Black Aoud (2006)
by Montale

Unmistakable rose, one I think nearly everyone would have an associated memory whether a person or product. Based on the reviews I expected Black Aoud would fist my nostrils to Thrill Kill Kult but it is more reminiscent of a rose garden in peak bloom and these little bath tabs my mother used for DIY onsen/sauna time. Not nearly the teeth rattling shockwave I anticipated though I would not call this tame. A wearer would most definitely be making a wordless declaration about commitment to full on rose and not giving a damn who might not.

Rose in the opening, very strong and medicinal, but this is possibly one of the best rose and oud combo.
Dark fragrence with a touch of Patchouli thrown in the mix.

This frag stays strong for around 2hours, then goes to me poudery.... and this is where I feel this scent is very appealing. Lovely with close simiularities to Black Prestigium.

So for me this and Black Pestigium from sister house Mancera are my faves when I crave that dark Gothic Black Rose.


Scent 7.3-10
Performance 9 -10
Silage 8.9 -10

Love it. Oud done right. As if there is some sort of "honeyed" note in there like Mugler uses in Pure Havane. Not a honeyed tobacco, it's more like all of the remaining notes of Black Aoud have been honeyed.

In short, this rounds out the oud so it doesn't have its usual sharpness and is less predominant, less pungent.

Subtle rose, nicely done so it doesn't go towards feminine at all. More or less as we know it from 1 Million.

This is what you get when you bury a rose in the "Pet Sematary."

This is a dark rose fragrance, simple as that. I love a well-done rose, and coupled with the medicinal tinge that the agarwood brings (similar to the medicinal note from the agarwood in M7 (2002)), this is a pretty linear trip, but an interesting one at that.

It starts off a bit strong and somewhat off-putting, smelling like a rose-scented medical compound, but as it dries down, the rose becomes more prominent and smooth, and the agarwood fades a little more into the background, balancing this out nicely. It's a very dark scent; one that I think would have been the perfect "official band fragrance" of Type O Negative, for those of you who get that reference. This is something to be worn at night to something intimate or formal, as long as you want to give off a gothic, brooding vibe. Although this is a men's fragrance, I think a woman with a dark, mysterious kind of image (think Eva Green) would be able to pull this off without issue.

This is certainly a try-before-you-buy fragrance, and one that I could see as being in the "love it or hate it" category. It's not something I would buy, but this could certainly be a signature scent for the right person, with my assumption that said person is of the Tim Burton/Rob Zombie variety.

Thumbs up

Not so much red wine, as another reviewer notes, and more like Turkish delight. Sweet and rose-heavy, with a questionable amount of oud (no matter what its provenance) going by the performance... in short, there are plenty of "black ouds" out there, and this one is certainly inferior to its Dumont namesake, which actually smells like something that deserves the name "Black Oud".