Oud Wood
Eau de Parfum, Tom Ford (2007)

Got this as a sample with my Sephora order and have been holding on to this tiny sample for as long as possible. I was scared of oud for a long time because I had heard that to some people it can smell harsh or medicinal. But this is beautiful. It’s smooth and polite. My only real issue is the cost. And a question to the people who have the bottle - does it also vanish from your skin after a few hours? Trying to understand if it's just my sample.

I would say that this is a little more challenging than Tobacco Vanille, Noir de Noir, Tuscan Leather...well most of the Private Blend line, but not the whole line. This has a breathtakingly beautiful dewy creamy accord made out of smooth woods, perhaps the best one i ever tried. When i first sprayed this from a sample in late may of 2021, it was by far the most odd one out of the Tom Ford samples i ordered to try. It has no sweetness or citruses, it was not familiar to my nose at all, it was beautiful but strange.

The oud here is very rubbery and musky, at the same time clean rather than animalic. It opens with spices like pepper and cardamom, and the rest goes into this woody musky mixture that is amazing. It is sensual, yet very effortlessly cool, that is what makes this fragrance so magical, and perhaps one of the most unique fragrances that i never smelled anything similar to. It has a sophisticated gentleman in black suit feeling, but he doesn't try at all, he just radiates this cool relaxed and at the same time classy aura. Aside from that, this always reminded me of those moody rainy spring days, where you are just inside your warm house while outside there is cold rain non-stop for hours and hours.

PS: Beware, this requires skin to melt onto and give this amazing smell, on paper it can smell like cold mushroom soup. It is on the line between effortless beauty and cold vegetal woody strangeness at all times. And also people who say this is weak, are crazy. This is not supposed to be a brainless beast mode scent, it lasts on my skin for hours while giving just the right push. Like i said, effortless.

In 2007 this perfume was an easy introduction to the oud accord that still hadn’t quite found its hold over Western noses just yet - at least not to the extent it would a bit later. Tom Ford, the man, already gave us an introduction in the form of M7 during his time at YSL, though significantly softening oud’s presentation with a cast of other notes in the form of a men’s woody amber. Oud Wood is a reimagining of M7 that puts oud more towards the forefront and a bit lest modified.

The opening is a big hit of waxy and fruity peppers. The cardamom also comes through with a cold, slightly sweet woody quality. The heart focuses on the oud, with a bit of smoky vetiver to round things out. The oud is dark aromatic woody and preserves some of oud’s fruity-medicinal facet, but it has been stripped of all animalic/leather, fecal, or barnyard type notes. It’s very well behaved, slightly sweet and a bit dusty. The final skin scent is a very earthy tonka and sandalwood amber that maintains the dusty quality but also loses the touch of sweetness that was in the heart layer.

As an entry level oud the perfume is just fine. It’s not amazing, not terrible, not great, but not bad either. It’s a bit middling, deadpan, and lifeless but at all points it does what it says it’s going to do, and it smells pretty good while doing it. It’s certainly overhyped and overrated, but it stands out amongst the Private Blend line.

It’s a shame that the woody opening disappears so quickly because it’s beautifully done. One of the most accessible and enjoyable Private Blend release.

Dear Tom Ford Oud Wood
I was wrong when suspecting
That you were all hype

Your hype is deserved
A quite forgivable sin
In a world of hype

Your subtle beauties
Are not lost on this poor boy
Who can't afford you

In more ways than one
I married your rich cousin
Her High Maintenance

Her Extrémité
Her Discontinuité
Her Obscénité

Though we married young
In Tomfordabilité
Best mistake ever

You cannot compete!
Her Golden Beef Jerkiness
Enslaves this poor boy

But I respect you
Like the ladies at the club
Some of whom wear you

Your rose(under)wood
Entrances this rose lover
Your sterile clean oud

Sinful to oud-heads
Told barnyard to go to hell
And stay out of Saks

Brava, Oud Goddess!
Defend your pagan temple
Against us heathens

To whom "less is more"
Is ghastly barbarity
"Frag bros at the gates!"

"iS mUh oUd wOOd FakE?"
We argue over the smoke
As the temple burns

Spare your fine beauty
Wood drying o'er centuries
Oud, the printed word

Fading to our smiles
Even with my COVID nose
That taught me patience

I will wait you out
In Your Homéopathie
Carry on, Oud Wood!

you read the basenotes.
You think you understand what it will smell like.
There is wood.
Faint amber, vanilla, and other ingredients that blend to smell rather lavender-esque. To simplify the scent, I would say lavender /rose meets woody meets a powdery musk.

This is winter, fall, evenings type of scent.
Yes unisex.
If you're into scent layering for something wholly unique, this pairs well with lavender oil for all you naturalists, and even better bleu de Chanel which makes the scent more "blue"

Overall this scent is not for me. I don't particularly care for Rose because no matter what you pair it with, I detect my grandmother's presence.

I would love to smell this on someone in person.

Quality ingredients as always!