Parfums de Nicolaï - Incense Oud

Picture: One summer's evening they went with Bianca Maria
deep into the forest (1913)
Watercolor on gouche by John Bauer (1882-1918)
Wikimedia
(The swedish artist John Bauer, his wife and three year old son were tragically drowned in a
shipwreck on the lake Vättern 20 November 1918, ie exactly  98 years ago yesterday. )

Incense Oud is created by one of the best noses of today Patricia de Nicolaï for her own perfumehouse Parfums de Nicolaï.

Incense Oud starts with a clean and clear incense embedded in the typical "Nicolaïade" accord, sofisticated, smooth, slight soapy, chalcy, green with a sort of contemporary, retro touch. This Nicolaï accord in its different settings has a carefree, parisian, elegance. The oud is not a major player here, it's one of the interacting notes from the dept of the fragrance. The oud is not of the dense, smokey variety, nor the chemical, medical one. It's a transparent, herbal and dark green oud (if it had a color), refreshing in the same way as stayning in the deep forest among trolls and elves.
The oudnote is in the same vein as the oud note in Vescace Pour Homme Oud Noir and as in By Kilian Pure Oud, cold and sort of airy but quiter, smoother and seamless integrated with the other notes.  In the background there is also a slight musky almost animalic dept to the fragrance. A more prominent note which is interacting closely with the oud is patchouli. It's the same elegant (in the higher octaves of the fragrance note scale) herbal-fresh patchouli leaves note as in one of my favorite Nicolaïs Patchouli Homme later renamed to Patchouli Intense. Incense Oud reminds me much of the Nicolaï patchouli but Oud Incense is chillier, fresher, a bit herbal whereas Patchouli Homme has spicy and warm notes interacting with the patchouli. In Incense Oud I can also detect some of the slight green, chalky note present in Vanille Tonka. There is no obvious similarities with fragances from fragrances outside the house of Nicolaï, the fragrances of Parfums de Nicolaï are unique in its style compared to the rest of the market. One fragrance I come to think of when it comes to the herbal leaves patchoulinote is Coquillete Herat which blend of tobacco and a canabisnote reminds a bit of the patchouli accord in Incense Oud. There are also a tonality reminding a bit of By Kilian Smoke for the Soul but Incense Oud is much more structured, clean and not as thick and on the verge to messy as the Kilian blend. 

Picture: Incense Oud
Photo: PR Parfums de Nicolaï (c)

Incense Oud is a versatile fragrance wearable the year around expect in the warmest summerdays. It's a casual chic fragrance, suitable for office or for a day in the city. Sillage is medium + and the longevity is great. Incense Oud is unfragmented after more then 12h wearing and it's fully detectable after 24h and on textile after many days. The fragrance is unisex. From what I have smelled from the perfumelaunches of 2016, this is one of the very best.

Rating: 5

Notes: Artemisia, ambretta, coriander, rose, cedarwood, oud, cypriol, patchouli, frankincense, styrax, castoreum, amber, musk

PS: Parfums de Nicolaï is now also avaible from Fragrance & Art .