FRAGRANCE | Chinese Oud Extrait de Parfum by Areej Le Doré: A layered but wearable oud-centric masterpiece

Chinese Oud is yet another Areej Le Doré release that sold out in no time. My wife and I were late to the rush and were expectedly doomed at any chance of scoring a 30ml bottle. We did snag a 10ml travel atomizer, though, so it's still good. Besides, the carved wood casing looks really stunning. It doesn't even look like a perfume atomizer at all! Never mind that it doesn't have even the flimsiest of boxes. As with Slumberhouse, that's forgivable because the juice more than makes up for what piece of cardboard it lacks. 

I love this fragrance. Right upon spraying, I was overwhelmed—in a good way of course—with how spectacular and complex the scent is. I couldn't make heads or tails of it. I get an oud-centric scent that's deep, woody, leathery, and gorgeously smoked, with a sweet orange top that helps make it more approachable. There's a trace of something plasticky, probably due to some florals. The oud is strong but not skanky. I get no odd, fecal smell or anything I would consider animalic although I catch faint specks of it weaving in and out of the scent. The perfumer, Russian Adam, said he used Hainan oud here but I am not even remotely knowledgeable about oud, so I don't know how it's supposed to smell. All I know is that it's a rarity these days, if not extinct. 

There's a resinous sweetness slowly coating the oud, giving it a more affable character even though the oud is not at all pungent to begin with. The scent is also flecked with fruity nuances and before long, the sweetness develops a boozy trait. It's not as boozy as, say, Maison Martin Margiela's Replica Jazz Club but it's there, just muffled by everything else that's going on. As it progresses, it becomes more like a boozy vanilla, its thick and syrupy sweetness steadily increasing. In parallel, however, the deep smokiness also steps up, canceling out any ensuing cloyedness. 

The boozy sweetness takes hold after the half-hour mark while the smoky, leathery oud becomes a little less intense. The latter, however, remains prominent, surrounding the scent with its relatively dark handsomeness. Some deep-seated florals later appear and thereafter a dry, dusty woodiness. Everything constantly realigns and a different accord seems to come out on top each time—and it's beautiful! Also, there's a musky addition to the fold after several hours, which only reinforces how complex and layered this composition is.

Chinese Oud starts out strong but it's not really a monster. The scent definitely has legs, though, lasting for hours on end. Although understandably a skin scent in its late hours, a little heat affords you occasional whiffs of its beauty. It feels familiar in that it has Russian Adam's signature written all over the fragrance but Chinese Oud is much more wearable, especially compared to his previous, more polarizing creations. This post may seem pointless since the fragrance sold out in no time. However, I just wanted to write about my experience to hopefully give you an idea of what to expect from an Areej Le Doré fragrance in case you intend to catch his next release. Or maybe there's someone out there who's willing to let go of his bottle.