Oudh

Mmm the scent of Oudh sometimes called Agarwood or Eaglewood is so incredible wonderful. It has all kinds of shades, it's smokey, deep woody, a bit sweet in an intriguing way. It even has some green notes and some kind of mouldy notes. It's hard to describe the scent. It reminds me of a blend of vetiver, birch tar, sandalwood, guiacwood, vetiveryl acetate, patchouli and some spicy notes like the note of clove. But this all can't create the scent of Oudh, it's way too complex for it.

I used Oudh in my first 'swap' perfume, which I worked on some more. I studied the feedback that I've got from the members of my group and used this information to alter the creation.

Some of the feedback I received about this fragrance is that the top notes are too overwhelming, I agree with this, this is not because I used too much top notes, but because I used strong smelling woody and ambery notes, which pushes themselves towards the top notes. I started to reduce the amount of patchouli, birch tar and cedar, and added a creamy warm sandalwood to round the fragrance out and smooth it a bit. To give the woody notes a fresh woody boost I used a bit more vetiveryl acetate, which smells like the fresh smelling part of vetiver oil. I also added less amber, instead I used more rose and jasmine to create a stronger heart note.

The fragrance has a sweet honey note which is wonderful in combination with Oudh, I want to keep that note, but it was too sweet, so I also reduced the amount of honey and added a bit more bergamot to create a more sparkling top note. After reducing some of the base notes and adding some sandalwood and more vetiveryl acetate, it still needed a warm note, I decided to use Aldron a material from Symrise with an animalic scent, which create a warm aura. I'll let the creation mature and will see if these alterations worked.

Something totally different:

Yesterday I visited the blog of Andy, when I started to read the first line of his post, I got goosebumps and knew what he was about to tell us, the following sentences I had to read trough the tears in my eyes. It's heartbreaking to hear that his mother past away last Friday. My heart goes out to him, his partner W. and his family and friends. It's so hard to loose one of your parents. I hope they all will find strength and consolation among each other. Of course Andy shut off the comments on the post and asked not to send emails. I just have to say something, that's why I will do it this way.