Oud Stars : Al Khatt by Xerjoff, 2012

Al Khatt opens with a sugary sweet slightly orange-like cotton candy accord primarily made up of bergamot and jasmine, with a musky undertone from cashmeran present nearly from the get-go. The Oud completely presents itself in the early heart notes, coming off as quite animallic smelling with an odor of a petting zoo, farm or circus. This animallic nature couples with the still ever-present musky cotton candy from the earlier notes to form a not entirely bizarre, but certainly abnormal combination. The animallic nature of the Oud dies down a bit but never completely dissipates, leaving the sweetness and muskiness remaining until vanilla from the base further sweetens the scent as the last of the animallic accord completely dissipates. Projection and longevity are both excellent. Al Khatt, like most of the Xerjoff range is a bit of a disappointment. It is *way* too sweet and the animallic early heart notes are quite off-putting. The overall scent reminds me of being a spectator under the big top of a traveling circus with its animal stench and cotton candy wafting smells from the crowd. This all sounds much worse than it really is, but the end result is Al Khatt is not what I would ever want to smell like, nor smell on others. Adding to the case to pass on Al Khatt is its relatively high price of $315 per 50 ml bottle. The scent has some merit so I award it a below average to average rating of 2 to 2.5 stars out of 5 for the smell, but if you want to experience what a traveling circus smells like, go to the real thing and save some money over this mediocre offering from Xerjoff.

This opens with bergamont and jasmine giving the scent that Summer freshness. Then the skanky Laotian Oud comes in to the mix and it does have that barnyard stink. Thankfully this only lasts for ten minutes tops and mostly disappears and you can only smell it ever so slightly. It does add a carnal sensuality under the Summer fresh jasmine accord which dominates and after a while it dissappears. So if you can get past the first ten minutes its not a issue. After a few hours the vanille comes into play and slightly sweetens the jasmine accord without it losing that Summer freshness. The fragrance projects strongly and lasts and the ingredients are top notch. The thing I like about this fragrance which for me makes it stand out is the floral fresh jasmine accord which is perfect for the Summer. Most fragrances have lemon, orange or citrus which makes this one a pleasent change. Though there is no denying that this is more on the feminine side of unisex. Those who are looking for a Oud dominanted fragrance will be disappointed me thinks as it disappears completly forty minutes in. So to sum up a Summer fresh jasmine dominated fragrance which has the skanky Oud for the first forty minutes then disappears completly. Its floral and gets sweeter without losing that freshness which leans towards the feminine side of unisex. I have to say this would smell great on a women.