Patricia de Nicolai Rose Oud: fragrance review

Couple two of the most objectionable (to me) materials, the tired by now oud perfumery base and the often stuffy, stifled rose note, and you can bet you have me checking my watch every 2 seconds like I last did when dragged to watch Star Wars episode 2 (I finally zonked out). Yet there are certain roses and certain ouds that manage to hold my interest (and there are many fragrances combing the two, so it's a demanding exercise!). Without being ecstatic, I can vouchsafe that Rose Oud  by Patricia de Nicolai is among the better ouds and simultaneously among the better roses in the market today and if you like any of those materials or the woody floral genre in general you should check it out for yourself: it's perfectly pretty with a side of fog for interest.

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Rose Oud does not differ in approach from the other  winter 2013-2014 "oud" release by the niche French brand, Amber Oud, in taking into stride the oudh trend and mastering it in a way that it becomes putty in dear Patricia's tender paws. The rose is woodied-up, boxed, polished, with the familiar backdrop of two standbys: patchouli and sandalwood (an Indian dream), like a beautiful blossom in a waxy sealed wooden cigar box in a land where tigers lurk and monkeys leap from beneath Bangalore ancient temples.

Delicate fruity aspects emerge out of this rose, with the underpinning of nagarmotha providing a smoky, oily facet the way oil paintings put a thick consistency even to baby pink. Nagarmotha/Cypriol is an interesting material in itself, at once earthy, grassy and smoky, with its own deep aspect that can put dusk on the daintiest girly girl stuff. Rose capitulates; what else can she do? And it's all for the better. There is no retro or potpourri vibe anywhere.

Perfectly able to be shared between the sexes, Rose Oud is another faceted briolette in the jewelry box of de Nicolai's vault, a notch less interesting than Amber Oud (which surprises with its herbal lavender character). Without breaking waves Rose Oud is perfectly nice and attractive and one can't knock that.

Notes for Patricia de Nicolai's Rose Oud:
Top: raspberry, artemisia, osmanthus
Heart: rose, lily of the valley
Base: patchouli, sandalwood, vanilla, musk, castoreum, amber, oud.

Rose Oud by Kilian: new fragrance

In the sub-line 'Arabian Nights', the luxurious niche brand By Kilian (of whom we had occupied ourselves with the arousingly rosy Liaisons Dangereuses and the unusual oud-tinged Cruel Intentions in the past) is launching another instalment, Rose Oud, right after Pure Oud.

Composed by Calice Becker, almost resident nose at By Kilian, it promises some of the luminous treatment which she reserves for most of her creations (J'adore, Liaisons Dangeureuses, Secret Obsession, Beyond Paradise, Cuir by Lancome, Tommy Girl etc) but also "mystery, depth and opulence". The composition will predictably focus on the magical wood and the essence of rose, a combination as classic as the many centuries in which Arabian fragrance use is counting.

The line is set to include another three fragrances centered on Oud, following the first two: an embarassment of riches for the many fans of this complex note. The packaging for Rose Oud is decadently luxuriant in its shiny gold tones...

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Perfumery material: Oud & Synthetic Substitutes, By Kilian news & reviews

pic via extrait.it