Oud pour Lui
Alyssa Ashley (2012)

The rumor mill in the online fragrance community has it that The Perris Group launches variants of the same formulas for the more upscale Perris Monte Carlo house, and the Alyssa Ashley label it acquired when the last vestiges of the original Houbigant (under the Parfums Parquet name) crumbled into administration, leaving it's holdings for the picking over at auction. Well, I can sorta see that rumor carrying some weight because Alyssa Ashley Oud pour Lui (2012) was released the same year as Perris Monte Carlo Oud Imperial (2012), features the same perfume (Luca Maffei), and much of the same note pyramid. However, I held out some skepticism until I could actually sample the damned stuff, and what do ya know, this stuff does smell a lot like a really cheap take on Oud Imperial. Perhaps it is the other way around (although I doubt it), and this came out first as a low-cost and low-risk proof-of-concept that was promoted to higher-grade materials, but being as both scents launched simultaneously, that seems unlikely. In any case, this does smell like a cheaper, thinner, worse-wearing iteration of Oud Imperial, so much that if you smelled this first, you might not have interest to try the latter. Fortunately, doing the reverse means you end up just valuing Oud Imperial that much more rather than losing any taste for it.

The irony here is Alyssa Ashley lists more notes in its breakdown pyramid than Perris Monte Carlo does, yet smells more simplistic in many ways. The same semi-petrol semi-barnyard opening blast of medicinal oud comes forth, missing the indoles or caraway of the Perris version, and instead just adding more aldehydes and lemon. The incense note here is particularly more pronounced than in the Monte Carlo oud, coming across churchy then scratchy like the norlimbanol it likely is, with the petrol patchouli in particular starting to overtake the oud and become irritating to boot. The lovely amber note that enters the late stages of Oud Imperial is absent, but vetiveryl acetate is added alongside increased benzoin and Iso E Super, giving this some unintentional Terre d'Hermès (2006) vibes, but if you had taken Terre d'Hermès and dumped in woody aromachemicals. The final dry down is thankfully not all that strong, and some of the transparency Terre d'Hermès is known for comes through here, meaning that at very least, Oud pour Lui becomes a tolerable wear if you don't mind the scratch. Wear time is going to be about eight hours, with booming projection for about an hour then whimpering into an annoying bubble for the other eight, pangs of the shrill jet fuel and sandpaper notes coming up from skin. Best use if you like this is fall and winter casual outdoors wearing.

All in all, Bogart One Man Show Oud Edition (2014) is a better and more-potent take on a budget masculine oud, smelling closer to Perris Monte Carlo Oud Imperial than this does, even though it comes from the same perfumer and overall company. Luca Maffei really must have been asked to take his formulas for Perris and gut them for release as downmarket drugstore options under the Alyssa Ashley brand, which is a name plate that the prestige-oriented Perris Group must not really know what to do with. You can sort of tell this by the fact that the US still only gets the original musk line (and it's flankers) that have been stinking up hippie bathrooms since the 60's, while poor European high street perfume shops or drugstores get saddled with all this newfangled downmarket desaturation of Perris Monte Carlo scents in Alyssa Ashley form. People in the US can order this stuff online (although prices fluctuate wildly), but it's just not meant for markets outside of Europe. I mean, who would want a drugstore oud here in the US anyway when the average Joe here doesn't even know what oud is? Alyssa Ashley Oud pour Lui does indeed smell like an abysmal skeleton of Perris Monte Carlo Oud Imperial, so for once in a lifetime, all the online fragrance community rumors were dead on center. Thumbs down.

Borderline thumbs down, this is on the harsh side. I don't see it listed, but Darvant mentions incense, which is what I think I'm smelling as the redeeming characteristic, but it mostly smells like a mess.

Lemon, Geranium, Saffron.
Jasmine, Olibanum, Cumin.
Vetiver, Cedarwood, Sandalwood, Benzoin, Amber, Oud.

My first wearing of Alyssa Ashley's Oud Pour Lui was not what I expected. Subsequent wearings produced the same result, however I'm more conducive to it after numerous applications. This isn't because there's anything off putting about the fragrance, nor is it because I find it inferior. It's due to the implementation of Incense and the tuning thereof. Oud Pour Lui is all about smoke and the resurgence of my Altar Boy memories at our local Catholic Church.

I was expecting an Oud dominant scent and instead of Agarwood, Incense took the lead and never looked back. On my skin, I experience full-on Incense with the expected smokiness and woody undercurrent. Oud Pour Lui is also linear and only the lowering of volume and presence during the base and drydown does it reveal other facets.

This isn't to say that Alyssa's interpretation is unsatisfactory. It's simply not what I had in mind when I pulled the trigger on a bottle. On the flip side however, if one likes Incense, Pour Lui isn't gender specific by any means. This is for anyone to wear and it has me curious to the feminine version and if it's similar. All the other players here bow in worship to the smoke, but it is a very wearable rendition. Sillage is good with longevity approximately 5 hours on my skin. A few hours into the wearings, the Incense chills enough to permit subtle amber, resins and cedar to strut their stuff. Thumbs up anyway from SS for Oud Pour Lui with the WARNING that Oud is simply a passive embellishment here.

Misty tornado
I have to admit of having been really impressed by the aroma of this fragrance immediately after the first sniff....."what a gorgeous combination of fruity floral tart notes and dark mystic elements" i thought in a while. Incense, spices, balsams, amber and fruits....a sort of new (conceptually, just it) Black Cashmere that i supposed to be managing with. One hour later unfortunately i noticed on my skin en excess of synthetic "presences" in the alchemy (probably a too much pretentious alchemy) in a way that you feel yourself asphyxiated by an overbearing and overly synthetic/resinous combination of olibanum, spices, benzoin and oud. Too much resinous, almost sticky. Effectively dark but cloying for sure. The best part is represented by the top notes since you detect soon a blast of citrus, tart flowers and still aqueous vetiver balancing the (soon) oppressive dark tornado emerging from the background. In a while that touch of wet radiancy is knocked down by a misty dust of culinary (plastic) spices, industrial olibanum, dark woods and resinous balsams draging you down under the quicksands level. A gorgeous olfactory idea Oud Pour Lui is unfortunately badly supported by the implemented olfactory means and by a shallow quality of the the elements.
Pros: Good olfactory idea
Cons: Cloying and suffocating"