Ard (Habzoud, 2015) Oud Oil Review
Pleasant Filaria
Wood used: Wild shavings from Aquilaria filaria
This yellow, rather ordinary looking 3 years old oil, distilled from
wild Aquilaria filaria is my first experience with Merauke oils. What a great
introduction!
It starts off with an intensely minty/mentholic smell,
coupled with a note of royal vetiver (hydro distilled essential oil from north Indian vetiver, aka, ruh khas). I
know how non-IFRA compliant oakmoss absolute smells like. But I have no idea how oak-moss smells like. However, this oil has a powerful foresty green, and
camphorous/incensy smell at the top that is quite similar to the non-IFRA oakmoss absolute I have. Both are outstanding.
The hay note is just sumptuous - similar to a freshly dried
hays – more specifically hays from Bangladesh – never too strong. There is also
a hint of herbaceous notes that settle down quite quickly – more specifically
something akin to middle and end notes of clary sage – i.e., tea. I then get a
honey note, that smells somewhere in between lavender honey absolute and
beeswax absolute. However, it is trivial since I only get it for less than a
second before getting the whiff of hay and even then the honey is not always
apparent. So I’m not sure, perhaps my olfactive is playing tricks with me!
The petrichor (aka, geosmine, or wet earthy) note starts off with a relatively
stronger intenisty - a rare thing. If you have smelled 100% natural petrichor
attar (aka, gili mitti, made with sandalwood base), you will know that they are
always soft. Think of this smell’s intensity in terms of double cream as
opposed to the single cream. I also get a bit of mimosa somewhere in there!
As the green, menthol and the earthy note settles down, the
wood note reveals itself. Imagine walking through a woodsy trail in a thick
forest, full of very old fallen trees in a windy afternoon, just after a rain.
I also get whisps of cardamom and probably clove. At the dry down, when incense
takes over I also get a citrus smell, probably the 3rd oud (after Manek II and
Aagaz from Aagrwood Assam). There is also ambrette seed absolute (read musky).
The hay, petrichor, wood, menthol/mint notes interplay at
various degrees throughout – especially as soon as the top note settles down.
Thus making a very fresh smelling incense note till the end. In general, it is
very dry, but in a pleasant way. In my humble view, the menthol/mint, and woody notes
compliment and intensify the incense note in this oud. So I speculate that it
will probably go very well in an oud mukhallat, suitable for warmer weather,
albeit surprisingly. However, this is excellent oud that I would happily wear
as it is!
Longevity: Ard lasts about 9-10 hours on my skin. It is quite warm now in UK [July, 2018]. I wore it during a temperature range of 25-30 degree C. It becomes a skin scent between 6&7th hour. Can you imagine this beauty in cooler temperature - especially below 20!
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