AREEJ LE DORE
CHINESE OUD

2021

PERFUMER
Russian Adam

Boozy Aldehydes
Sweet Orange
Bergamot

Wild Hainan Agarwood (2003)
Rose
Jasmine
Gardenia

Vintage Mysore Sandalwood
Indonesian Vanilla
Oakmoss
Patchouli

To be completely honest; I didn’t expect to love this. From what I could gather, the wild Hainan oud used in Chinese Oud would push beyond my comfort zone. That being said, I wanted a chance to smell it (and photograph the lovely wooden travel spray), so here we are.

I find Chinese Oud to be a little more ‘gothic’ than Areej Le Dore’s 6th collection, but at the same time not as daring as I was afraid of. A lot comes down to the way Russian Adam uses sweetness and citrus. I get a lot of patchouli in the opening and when smelled up close I get dark chocolate. The overall feeling however, is dry and smoky.

A birch tar-like smokiness reminiscent of Hiram Green Hyde is prominent to me, though it’s much easier on the nose, because of the sweetness. The citrus creates the levity and it feels as if it hovers above the dry darkness. There’s not much acidity here and it’s not a citrus in a common way; it just takes the edge off. It took me a while to find the florals; I only smelled gardenia properly in Grandenia and I can see the connection. The rose and jasmine elude me thus far.

Later the sandalwood and vanilla start coming through. The smoke clears up and as it smooths, the sweetness is even more pronounced. Maybe it’s because I recently smelled pure Mysore, but it’s very noticeable and the main player to me. The sharper, bitter and funky touch from the oud is noticeable as well throughout, but it’s not hard to wear. From my very limited experience, this seems to sit in between Cambodian sweet and Hindi earthiness.

Overall, it’s a bit daring for my taste and while I originally liked it, it’s probably my least favorite out of the 9 Areej fragrances I’ve tried at the time of revising this review.

The 2022 release Aquilaria Blossom shares some of it’s DNA with Chinese Oud it seems, but is a much brighter and easier to wear scent that I prefer.