Note: I am writing this as I am wearing it, writing time is over 2 hours (and I am not wearing a lot as I would for a review, so this is NOT a review, just wanted to go more into detail with a small amount of this oud on hehe. I will stop as soon as I feel I have said enough for tonight.)
HM Malay by SULAYM. Starts off with a piercing but non offensive resin note from the wood used to distill, after around 15-20mins the resin note starts to go into the back ground and for a couple of mins the smell is reduced, then pops up a leather note, with the resin note still in the background, after around 20-30 mins the resin note is still there but still in the background, and the leather note takes over, but the resin note still pops its head in, here and there, and wants you to know that it hasn't disappeared, so in the time frame of 40-50 mins, you go from sharp resin notes, beautifully handed over to a nice leathery note while still having this resin note in there, so after 40-50 mins, you get notes of both resin and leather dancing around. The more time goes on (around the 45-50min mark) the leather takes the front seat, while that once piercing, soaking wet, dripping resin, is a note of the past, but not quite, as it is still there in the background, waving its hand a quarter of a mile away from the leather, the changing of notes is beautifully done. Hell, 45-50 mins into it (nearly 1 hour) the resin can sometimes fly over to the leather note and scare it and the resin note will hit you all of a sudden for one sniff, amazing. The notes, both leather and resin, were once ferocious in the potency, after around an hour the notes (and I am guessing further notes) are now becoming softer and gentler and more rounded. After around an hour and 5-15mins into this, the resin note is starting to become more and more a note of the, not-so distant, past, as it fades like incense smoke in the air. Now that the very "top note" is, pretty much gone, I am left with a soft leather scent/note with that I am potentially seeing take up either a floral note or an incense smoky note, or both at different times. Just under 2 hours of having this on, the leather note is the dominant note, the resin "top" note is now gone as I have said, but the leather has now took on a dad position of the family, and it is like it is playing with a smokey oud incense note (lol, I saw a clear but vague, picture in my head as this note hit of leather notes pushing the smokey oud incense note on the swing) or something. 2 hours and 5 or 10 mins into this the leather note is still heavy, the oud smokey incense note is still there, but has came off the "swing" 🤣. In the 2 hours now that I have had this on I have gently rubbed it in when it becomes stagnant, as I have learned that this can bring it back to life, quick question, does this mean I should put more on? Anyway, what usually leaves me the rest of the way is leather, sometimes some mint, and incense notes that gradually fade away, then a nice soft, well rounded floral note.
Also forgot to mention, the sweetness of this oil is very sweet, and it stays sweet for a MINIMUM of 3-4 hours, and if floral notes take over at the end then it last much longer, if spicy notes take over then usually it will be less sweet, but itll be spicy + background sweetness, floral, will be floral + background sweetness, but if it turns floral then there's sweetness coming from the floral notes, in a sense.
