The House of Oud
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The date note arrives with shocking immediacy—sticky, dark, and almost fermented in its intensity, like biting into a fresh Medjool straight from the market. Peony weaves through with its powdery-soapy character, creating an odd but compelling tension between orchard fruit and formal floristry.
Tonka and caramel meld into a single, molten entity, their sweetness amplified by cinnamon's dry spice and coumarin's hay-like warmth. The progression feels less like distinct notes emerging and more like watching sugar caramelise in a pan—deepening, darkening, acquiring complexity through heat.
Indonesian oud finally asserts itself, bringing camphor and medicinal woods to temper the honey and benzoin's balsamic sweetness. Labdanum adds a tarry, almost leathery bitterness that anchors the composition, leaving a skin scent that hovers between resinous incense and burnt caramel.
Dates Delight is Andrea Thero Casotti's unapologetic love letter to the souk, where sticky Medjool dates meet burnished resinous darkness. The opening announces itself with the syrupy, molasses-thick richness of date fruit, but the peony stops it short of confectionery obviousness—there's a waxy, slightly soapy floral quality that adds an unexpected textural contrast to all that caramelised sweetness. As the fragrance settles, the heart reveals its true agenda: a molten core of tonka and caramel intensified by cinnamon's dry heat, whilst coumarin amplifies the almond-like facets lurking within. This isn't delicate patisserie work; it's the scent of dates simmering in brown butter with cinnamon bark, viscous and unrestrained.
The base is where The House of Oud earns its name. Indonesian oud here reads more medicinal than barnyard, its camphoraceous edge cutting through the honey and benzoin like a scalpel through toffee. Labdanum adds a leathery, almost burnt-sugar bitterness that prevents the composition from collapsing into one-dimensional sweetness, whilst the 'sugar powder' accord feels less like icing sugar and more like the caramelised crust on crème brûlée. This is a fragrance for those who enjoy their gourmands with grit, who want their sweetness tempered with resinous complexity. It's for evening wear in colder months, for lovers of Parfums de Marly Oajan or Serge Lutens' date-forward creations who crave something with harder edges. Expect compliments to veer between "you smell like expensive dessert" and "is that incense?"
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