Perfume Review: Arabian Oud King Fahed

Oud-lovers, close your eyes or close this page. If you read further, your emotional and financial health will be in serious jeopardy. It is too late for me, a lovely enabler opened for me the (very expensive) world of Arabian Oud ...but save yourselves! Now, those reckless enough to keep reading, Arabian Oud, according to their own site, is "the largest Arabian fragrance retailer in the world, specialising in incense and oil perfumes (...) the first Arabian company to be a member of the Fragrance Foundation UK (...) the first and only Arabian company to be registered in the Michael Edwards Fragrances of the World book." So now you will feel better about paying £1050 for 12ml of King Fahed, the scent that I liked the most among the Arabian Oud blends that I tried so far. I am not even going to talk about whether it is worth that kind of money. It is so much out of my range that it is not even funny. But it is gorgeous. It is supposed to be a masculine blend, and I would love to smell it on somebody male, dark and handsome. Having said that, it is entirely wearable and utterly delightful on female skin. It starts with a strong oud note, spicy, sharp and medicinal. Oud's loyal companion, rose, starts to blossom almost immediately, adding sweetness and softness to the former, and making the masculine note if not exactly feminine then certainly androgynous. The stunning duo becomes an even more compelling trio as musk appears on the scene. The Muscs Koublai Khan sort of musk, dirty-minded and heavy-lidded. It makes the blend smell touchingly and alluringly human. It is the scent of hot skin, of passionate touch, of... OK, where was I? What appeals to my dramatic Russian soul in Arabian Ouds is that everything is taken to the extreme. You thought that oud plus rose plus musk was lush and sensual enough. Well, how about some patchouli for good measure? And that patchouli mixed with musk is ...like making love in the mud (with someone dark and handsome, of course). Enough said. I would send you to smell this wonder for yourself (and if you are in London, by all means, please do so), but I am not sure the company sells/sends samples. It is, however, possible to order the perfume online, for £490-£1050, depending on the size and the fanciness of the bottle. Image source, style.com.