Perfume Pen Pals: By Kilian Rose Oud Part 2


Dan,

You hit the nail on the head: By Kilian Rose Oud is Pure Oud softened with some Liaisons Dangereuses top-notes. Plus saffron! Don't forget the saffron!

Who knows what role the illicit nature of my Rose Oud desire is playing, but all I know is that I only want to wear that perfume, and no other. And I've got plenty here staring me down that I'm supposed to be writing about.

I just gratefully received your latest decant pack, and immediately sprayed on Amouage Epic Man to relive the obsession that fed into that recent Epic Man post. And I am now so far gone down the Rose Oud trail since I last tried Epic Man, that I feel as you did about EM when you finally got your bottle: it's stronger and richer than I remembered.

Very masculine, too. And to think I was fully convinced at one point that Epic Man was me-est damn thing I'd ever smelled. And to think that at some point in the future, I'll be shaking my head wonderingly at my current Rose Oud devotion.

I've definitely exceeded the limits set in my Full Bottle-Worthy Rule: four empty samples equals FBW.

Katie


Katie,

Yes, Epic Man is my most masculine fragrance, I'm certain. And it is a little odd that you ever claimed it as you. I'm a man, ostensibly, and I would never be so bold to claim it. At least until I learn how to build or repair something.

That's a long way of saying I don't think Epic Man was ever you but Rose Oud might be. I'm holding the vial in my hand right now (well, not right now, right now I'm typing) and while I haven't put it on, I can still smell it and I smell almost no oud.

From the vial, all I smell are fruity wine-y (not whiny...whiny would be me) roses. I'm sure it'll reveal more dimensions when it's on, but that'll have to wait because I'm wearing my Andrée Putman Preparation Parfumée.

Four empty samples definitely equals FBW. I've never even made it to four. I'm Mr. Owl in the Tootsie Roll Pop commercial, three samples and I've reached the center of the Tootsie Roll Pop.

Dan


Dan,

In a Pavlovian fashion, when you mentioned fruity wine-y roses, I ran to re-apply Rose Oud. Why am I loving this so much? Can you tell me that?

Katie


Katie,

Now having tried Rose Oud, I can give you my instant worthless assessment: it's very nice and I think you love it because of this.

It's such a clever use of oud in that the oud is quite present and yet somehow not at all dominant. Which not only allows the rose to stand out (and it's a lovely rose) but also provides a stage for all the other notes. The oud is the stage and not the whole production. Which is perfect because oud is typically heavy and immovable, which are ideal characteristics for a stage. (Nobody likes an unsteady stage, KP.) And it helps ground what could have been a volatile little cast.

Speaking of ground, I've run this dumb analogy into it.

But, yes, yes, Rose Oud is excellent, everything is rather subdued and in perfect balance, you can choose to smell only the notes you want or enjoy all of them at once, with only a simple adjustment of your brain.

And there aren't too many notes -- rose, fruit, spices and oud -- so it's rich but not ostentatiously so. (Hear that, Musc Ravageur?) It's not quiet (no one would put up with quiet for $400), but it is soft and almost mellow, right? It's only been an hour, but so far I like it a lot.

I kind of wish I hadn't smelled this one. I shouldn't spend another dime on perfume for at least a month. Two months if I'm being completely level-headed. I need some oud to ground me.

Dan


Fumies, any FBW rules for you? Or do you, as my father describes his grocery shopping technique, "just grab and buy"?

Read By Kilian Rose Oud Part 1 here.

16 comments:

  1. Your question about FBW rules is complicated because I have more exceptions than rules. (Don't buy it unless I've worn it five times and love it, unless I find a sale or discount, or someone is selling a partial bottle on Basenotes, in which case I can buy it after sampling it three times). Do these really count as rules?

    But I can cite my favorite um, guideline, which goes: if it's a great htf vintage perfume on ebay, from a reliable seller, for a "reasonable" price based on other recent prices for the same scent-grab it. No matter how broke I am. This prescription has resulted in a few marvelous purchases. And a couple of financially lean, but deliciously fragrant months.

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  2. FBW rules start to look like corporate contracts when you really start to break then down, Melissa. I think all of your sub-categories and qualifications make complete sense.

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  3. Rules to buying full bottles? It's bad enough with the diabolical rules in poker now.
    Nice to see some people have self control, I know i don't!

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  4. Wow, I feel like a scent whore! Thanks alot, Katie! I have no rules. If I smell something I like, I will track it down and buy it. Full price. First place I find it.

    Hmm. Normally I research a potential purchase to death online before I breach the cobwebs on my wallet and buy something. But when I smell something I like, I go for it. My only saving grace is that I don't usually smell $400 fragrances. I would love to find a sample of Rose Oud in my Independence Day stocking (I can't wait til Christmas) to see what all the hubbub is about. And to test my smell-like-buy theory.

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  5. I spritzed myself with Rose Oud in the basement of Bergdorf's over Memorial day weekend and thought it was the best thing I had tried in a long time. I'm not a lover of saffron, but in this it added warmth and complexity without overwhelming. It's very well balanced. How's the tenacity? It was a sweaty day in Manhattan and so I could not judge very well. My biggest complaint about Pure Oud is that after an hour it has faded to a ghost of it's former self.

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  6. Scott, that very basement is where I met Rose Oud for the first time. Tenacity is great, but then again, I find Pure Oud very tenacious, too. It fades, sure, but then holds on at 50% forever, which is fine for me.

    SoS, I like the idea of an Independence Day stocking. Not very seasonal, but holds more than a flip-flop, at least.

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  7. I have several techniques - I like the term techniques - it renders my shopping desires respectable as in "I'm learning a trade - so respect, please". Well, here goes:

    1. For the past 6 months or so my favorite technique has been: Research, rationalize and buy. This is the (pseudo-)academic approach. I watch or read reviews on certain fragrances, cross reference with others that are mentioned as sharing some of the same qualities. I go online and find a good deal on the fragrance of my academic choice and rationalize the whole thing as hobby and broadening my horizon, when I'm old school about it I refer to this as personal betterment. That can never be a bad thing.

    2. I've also started ordering samples on-line - this operates on basically the same principles as Technique 1. It's a new technique as perfume samples are really hard to come by where I live. Department stores rarely have any and no online stores sell them in my country, as far as I know. But that's the beauty of globalization, so London, Canada and the US here I come! This is a dangerous and treacherous technique as it is disquised as research but mainly has pleasre (leading to purchase) as it's goal.

    2. Impulse buys. My local grocery store has a fairly well stocked perfume section, considering and they do tempting discounts. This is how I bought Lancome Hypnose Senses (very pleasant and quite classy skin scent - nothing like the original H) a couple of days ago. It's so cheap and it's good quality is the rationale.

    3. For old times' sake. I repurchase scents I wore many years ago - the rationale being "a trip down memory lane is comforting - and you definitely need a bit of comfort!"

    Reading through the above I'm wondering why I feel the need to intellecutalize something that is so obviously a means of sensory pleasre.

    Oh, dear!

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  8. An Independence Day stocking is just an excuse to get more prezzies. Mine has stars and stripes on it and usually has a few sparklers tucked inside. The white-bearded fellow who fills it isn't jolly in a red suite but wears a top hat and has a blue coat and striped trousers and likes to point.

    Ah, all made up. I am just hoping for a sample of this stuff.

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  9. Katie, what is the point of all this sniffing and searching if you find "The One" and then walk away?

    Even at $400 ($439 including tax), wearing "Rose Oud" daily would not be the most expensive indulgence of your day. Assuming average ml/spray and 4 sprays per application, "Rose Oud" runs you about $3.50 per application. You pay more than that just to park your car at the Beverly Center to go shopping. $3.50 is the price of a box of Triscuits at Ralphs. And you are certainly not getting out of Starbucks for $3.50.

    My point here is that $3.50 probably falls out of your pocket somewhere during the day for something boring or useless and you don't think twice about it. Why are you sweating it now when you have found something you love after years of searching?

    Oh, and my rules for purchasing are pretty stringent:

    1) Never purchase on the day you first smell something. The "sniff trip" is just recon. You might find things that are of interest, but more often you eliminate things that just don't cut it.

    2) Always wear the fragrance for at least 10 days before purchasing a full bottle. A 5ml decant will usually give me enough time to decide if I love it. If I am still on the fence after 5ml, then it's a pass. I might spring for another decant just to keep the scent in my arsenal, but it's not full bottle worthy.

    3) When you finally buy a bottle, always buy the smallest bottle first time out UNLESS a larger bottle is actually fewer dollars (not fewer dollars per ml, but actually less money.) Big bottles are for repurchases, not initial purchases. After all, the average person only needs about 200ml of fragrance a year if they wear scent every single day and twice on weekends. Any more than that may just go to waste.

    4)And most importantly remember: true love and special things aren't meant to be found on every single shopping expedition. If you are being truly discerning, you will come up empty handed at least 90% of the time.

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  10. Personally, my problem with The One would be that I would, deep down, know that it probably isn't. There will be other Ones. Such is life.

    Other than that I really like your math, rkf.
    Could be interesting to see how far into the future my current stash of perfume would take me, given the 200 ml/year. And I could quite easily save up for my darling Jubilation 25 if I stopped buying coffee to go every morning on my way to work - minus the cost of drinking coffee at home/from a thermos instead. Add bottled water, the odd candy bar and a completely superfluous women's magazine - and there you go.

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  11. rkj and Junelady, you two could talk me into anything! I'm reading both of your techniquea and methodology while emphatically nodding my head as I take in all of your wisdom.

    rjk, I'm also a fan of your math - the whole breaking down the daily cost. And all that talk of parking at the Beverly Center and buying Triscuits at Ralphs sounds like you've hired a private detective to trail me. (Although Triscuits are so 70s. I've stumbled onto some bizarre, gluten free flaxseed crackers that taste delightfully of Cheetos.)

    Junelady, you've mentioned your "personal betterment" approach to buying perfume before, and I love how such a Puritanical idea has been turned on its head to justify a sensual pleasure that serves only to bring joy. Well done!

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  12. Katie, we Puritans always feel obligated to do our very best - also when it comes to sensual pleasures and odd twists of logic. Idle minds will not do.

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  13. Junelady,

    You made me laugh this morning. I don't view it as Sensual pleasure, but as Katie put it"Personal Betterment" Plus its always fun with the impulse buying. Some of my best gifts to my wife has been impulse buying.

    Katie, I am headed over to Saks tomorrow! She gave me the green light! Now I have to find a decent Atomizer any ideas?

    Cheers!

    Todd

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  14. OMG!! Please tell me more about the crackers that taste like cheetos! Would cheetos make it onto your full sensory mojo mode show? :)

    Hilarious exchange btwn you and dan about the oud.

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  15. Melissa, Cheetos practically demand their own episode of my full sensory mojo show! That's where Britney Spears and I have a meeting of the minds: Cheetos are awesome, y'all!

    In the name of research, I bought another box of those weird health food crackers. The brand is "Mary's Gone Crackers", and the flavor is "original". It turns out that I oversold the Cheetos flava - it's more like crispy, cooked parmasean cheese when it melts onto a hot griddle. Bizarre, since the crackers only have stuff in it like quinoa and flax seeds.

    Now I want Cheetos. Thanks.

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  16. Haha, will look for Mary's crackers!

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