Black Aoud (2006)
by Montale

It's incredible.. to me, it's very grown up without being a 'classic' scent. There's nothing playful about it.. just a dark, mysterious rose with a medicinal oud that blasts you sharply in the initial application. As it develops, it becomes a crisp rose laced with the oud and what I perceive as a gritty, natural patchouli (though not a head shop type of patchouli).

Boy, I hate to be the turd in the proverbial punch bowl, but after sampling this, I'm afraid I cannot give it anything but the dreaded "thumbs down". I can pinpoint exactly what I dislike about this scent. It might be a total shocker so you should probably sit down for this one... the OUD! I just cant deal with it. In small, more discrete amounts, such as in M7, it's fine. But this is a full on oud-smack to the face. It comes strong and hard in the opening and even after several hours, it still rears its ugly head every so often. As for the actual "Black" part of Black Aoud, well it's very reminiscent of Czech & Speake's No. 88. It's dark, smooth, and handled well. At least the longevity is amazing, so if you do like it, you can enjoy it all day. For me, there are enough rose scents I absolutely love (the aforementioned No. 88, Le Labo's Rose 31, and L'Artisan's Voleur de Roses) that I won't lose any sleep over this one.

Try before you buy is something that's preached regularly around here, but I'm not sure I can stress it enough with this scent. Clearly, it has many, many people who adore it. It's pretty pricey, so there's no reason not to get a ML before you take the plunge.

And forget about that "unisex" label it has. This is hands-down a masculine scent. One of my worst nightmares is showing up on a date, only to find her wearing Black Aoud. I just don't think I could do it.

Rose. That's all I get is a weird rose note. Doesn't develop on my skin at all. It's very dark and mysterious, yes but doesn't conjure up images of bleak castles and Gothic clothing. Not terrible but not for me.

Spectculer, it definately grows on you it's much lighter than the Aoud Oils that you get here in Saudi.Would recommend that you smell it a few times on separate occassions in order to really appreciate it.

When you first spray it on, it smells medicinal, which quickly evolves into something else. Let's just say I won't have a moth problem with that scent... if I kept on using it. Which I won't. I actually felt uncomfortable wearing it. Perhaps it just doesn't work with my skin, though.

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After several further tryouts of this fragrance I felt I had to say something publicly. Black aoud, I'm sorry I said those bad things about you, I was ignorant and foolish, because I never really gave you a chance, I thought you were an ugly duckling, but in fact you were a swan.

It's a strong fragrance, in more ways than one, and it makes me feel good wearing it and I think that's what fragrances are all about; not really how they make other people feel, but how they make you feel. Several people agree Yatagan smells offensive, and I love to wear it because of the attitude it yanks me into. Black Oud is much more civilized than Yatagan in that regard, but you have to learn to appreciate it. Not that I would want to wear it all the time, but geez, there are times I wouldn't wear anything but Black Oud, and my tester is almost empty, so I guess I'll be heading for the shop now.

Goes on medicinal and repugnant. Then a transformation takes place--sweetness and roses wafting in on a cool breeze. Mellows into a dark, spicy rose. Devastatingly beautiful. Gothic.
After wearing this for a long time, I finally got my hands on a sample of real oud extract, and I have to say I'm unsure if any commercial perfumes actually contain real oud. The real substance is sweetly dirty, has an almost "repulsive" quality, and smells alot like rotten wood. It also smells like oak wood that has been sawed too quickly in a mill, and has a "destroyed" smell. All of the oud perfumes I have tested, including Montales, have more bitterness and an acetone edginess that real oud doesn't have. I think Madini's Agarwood has come the closest to the real thing.