Oud 27

I tested this at Le Labo store, and I was shocked of why anyone would make such perfume, that is even pricey! It's the most disgusting perfume creation I've ever smelled. Smells like weird rotten spices with disturbing sweaty armpits (sorry about the description) literally and not metaphorically. I cannot explain how disturbing this scent is.

Imagine a strong smokey, boozy, zilty Islay scotch in ancient old (atlas) cedar wooden barrels. That’s what I mostly get from Oud 27. I have been testing and wearing it for a long time now. It took me a couple years to decide to buy a full bottle, but eventually I ended up getting a set of three 10ml bottles and later a 50ml bottle. Both from very different batches as the three smaller bottles have brown liquid and the bigger bottle transparant white. In scent pretty much the same, but perhaps in strength and longevity there’s a difference. I believe the animalic character comes from the synthetic oud from the company Firmenich, like another reviewer mentioned. I own a dilution of the aroma chemical, it’s called Oud Firbest. The whole scent is build around this material. They might have added synthetic civet to enhance the animalic character and to add more depth. I don’t get any outstanding rose note which I am happy about as I am not fond of this combination, I have smelled it in many mainstream oud fragrances and find it a bit boring. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not in it, they might have added it for it’s effect. I do get the aldehyde, which gives the scent transparency and enhances the musky side of the composition. The musks used most likely are rounding off the rougher, sharper edges of the fragrance. Unfortunately it doesn’t last very long on my skin. It could be that I get noseblind though. It’s not a scent to smell up close. I believe it works best to smell in the air. Having said this I mostly where it for myself on my wrist and one spray on my chest when I spend time alone. My wife hates it. She does like the body lotion variant which isn’t so skanky and more woody-spicy. Performance differs per season. It really doesn’t work in warmer months, it bcomes sharp, sour and unbearable. Definitely for the colder months. From the many oud fragrances I’ve tried this is one of the few I really like wearing, hence I bought a fb. That said, I don’t think I have ever smelled real oud, just to keep perspectives straight. Oud 27 brings memories and gives me a pleasant olfactive experience.

Went on as oud, but then after a few minutes smelled quite literally like manure. Stomach churning, I had to wash it off.

This opens with an intense woody red wine smell that then moves aside for a load of polished boot leather. The red wine opening is the oud, in this case woody and fruity, but fruity in the sense of fermented and dark and still carrying the smell of the barrel it was stored in. It's not immediately pleasing in the opening and can certainly tingle the nose, but welcome if you are looking for something stimulating to the senses. Had there been some sweetness to accompany the leathery drydown I would have liked this a lot more. As it stands, I find it too astringent to buy a full bottle, but who knows what the future holds because I keep coming back to test.

rose, agarwood, civet and amber...are the core of this perfume. And a bit of a pencil shaving-trail that I get..probably the cedar. Le Labo has a method of making perfumes, that is all their own in my opinion. Like Chanel, has their own way of making frags...like, Cartier...and like Amouage. There is something in the bottle that screams, "LE LABO!".. first time I sampled anything from them was in the basement of Barney's/San Francisco...and Im pretty sure I was with "Lanier", a poster and fragrance reviewer on this site, who lives in SF...that was a bunch of yrs ago, before Barney's closed their store, there. I was given about 8 or 9 samples by a sales rep, there...and 4 of them were Le Labo...ALL OF THEM stood out from the rest. I remember the 10ml of Labdanum 18 very well, because I made it last for awhile..another one was Oud 27...and that sample was used up in 3 days. All those yrs ago, and I still couldn't find a good enough reason to buy a 100ml of anything from Le Labo, until very recently when I decided to cease with buying anymore perfumes. Im good...dont need anything else. That said, I thought this was good enough time to buy 'one last thing' from them..and I went with the perfume that stood out from the rest, the first time I sprayed it, in Barney's fragrance dept in that basement. Hands down, this is one of the best scents Ive owned.... this has got to be one of Le Labo's best, overall. And it has grown on me, because I think the cedar note, calms down the civet (which isnt overwhelming, anyway..in my opinion)