FRAGRANCE | Is Aquilaria Blossom Extrait de Parfum by Areej Le Doré a disappointment?

It's been a little over two months now since Areej Le Doré released its latest, Aquilaria Blossom. Like its predecessor, Civet de Nuit, it's a collaboration, this time with Taha Syed of Agar Aura. I'm not familiar with Syed's work but apparently, he's a renowned oud distiller. Russian Adam of ALD, of course, I know, who is also an oud distiller. With oud being a common denominator between them, it's interesting to see—or rather, smell—what these two came up with.

The presentation is pretty compact. The box, while still thick and sturdy, is a lot smaller than ALD's previous releases, which is achieved by avoiding excessive cushioning. The bottle is a straightforward, squarish one, with nothing else but "Aquilaria Blossom" embossed on its face. The 3D-printed cap is what I'm not a fan of. It feels cheap and is a far cry from the glorious caps of Grandenia, Agar de Noir, and many others from the house. 

As for the scent, an unmistakable oud is immediately noticeable at the onset. It has a leathery and mildly animalic tone but brightened quite adequately by some bitter citruses. It somehow reminds me of the orange top note in Chinese Oud except that the citric accord here in Aquilaria Blossom is bolder in strength and flavor. Some moderately sweet resins follow after a few short minutes, slowly pushing the oud and citruses to the background and becoming sweeter in the process. A mild powdery tone typically found in some amber frags (like Opus 1144 by Unum, for instance) hangs overhead. However, it's unable to really cut through the sweetness. 

Meanwhile, some indistinct florals surreptitiously swirl in the background. Later, the oud takes a few steps forward but remains far from the usual density and heavy-handed treatment by Russian Adam. Could this be Taha Syed's handiwork? Perhaps. It does manage to temper the sweetness, though, even as it welcomes an added vanilla flavor into the fold. The oud and resins are still the main players, with hints of citruses occasionally popping up but with waning intensity. 

Eventually the oud relaxes and what's left is an amber-vanilla sweetness that has absorbed some of the oud's flavor, along with a powderiness that's softened even further. Overall, it's a long-lasting scent with moderate projection that understandably settles closer to the skin over time.

I see that a number of people are disappointed with Aquilaria Blossom. I'm not one of them, though. While I'm not head over heels for it, I still think it's a beautiful fragrance that I'm very happy to own a bottle of. The composition is deceptively simple, the scent not particularly heavy. This is perhaps why followers of Areej Le Doré (I included)—who have become so used to Russian Adam's dense, multilayered creations with pronounced transitions—find this release a letdown. But not everything can, and should be, thick and heavy. And if creating something that resembles the scent of an imaginary oud flower is a way of lightening things up, of making oud a little more approachable, then I think Adam and Syed succeeded with Aquilaria Blossom.