humbll

Hopelessly Addicted to Oud
Oud Yusufs top notes charge forth like a racehorse determined to reach the finish line 1st in the Kentucky Derby. Plumes of fruity aromas project themselves off of my beard and fill the entire room after one modest swipe, indeed I got a comment from someone in the NEXT room about 2 minutes in. Very ripe apricot is the only note I recognized, mixed with a field of various flowers and other fruity notes that escaped positive identification. This oud is a powerhouse of tantalizing, far projecting scent for about the 1st hour. I applied this oil on my beard at 5:05 PM, at 6 the top notes were just starting to quiet down, just a LITTLE. Absent is any hint of barnyard or other potentially offensive notes. This is an oud man and especially woman can wear anywhere with confidence: work, restaurant, bar, friends house, where ever. The fine-Japanese-agarwood-incense-like heart notes made their appearance somewhere around 6:15, dancing a tango with the still very present top notes to delight my olfactory senses. At 6:40 a slightly citrusy note made an appearance at the party, it smelled like some kind of exotic grapefruit cross, it was slight but definitely present. At 6:50 the fruity top notes had finally almost faded away into oblivion, leaving only a faint version of the floral top notes and the incensy middle notes behind, along with the intriguing citrusy note. At 7:45 I could no longer make out any hint of the citrusy note, and the fruity notes were also completely gone. Now its all faint incense and woody base notes. I will end the review here, I expect the base notes will continue for several more hours at least, as is the case with most ouds.

The artist who distilled this for Ensar deserves our recognition, our appreciation, if there were an Oscar award for oud he would certainly be named among the candidates to potentially receive it. I saw a video where the host said that the plantation where this wood was sourced no longer exists, if this is so, it is very sad.

The organic, pure oud in this review is available here: https://ensaroud.com/product/oud-yusuf/33
Current price is $219 for a 2.5 gram bottle.
 

Andrew Salkin

it's aboud time!
Staff member
Agreed. I really like Yousef too. My only qualm with it is longevity and strength. I think I may also go a bit noseblind to it. I've mentioned before that I feel like Yousef is the Creed Aventus of Oud. It's probably one of the first "niche" ouds a lot of people smell in the same way that Aventus is a lot of people's introduction into "niche" western perfumes. I think Aventus smells great but the part of it that really gets me going is the beginning 30 min - after that, it just leaves me craving more. I wind up reapplying both of these in the same way - and a lot like sandalwood, you need a pretty sizable swipe for it to be worth it. I recently sampled RBO's Classic Thai (118 USD) and it was equally as delectable as Yousef, if not better. It's power isn't so front-loaded like Yousef - I think it's more balanced and definitely longer lasting, with more interesting heart/base. Just my 2cents, coming from a newbie. For the price I paid for 1 gram of Yousef, I could have gotten an entire bottle from RBO...
 
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