Risk
Extrait, Azman (2023)

First off let it be known that I've never been blown away by a Antonio Gardoni fragrance. I know he's got his legion of fans but I've never much loved his work at Bogue.
Here, his work with oud, is more interesting to me than anything he's done previously. However all this talk of an "oud matrix" created with six different ouds and a "floral matrix" of tuberose and iris is overblown PR. I'm also curious about the listed ambergris - some specificity would be great because I'm wondering if any natural ambergris is present and how much synthetic ambergris-like aromachems have been added?
There are some twists and turns here to be sure. From a juicy yuzu and bergamot to a fleeting civet, ambergris and a Tonkin musk but mainly it's oud. And you do get various aspects of oud from slightly barnyard to Bandaid and medicinal to smoky and turpentine-like. The ouds are definitely in motion, morphing and contorting in a dance with the musky florals, citrus fruits, animalics and benzoin.
While it's actually a fairly safe oud and not likely to blow away aficionados looking for the most fecal oud out there I do think it's interesting enough to satisfy people who like oud and are ready to go past the pseudo-ouds of the designer fragrances.
At $350/30ml it's about fairly priced for something that does contain natural ouds and performance shouldn't let anyone down. A dab will do ya and it lasts a good, long while.