NOOUD
Baruti (2015)

I don't imagine that Spyros Drosopoulos's honesty about there not being a drop of oud in this perfume has helped the reception of it, even though we know almost all the other ouds out there (apart from some high-end purveyors – and then again one usually has to take their word for it) are synthetic as well. NOOUD is a stark perfume with no distractions from it's dry, sharp zing of woodiness – and will find its audience with those who like that kind of thing. I do; perfumes like this and Morph's Nudo rock my boat.
In NOOUD, I am reminded of certain minimal musical compositions where the repetition or prolonged holding of a note throws up clouds of microtones and sympathetic harmonics. Similarly, here are multitudes, but they're all nuances of an essential woodiness. From a beautiful, almost-green cedar sharpness to a range of peppery, smoky, leathery, resinous, bitter accents of wood they're in interplay in this composition. At times the saltier end of sandalwood also suggests itself. Drosopoulos has said that NOOUD is his attempt to recreate the scent of burning bukhoor – and certainly it has a veil of smoke and bukhoor's dry, piercing quality to it. It homes in on that impression when it narrows and contracts in the later stages, but before that it is also the scent, warm and welcoming, of enclosed wood-built rooms and old cupboards and split greenwood and earthier, rootier woods all rolled into one. I find it just fine on its own for the first few hours and then layer it (as Drosopoulos suggests) with a soft rose in the later bukhoor stage.

This is a good, but not particularly distinctive scent. The wood and oud notes are pleasant, regardless of what makes them. The scent is pleasant, a bit simple and straightforward, and certainly inoffensive. Dry but with a suggestion of sweetness one often finds in wood scents. Briefly there is a turpenic note at the beginning which is pretty good. Good longevity.

This juice is my first surprising approach with this little creative brand based in Amsterdam. A velvety smoky-cedary fragrance, something smoothly leathery, incensey (or it's possibly just the smoky wood's effect) and dusty-resinous at same time. Smooth, smooth, smooth, soothing balsams probably soften the final whiff. Baruti NOOUD smells like something waving across l'Artisan Perfumeur Al Oudh, Armani Prive Bois d'Encens and Le Labo Oud 27. Something from Etro (Patchouly and on a certain extent Messe de Minuit) and Memo (Shams Oud) jumps barely on mind as well. The aroma is synthetic but immensely "embracing" in a smoothly encompassing way. Despite the resinous background this is a sharply woody synth rendition with a pungent, smoky, vaguely rubbery and woody undertone. Is not given to know the composition's notes but it seems to detect woody resins, dry spices, a touch of frankincense, labdanum, fir resins/birch, oudh (whom is denied the presence), rubber, balsams, tonka bean and hints of vetiver. Yes, opulent (almost liturgic) and sexy (with a secret salty/aqueous simil-vetiver's background supported by floral, apothecary and fur-like nuances with a ghostly touch of "pencil shavings vibe"). I detect a modernly salty-floral-cedary undertone. Yes, NOOUD smells about synth agarwood note with a dusty-animalic and rubbery orientation. Repeat, a pleasant surprise and something far far better than dozens of "professedly natural or in part natural oudhs" finally smelling gassy and repulsive. Good work Spyros. Recommended if you love the genre.

It starts off with nonspecific wood notes, and soon has the synthetic oud take over. Quite the unusal chemical laboratory oud imitation that is nearly everywhere to be found since the market has been inundated with oud creations over the last few years.

Towards the end the oud retreats and the wood notes return to the foreground. That's all, folks.

I get moderate projection, very good projection and eight hours of longevity.

Good for autumn, this pseudo-oud contains no oud and nothing very interesting either.
No oud-no oomph. 2.5/5.

At least it's honest.