ESSENCE NO.4: OUD
by ELIE SAAB
ingredients: oud, incense, pepper
Nature hates a vacuum, and a gap was created by the ban on oakmoss, the exhaustion of sandalwood, and the saturation with patchouli. In, triumphantly, came oud, a superb if highly variable material that covers the whole arc from top note to drydown.
Now that everyone is doing it and the dust has settled, it is possible to discern three types of oud fragances. The “perfunctory,” i.e. some sad thing that was moldering on the shelf after being rejected by even the most oafish clients. No problem: add a dollop of cheap oud to the formula and “oud” to the name, and away we go. This recently chimed with furious efforts by all Western brands to sell perfume to those who invented it—the Arabs—with comical results. At the other extreme: the “classical” ouds sold in the Arab world, often setting huge fluorescent roses against oud’s dark background, to memorable effect. And, lastly, the “modern” ouds, going back to the spectacular Balenciaga Pour Homme (1990) and, famously, M7 (2002). These are compositions in which this difficult material, precariously poised between incense and musty cellar, is slowly finding its place.
This Elie Saab is an example of a modern oud. I have not been overly impressed with Elie Saab’s mass market fragrances so far, but this Essences series is something altogether different and laudable: a niche line that actually lives up to its promise of quality. Composed by the excellent Francis Kurkdjian, this oud is very close in spirit to Armani’s Bois d’Encens (2004), with a tremendous incense and elemi uplift balancing out the oud’s earthbound tendencies, and some very discreet woody-floral notes in there to faintly remind one of Lutens’s original Bois de Violette (1992). Impeccably elegant both on men and women, and probably best sprayed on fabric to safeguard the complexity of the topnote accord.
incense oud
