Oud Woody by Abdul Karim Al Faransi — Maison De Parfum— A Fragrance Review
Oud Woody is a lovely Concentrated Perfume Oil (CPO) forming a part of the “Business Class Collection” offered by the house of Abdul Karim Al Faransi (AKAF) based out of United Kingdom. The artisanal house routinely comes up with interesting offerings in the area of artisanal perfumery.
The presentation is pretty humble with a thin profile 10 ml glass bottle with metallic roller controlling the flow of the oil. This bottle is secured in a white glossy cardboard box with the brand “Abdul Karim Al Faransi”.
Olfactory description of Oud Woody according to AKAF website:
Saffron, Rose, Black Pepper, Cardamom, Patchouli, Vetiver, Vanilla
Once you apply the fragrance on your skin, the scent starts off as sweet, spicy and woody in a very pleasant way. The initial burst is a clamour of notes rushing to the top with cardamon and woody notes leading the pack racing against each other flanked on either side by sensuous rose and sparkling saffron.
Although we are greeted with a burst of woody spicy sharpness initially the whole rush starts to settle and retreat into a quiet composition supported by the tranquility of vetiver and musks.
After about 3~4 hour mark into the application, Oud Woody is now a topical skin scent. For those familiar with Oud Ispahan from the House of Dior there is this unmistakably sweet nuances — almost like pink sugar — which we can get to enjoy after you dig your nostrils to where you had applied the oil.
About 4 hours after the application and around 8 hours, the fragrance retreats further continues to linger very close to your skin and becomes a part of you. A clean, soft, musky, skin scent resembling a bouquet of macrocyclic musk accords such as Habanolide and further wrapped around coyly with Iso E Super.
The fragrance has an oily profile to it (obviously!) but the skin is able to absorb most of it in no time.
I believe there are no special colorants added to the composition which makes it safe for application on the skin or fabric if the latter comes in contact with the CPO.
What are my impressions?
I believe this is a beautiful fragrance and any CPO lover who has acquired a ‘taste’ of oriental fragrances should give it a try. If you ever had tried Oud Wood by Tom Ford or Versace Pour Homme Oud Noir you are in a good company. Oud Woody is a fragrance in this very direction but in an oil form.
The sillage is hardly any, projection is extremely mild and longevity is average for an oil. Thus, this can be treated as an office safe fragrance and I believe it shouldn’t offend anyone.
Oud Woody is as much Western in it’s DNA as it is Oriental — a beautiful confluence of two distant tastes summed up in a lovely work of olfactory art.
