By Elena Prokofeva here
10 October 2022
I always look forward to Guerlain new launches. Even though over the past fifteen years Guerlain has disappointed me many times, the brand has also presented me with no less exciting moments of falling in love with a perfume, and I remember them more vividly. In addition, Guerlain doesn't create anything carelessly, even if I don't like a perfume, I can always easily imagine who might like it. The only thing I really can't stand is the entire La Petite Robe Noire series, but judging by the abundance of its flankers, it is this one that is truly popular. But except for La Petite Robe Noire, I am looking forward to everything new by Guerlain.
Now I finally smelled three fragrances with oud - Cherry Oud, Oud Nude, and Oud Khôl.
Guerlain has already worked with oud: a soft oud note is in Santal Royal, a rough oud for connoisseurs is in Oud Essentiel and Santal Pao Rosa. Perhaps the most interesting of Guerlain's oud fragrances is Santal Pao Rosa, which is also the most underestimated: I suppose because of the rose in the name, because the perfume itself does not contain it at all, and those who reach for the bottle in the hope of a rose will be disappointed.
Cherry Oud and Oud Nude are united by the extraordinary tenderness of the oud note. Yes, oud is there, it is woody-leather, and recognizable, but it is so well-mannered and delicate, so transparent and soft on the skin, that the new fragrances are definitely worth a try for those who do not like oud, and those who did not like previous oud fragrances from Guerlain.
I first smelled Cherry Oud because it was this fragrance that I was afraid of, expecting it to be a relative of La Petite Robe Noire. Fortunately, it is not.
It isn't similar to Lost Cherry Tom Ford either, although this is what is often asked by fans of Tom Ford's fragrance in search of its replacement. I really don't understand why people want Guerlain to make a copy of a popular Tom Ford perfume. And why those who can afford the new expensive Guerlain wouldn't buy what they really want - Lost Cherry?
Cherry Oud is unlike any other cherry fragrance. And - surprise! – cherry is not the main note in it at all. It is clearly manifested at the beginning: cherry juice poured over the sweetish wood. But then it becomes tart-sweet cherry wine and gives way to leather and rose.
The fermented cherry note remains in Cherry Oud to the end, but only a spicy glimpse.
Cherry Oud is a dense leathery-woody, with a hint of smoked dried fruit and a luxurious rose, now basking in the leathery-woody embrace, now breaking out of them.
The rose is dark, velvety, vinous and spicy, sweet but noble.
Another seductive Guerlain rose, another really beautiful European oriental fragrance.
Cherry Oud is lush and cozy at the same time. It is the longest-lasting and with the most sillage of the Guerlain oud trio, but I was less impressed with it than Oud Nude and Oud Khôl.
The most successful of the trinity, I think Oud Nude. It captivates from the first breath, it cuddles like an Angora kitten, and is just as fluffy and playful, it changes on the skin but always remains gentle and cute. This is precisely what a cute and charming fragrance is. Caressing and enveloping. Creates a feeling of comfort.
Dolphin Jelk created it, as well as Cherry Oud, but tenderness and even some kind of physical pleasure to the touch makes Oud Nude related to another work by Dolphin - Musc Outreblanc.
Oud Nude opens with a sweet almond note: the smell of almond milk and almond pastries from Toledo...
It is something between marzipan and cookies, the smell of the most tender and sweetest almonds, but with a minimum of sugar and without a note of toasted crust. It's hard to describe, but Oud Nude smells exactly like that at the beginning, which is why it won me over right away. Not a gourmand aspect, for its feeling within the fragrance is weak; it rather reminds me of memories of Toledo.
The oud note in it is literally a watercolor sketch of the classic oud fragrance, powdered with lady's powder with a hint of vanilla.
The cosmetic theme continues with raspberry-scented lipstick and creamy sandalwood.
But for all its tenderness and softness, Oud Nude is still not entirely harmless, it is like a kitten - the sweetest creature with sharp teeth and claws. The role of the claws is drawn by a cyanide note, reminiscent of a cherry pit rather than an almond. And in general, the ghost of a cherry in Oud Nude seemed to me almost to the point of fading. Moreover, cherries, unlike raspberries, are not cosmetic but natural.
Under layers of almonds and transparent oud, under powder and lipstick, under vanilla, raspberry and cherry pits, there is a smell of warm, gentle body, very clean, but still a body.
Oud Nude seems to me to be out-of-date feminine, such fragrances always remind me of very beautiful and very uncomfortable underwear with lace and ribbons that women wore back in the 80s, and even now, some wear it, but only out of pure coquetry.
However, I admit that a man can use Oud Nude, trying on the image of an Angora cat of especially large size.
Oud Khôl, the only one of the three created by Thierry Wasser, seems to me the most interesting, although due to its sharpness and cold aldehydes, I think it could be the least popular. Nevertheless, I dare you to try it, it's not often that Guerlain releases aldehyde fragrances.
The aldehydes in Oud Khôl seem to be light, frosty and pungent, so for me, they are the most noticeable notes: I very much enjoy them!
This hoarfrost rests on the woody density of oud, richer than in Cherry Oud and Oud Nude, but still elegant and delicate.
On the bitterness of tree moss.
And on all those rough, bitter, smoky leathers that I found to my delight in Oud Khôl. Probably, for the majority, it will be something like a saddle, horse harness, or at least new boots, but for me, it reminds me of dear familiar smells: my favorite old leather jacket, which I wear for a walk with the dog, and still smell it with pleasure; my dad's old leather coat; my grandfather's leather bag.
I admire the leathery note in Oud Khôl, and the moss and aldehydes. As for the note of praline, the mention of which always alarms me, at the first try, I simply did not feel it ... And then I realized that it is very quiet and only gives the oud a hint of bitter chocolate.
All three Guerlain oud perfumes seem excellent to me.
If I were offered to pick one of them, I don’t know which one I would choose: Oud Nude or Oud Khôl? Probably Oud Nude, because now I tend to wear comfortable, gentle fragrances. But, on second thought, I might regret I didn't choose Oud Khôl because it is so delightfully elegant.
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