Aoud Damascus
by Montale

Wonderful execution. Aoud Damascus is my favorite rose presentation and my favorite Montale to date. The aoud is not as pronounced as in some other Montale creations, but I find it to be quite wearable. Many roses have a musty character. While it is realistic, it is not something I am fond of. Here the rose is bright and without mustiness.

When I first reviewed this I said that longevity was relatively short. That simply is not the case; I must have underapplied it in early wearings. I did buy a bottle and it is a definite keeper for me. Highly recommended.

(Revised from 9 June 08).

The tamest oud-rose combo in Montale's oud line. Personally, I would have preferred more presence and distinction. It's not even a patch on Black Aoud...

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[Original submission date: 13 April 2008]

I guess I'm never going to develop a taste for Aoud no matter how many I try. Damascus is probably the one I've liked the best so far since it's more subdued than the others.

Aoud is so distinctive to my nose that it comes at the expense of every other note in the accords. It's basically all I smell and that renders Montales almost indistinguishable to me.

I cannot give this fragrance a bad review. That would be unfair since I seem to be a bad candidate for aouds in general. Neutral rating from me on this juice.

Yup, typical rose and oud. Rather weak considering the other offerings. I still don't like any of Montale's ouds yet.

A very impressive - and successful - Montale oud accord. I've been finding that some of the Aoud series work great (White Aoud, SIlver Aoud), while some are dissonant and, IMHO, not successful (Aoud Ambre, Aoud Lime). However, Montale does roses well, and this fragrance is perhaps one of their best.

What's really appealing is the balance... the oud, which is strong at first, never overpowers the rose, and conversely the rose isn't so dominant that the oud is only lurking in the background. At points, I don't even really smell oud and rose, but rather the intersection of the two as if a new note was just created. The effect of this superb balance is that the rose note avoids the problems inherent to many rose fragrances, such as being too sweet, too fruity, or even too earthy. Likewise, the oud avoids becoming too medicinal and overbearing as it can get in Black Aoud or even M7. As the heart emerges, I can get little whiffs of incense(?)... though fleeting. From the hear the fragrance simply fades out over the course of 4-5 hours.

Really, a great, different take on rose and a bottle I'd love to have.

A pretty old school rose scent that I just can't warm to. The initial blast is pretty powerful, lots of damask rose which is not a bad thing. An hour later, the deep rose got very powdery on me with little of the spice (frankincense) tossed in. I've worked with fresh and dried safflower so I know the smell and I couldn't pick up the safflower at any point. It reminded me of the old perfumers workshop "tea rose" that I used to own in the late 70s. I'm giving it a neutral because the silliage and longevity are decent and it's certainly not a bad perfume but if I want a dark rose, I'd rather splurge on a bottle of C&S #88 or SL's Fumerie Turque.