Oud Jaune Intense
Fragrance Du Bois (2013)

Oud Jaune Intense by Fragrance Du Bois (2013) is the most expensive way to smell like suntan lotion I have ever encountered. Montale already conquered this mountain with Intense Tiare (2005) nearly a decade earlier, and it seems Roja Dove would try trumping Fragrance Du Bois with Isola Sol (2024) over a decade later, so there must be something about rich people wanting to drastically overpay just so they can smell like Coppertone. Meanwhile Amarige by Givenchy (1991) has existed for decades and is the gold standard jasmine, coconut, ylang, and pineapple perfumes, somehow not smelling like cheap suntan lotion in the process, but what do I know? I'm just a poor boy that gets to smell these overwrought travesties one free vial at a time from people with more money than me who are generous enough to let me sniff the "top shelf" stuff once in a while.

Nathalie Gracia-Cetto is a respectable perfumer with some hits and misses under her belt, and she goes all the way back to working with Lancôme in the 1990's, so I give her a pass on this one. The smell here isn't godawful, but this is a $40 perfume at most, not $400. Furthermore, under pain of litigious threat from brittle-skin upper-class twits that bully people for having opinions, I do not for the life of me smell oud here, not that I can deny it being in the perfume unless I want my wages garnished for the rest of eternity by an injunction. This base for me is all about musk and amber, with maybe traces of some sandalwood material, to support all tropical fruity floral stuff going on up top. Oud Jaune Intense is pleasant, and if you close your eyes, forget this is a pompous windbag fragrance sold to trust fund teens or Wall Street trophy wives (or mistresses taken to Coldplay concerts... whoops), then you just might enjoy it.

Nah, just kidding. Don't waste your time going through all that trouble when Montale will get you there for a fraction of the price, or Monoi de Tahiti by Yves Rocher (2010) - which is a perfume version of the Monoi oil they've been selling for years - if you really have no reputation to uphold and just want to smell like tiare flower, which is what Oud Jaune Intense is really trying to do in the most complicated, overly expensive manner possible. Once again, this is the stuff that scents a lot of sun tan and tropical-themed cosmetic products, and shouldn't be dressed up in gilded lilies with a frock. The most expensive I'd dare go for something like this is Guerlain Terracotta (2014), which is still not terribly different from all the others I've mentioned, but at least has the quality reassurance of Thierry Wasser giving the old college try to make something with a Guerlain signature accord under it; Guerlinade tanning oil, if you will. This is just overpriced dreck. Thumbs down

I genuinely do not understand the existence of this perfume. With its combination of tiaré, ylang, and pineapple, it smells so close to Yves Rocher Monoï Oil or, heaven forefend, Amarige, that you begin to wonder if it is just impossible for any perfumer, no matter how skilled, to throw these particular materials together and have them not land in the same place. If you are into those King Kong-sized fruit punch florals, and have the money to indulge yourself, then Oud Jaune might turn out to be your personal idea of heaven. For the rest of us, a similar effect is almost guaranteed via the ten-times-cheaper Yves Rocher, or failing that, any European tanning oil. If you insist on niche, believing it to be intrinsically superior to mainstream stuff, then something like Armani Privée Rouge Malachite or one of the Tom Ford Soleil de something or other should scratch the same itch.

Minutes after trying this, I got a compliment from someone just walking past my bedroom! Very floral, and while they list Jasmine, Ylang Ylang, Etc, my nose swears it smells Hyacinth and Violet flowers. My second fave of this house.

Well...a flowery fancy fruit salad scent with a scintilla of oud in the midst!

Fragrance du Bois isn't beholden to a set formula (other than to include its good juju, the exclusive oud oil) when it comes to how its offerings end up smelling. Sure, they use expert perfumerie techniques and exceptional ingredients, but FdB will create what it will.

Oud Jaune, like others in "Shades du Bois" collection, offers an experimental offering exploring various accords; here, it opens with a fresh, lush and exotic flower and fruit splash, proceeding to hit with more flowery goodness (jasmine, orange blossoms and non-descript white flowers). A nice creamy sweet vanilla and musk finish this cocktail.

Would I pay for a full bottle? Not personally. But there are consumers out there who would love this floral-fruity offering from FdB, which smells genuinely beautiful and luxurious. Go decant though, not blind buy!

Oud Jaune Intense By Fragrance Du Bois !!!

Oud Jaune is simply one the best Jasmine fragrance with the initial blast of fruity notes aligning with ylang ylang.You need to be a floral lover to appreciate this beauty .I am not able to detect Oud so far but the overall texture is so appealing.!!!!!