, let it rest of a moment and gave it to me. That was what I was looking for. Oud Ankaa. This is special. It opens with a clear Oud sting, which you either like or not. I love it personally. Then however, it developes this mystical scent profile which I would best describe as a mix of Oud in the center, freshly picked wild strawberries around it and a smooth cloud of Saffron lingering. To me, this is what perfumery is about. New scents, new creations, that are out there and maybe look incompatible on paper, but come together like nothing you've ever smelled. My new signature fragrance.

i gave you up there some similars perfumes of this but ofcurs oud ankaa has a special spirit just like yours and mine, its alive and full of life, its oud and only raw oud, its real just like the smell of sick agar tree, kind of dry and warm, sweet and calm, bit animalic and not massive yes its not scary, its the smell of real oud no harsh its the smell of real niche and elegancy, so organic and pure that not lasts for long unless you wash it up, its the smell, i love it and i own it and i will keep as an iconic gem forever cuz its limited .. thank you

Semi-Sweet/floral oud, reminiscent of a boxwood derby. Moderate sillage and longevity. Fresh, daring, bold. Very nice oud. Has a gentleness to it. Something of a dusty mystery but not in an intellectual way. A rosy memory of an ancient carpentry workshop near the equator, perhaps. Calm and a bit playful. Niche in applicability, but can say that it's definitely more of a winter scent, and somewhat inappropriate for most public situations in the city. More of a private scent.

I recently had a chance to test a few of Yz Uzac frags and Oud Ankaa was one of them. Perfume itself is very pleasant, dark black chocolate like woody perfume with some shimmering notes at the start that makes it interesting. Oud itself is non barny, not difficult to wear, just a good, dark, woody, velvety aroma. Some might call it chocolaty oud, others might associate aroma with chocolaty tobacco, it resides somewhere in the tobacco vanille/oud balsam territory, while remaining its own thing. Sillage is non existent, projection is close to skin and longevity is 3-4 hours. While being nice, there is nothing special about it to be honest. I expected more extravaganza based on overall image people paint for Ys Uzac.

I am so sad I didn’t manage to like this. Sad, because the quality of the materials used is realty outstanding. Sad, because the incense veil here is not matching the Oud at all, like an out of tune piece of music in contraposition. And I am one who loves incense and Oud... The overall composition seems like unfinished.. like ok, there’s going to be a development that will bring me somewhere, but there is nothing going on with my skin chemistry. In addition to this, longevity is rather poor, not reaching 4 hours after spraying twice from the sample vial... Cost is out of any conceivable reason, thus a big pass for me!

This is MASSIVE, something i haven't smell before! it struck me when i first sniffed it! it's like a mummy crypt within an ancient historical secret garden, never scary but quite pleasant. it reminds me of MUMM-RA from Thundercats cartoon as i imagine this will be his castle's essence! it is never scary as the image of Paris's Catacombs but pleasant as the journey of Indiana Jones's. i can feel the Oud Superbly conquering the scene and specially the Indian extinct Oud. Quite obvious agar-wood, and wood notes mixed with floral notes that shines shyly to lightens the mysterious shadow that the Oud covers. after 2 hours of stunt essence, the saffron appears sharply and launches quite loudly and compete with the Indian Oud and becomes like a war field. Quite weird and pleasant when time is given to it. I've hated the first 5 minutes when i sampled it in Harrods London March 2015 but later... i kind of felt mild about it. the second time was June 2015, i felt the exact same! the third time was just today morning when my Mum brought me a sample from Jelmoli department store in Zurich from an amazing lady who filled a bit for me. however, i felt also the exact same but now i guess i am in love with it more cause it's SUPERBLY neat AND the house of Ys-Uzac will not continue producing it because of the extinct material they have used to create this masterpiece. i can't lie, IT IS VERY EXPENSIVE (620 Euros) but remember it is Extinct and the flacons are limited and completely counted.

A sanctuary of fragrant darkness guarding the entrance to Akhenaton’s tomb. An ancient armory inside gilded by dusty wooden shrines, with splintered spears and broken arrows carved out of the cultivated sickness of the sacred agar tree, their leathery tips still coated in the blackest of oily tars; wooden shields covered in cracked painted animal hides resting against the empty anthropoid coffins. Scarab amulets of jade, gifts of bundled strands of fiery-golden saffron forgotten in broken canopian jars and skeletons of floral bouquets laying scattered amongst families of fossilised Egyptian Rousetti, with Isis and Nephthys watching the earthly cycle from above in patient humility. Oud Ankaa, the rare phoenix of ouds, is a tour de force of perfume art and a lesson in contemplative darkness. Evocative, memorable and monumental yet its aura radiates calmly without fear. Comprised of aged Indian agarwood ornated with minimalistic influences of floral spices and animalic leathers Oud Ankaa is now as extinct as the oud oils that created it. Lucky is who owns her.

I have never gotten so many compliments on any of my other oud fragrances besides this one. This is an impolite and expensive oud that takes the lead but without being offensive. This is true Middle Eastern perfumery - yes, the oud is strong, but the fruity background notes really sweetens it up after the initial 15 minutes. A must-have for all the oud lovers out there who are happy to fork out a high price point on a fragrance.