With Oud, Francis Kurkdjian built in 2012 an eau de parfum around the oud wood of Laos, which he approaches with a Western sensibility. This amber woody opens with saffron and elemi, brings together oud and Atlas cedar at its center and closes on patchouli. The house intends it to be at once masculine and feminine.
Critics praised a Westernized oud, more polished than traditional ouds, whose saffron-laden opening surprises before a warm, soft base; a harsher voice found too little agarwood in it.
Olfastory’s review
A tamed oud
Mark Behnke, editor-in-chief of ÇaFleurBon, saw in Oud a creation that first unsettles: in his view, the strangeness of the opening comes from saffron and elemi, not from the oud. The fragrance settles into a soft warmth, with average longevity and sillage.
Persolaise considers that the fragrance earns its name: the oud remains recognizable, its animalic aspects are muted, and both the cedar and the elemi extend its dry, peppery facets.
He also notes a touch of citrus at the top and a very present sweet musk, which he says borders on fabric softener, and judges the balance between these two registers remarkably well held.
A harsher reading
The review on the Kafkaesque blog describes mostly flowers, a sweet saffron and a soapy musk, with barely a trace of agarwood, and expresses surprise at not finding on skin the note list announced by the house.