Ottoman Empire Part II
Areej le Doré (2019)

OEII immediately reminds me of Koh-i-Noor - especially the champaca note. Unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to try the original OE. So this will have to do.

The rose in it is simply divine. It is not sparkly like Malik Al Taif, rather it is deeper, more jammy and sweeter - almost as if someone sucked out the top notes of rose (in a very good way). I thought it has musk rose in it. But Russian Adam informed me that it does not. There are striking similarities between the rose facets of this and Rosa Verdade (an attar from Mellifleunce Perfumes).

OE II is incredibly potent. One spray was enough for me. It lasted well over 12 hours. It's very hot here (when I wrote this review in May 2019) - around 35°C avg. Lasts even longer and more floral and incensier when it is below 20°C. Every time I went outside the room and came back, I could smell the florals, and ouds for about 6 hours! I could even detect a lemon/lime like smell for the first 4 hours.

Whereas Koh-i-Noor veers towards soft musky, powdery and somewhat body lotion type pleasant smell in it's drydown, this one becomes an animalic floral with powerful oudy incense with a musky backbone. Thank you for creating such beautiful perfumes.

Ottoman Empire II is primarily an oud fragrance with leathery-musky nuances. The rose is there initially, but somewhat behind a veil. The oud isn't medicinal, cheesy, barnyard-y or animalic; it's rather woody-leathery earlier on, and a few hours later leathery-musky. If one has to dissect then there are floral elements, but overall it isn't particularly floral to my nose. To my nose, this is a somewhat linear fragrance. It does show development, but that is sort of the oud revealing its different facets, rather than some conventional transition from opening to base as one finds in classical perfumery. There are a lot of listed notes, but on my skin there is minimal separation of notes. All I smell is the central oud accord from start to finish. It has good presence on skin, and goes on for several hours; some might find the initial/mid phases a bit sharp (though not synthetic-sharp), while the dry down is soft and just a little sensuous, but not engaging or memorable to me.

The schtick is strong with Areej Le Dore fragrances, and they tend to hit you before you smell the fragrance. This is a brand that highlights its usage of high-quality and rare naturals. While this could be the case (this one certainly does smell like it has a good quality oud oil), the issue is that the final compositions lack polish and refinement, and do not smell particularly appealing. I've had a similar experience with the original Siberian Musk, which was a more nuanced composition but at the same time identically lacking. These aren't cut from the same cloth as something like Amouage Tribute, for example, and aren't as polished/refined as the better examples of mainstream western perfumes.

A separate issue as a consumer is that these perfumes are created in limited numbers (for whatever reasons) and that drives up prices through speculation, not to mention creating echo-chambers of fanboys. Even if I ignore all of that as background noise, I find these to be a hard-buy given that these are structurally in the middle ground between western perfumery and middle-eastern attars and oils, but lack the best features of either.


2.5/5