INITIO
OUD FOR HAPPINESS

2021

BERGAMOT
GINGER
LIQUORICE
VANILLA
CEDARWOOD
INDIAN OUD
MUSK

‘Can a scent make you feel happier ? Oud for Happiness is a portal to modernity. It amplifies the benefits of oud through a puff of freshly-cut narcotic grass, energizing and uninhibited. The composition provides an addictive means of relaxation that stimulates self-confidence. Better than an imaginary paradise, enter into a secret dimension where the experience of deep harmony can be lived’ – Initio

Oud For Happiness is definitely not following the expected path. After the huge success of the (in my opinion not all that interesting) Oud For Greatness, I think most people were expecting Oud For Happiness to follow a similar direction. To my surprise, it doesn’t. Now, I personally don’t enjoy Oud For Happiness at all and I prefer Oud For Greatness, but I respect it more for being different.

To me, this mostly smells like salmiak. Salted liquorice with a hint of cannabis or green, musty aromatics.

A bit spicy; I smell mainly cardamom and some ginger, but most of all: liquorice. And it also grows quite sweet, which I guess is its main overlap with Oud For Greatness.

If I close my eyes, I can potentially also see bitter chocolate or even roasted coffee instead of liquorice. Frankly, trying to steer my experience in that way makes Oud For Happiness better and I do find that there is more intrigue here than I initially expected.

Ultimately, it has too much of the herbal, green spicy, direction for me to enjoy it. It’s only a relatively small part of the composition, but it pulls it in a specific direction, that I don’t enjoy wearing.

On one hand I’m confused why many people chalk Oud for Happiness down to ‘generic’ or ‘designer’, because I think it’s the opposite of mass appealing. I also think it’s at least better than Oud For Greatness Neo. On the other hand, I personally find it close to unwearable.