‘Borneo 50K doesn’t smell like Kyara. It’s not supposed to. Instead, 50K is sweet like Borneo 3000, celestial like Borneo 4000. Since you want to enrich your collection a thousand-fold, know that this is vintage Oud at its finest…
The most gripping peagreen mint note you’ll smell in any Borneo. In any oud…
Think, less wood than Borneo 3000, more flower. Punctuated by the to-die-for scent of the king super Borneo aloeswood few have touched since the early 2000s. But that’s not all of what makes it one of the greatest Borneos ever distilled.
It’s golden mint. Sunshine through raspberry honey based in a thousand-year-old Mysore infused with the mint of the Moghuls. Soft petal green instead of foliage green. Peamint instead of spearmint. It’s an oud you must wear in good company.
You’ll see what we mean once you get your first compliment for that magnetizing mystique in the air. Borneo 50K is a head-turner, but not in the Hindi, what’s-that-animal-on-your-skin smirk. It’s the scent of attraction and personal magnetism. It’s a sweetness that surrounds you which others find irresistible and will thank you for profusely.
Borneo 50K commands several thousand dollars per bottle. In fact, it commands not to be sold at all. It deserves to remain in one’s private collection as would an unearthed treasure box.’ – Ensar Oud
‘My skin decided to follow a very different path. Again. Borneo 50K opens on me with a plethora of green-black-brown notes that juxtapose mesquite barbecue with the leather and Islay scotch of a refined, members-only club in Pall Mall. Mesquite wood and grilled meats vie with a truly gorgeous Islay single-malt greenness that is salty, wet, mossy, damp, and earthy under a thick layer of smoked peat.
Other elements run parallel to the Islay green accord. The first is another green accord but this one is strongly spiced, thanks to an aroma which resembles raw, patchouli leaves covered with a layer of tomato leaf. Strong gusts of menthol and camphor blow in and out, smelling of Vick’s Vapor Rub and Ben-Gay. A whisper of honeyed sweetness lurks in the background next to bitter chocolate, sticky resins, and rather cedar-ish woodiness. When taken as a whole, however, the primary focus is on a savory, meaty, smoked woodiness overlaid with mentholated, camphorous, bitter, and spicy greenness.
Borneo 50K changes direction and its primary focus after 30 minutes. The bouquet turns simpler, its nuances flattened under the weight of heavy camphor, menthol, eucalyptus, smoke, and medicinal notes. It’s a deluge of greenness blackened in parts by charred oud smoke.
Roughly 2.5 hours in, Borneo 50K pivots and changes emphasis yet again. Now, the primary focus is on woodiness instead of greenness, although the scent continues to be quite medicinal and camphorous in aroma. If I had to compare it to something, it would be to a strongly woody version of Ben-Gay, Tiger’s Balm, and Vick’s Vapor Rub. It’s not my thing but, from what I’ve read, it seems this sort of bitter, medicinal aroma is highly prized by some oud aficionados.
Borneo 50K changes a few more times on my skin. Roughly 6.25 hours in, it turns into vetiver-ish greenness infused with mint, wood smoke, and mesquite-scented woods. When the drydown begins at the start of the 9th hour, it’s a simple bouquet of oud-ish, smoked mesquite infused with a touch of honeyed sweetness. It remains that way until its final hours when it finally dissolves into a dry-sweet, smoked woodiness.
Borneo 50K lasted just under 16 hours with two small drops. Its projection was decent at 2.5 to 3 inches in the opening hour, and its sillage was similar to the other Legends. As a general rule, they tended to have a fractionally larger scent cloud on my skin than the non-Legends; they were also deeper in body and felt heavier in weight.’ – KafkaesqueBorneo 50K changes a few more times on my skin. Roughly 6.25 hours in, it turns into vetiver-ish greenness infused with mint, wood smoke, and mesquite-scented woods. When the drydown begins at the start of the 9th hour, it’s a simple bouquet of oud-ish, smoked mesquite infused with a touch of honeyed sweetness. It remains that way until its final hours when it finally dissolves into a dry-sweet, smoked woodiness.
Borneo 50K lasted just under 16 hours with two small drops. Its projection was decent at 2.5 to 3 inches in the opening hour, and its sillage was similar to the other Legends. As a general rule, they tended to have a fractionally larger scent cloud on my skin than the non-Legends; they were also deeper in body and felt heavier in weight.’ – Kafkaesque
ENSAR OUD