Amouage Oud Ulya

Mostly like a new leather jacket, smoky with a bitter edge. Underneath that, dense smoky resinous wood, rich and medicinal. An acquired taste for many Western noses.

It opens on cypriol oil or nagarmotha, muguet and musk, moves through leather, madagascar vanilla and moss, and settles on birch, musk and oud.

• cypriol oil or nagarmotha: smoky, leathery root, dry and a little tarry. Often used where oud is implied but not used
• lily-of-the-valley: small white flower, fresh and dewy green. The real flower yields no oil, so this is always recreated

It lasts well and sits close to the skin after the first hour.

Built from the note listing and the measured performance figures. We have not smelled this one.