Night Aoud
Micallef (2004)

Micallef Night Aoud opens with medicinal, rubbery oud, and intense, extremely concentrated fruity ylang and peach. The execution of the latter reminds me of the similar narcotic ylang-jasmine opening of Guerlain Samsara extrait and Areej Le Doré Flux de Fleur for example, but in Night Aoud, these undiluted fruity floral sweetness is further paired with the rubbery oud, resulting in a saccharine, synthetic feeling to my perception.

As the intensity of the fragrance gradually diminishes when heading into the dry down, the overwhelming sensation of synthetic sweetness becomes more manageable with time. The oud takes on a fuzzy warmth akin to saffron and its funky woodiness is relegated to the background. The main branch on which the bright sweetness of ylang and peach cling, is now a high-pitched, slightly camphorous patchouli. Although it's still not enough to temper the sweetness, at least it doesn't automatically conjures the artificial impression as the combination of oud's rubberiness and fruity floral sweetness does for me.

Night Aoud becomes more and more enveloping towards the end, thanks to the steady, cocooning warmth of sandalwood, although the sharp fruity sweetness of ylang and peach never truly leaves. The sillage is moderate to soft, and the longevity is around 9 hours.

Curiously, Night Aoud doesn't feel that dark to me, as its name might suggest. The beaming sweetness of ylang and peach actually makes it feel quite bright and cheerful. The contrast between rubbery oud and hedonistic fruity floral is also an interesting idea, although in practice, the overall effect translates being too synthetic and saccharine for my taste. If you can handle intensely fruity sweetness and are looking for a joyful rendition of oud, Night Aoud might worth a try.

Wonderful medicinal opening that smells very much like very sweet rubber. VERY sweet rubber, that is. Developes into plasticine drydown with notable saffron note. Still, very very sweet.If ultra sweet saffron-oud mix sounds good, you probably should try this. Somewhat similar to Montales Red Aoud, but this is a bit sweeter without the iris note.On me the lasting power is very good. Lovely scent overall, but too sweet for me personally, and definitely more recommended for the ladies.The juice is presented in a great blue bottle which is like a piece of jewelry in itself.