Shooting Stars : Oesel
Xerjoff (2010)

Xerjoff Oesel, 2010, perfumer: Richard Melchio.

Oh my God, this perfume is simply flawless!
This perfume is the best replacement for the much-loved and discontinued Fleur du Male 2007. It's practically 1:1, and it's a good thing it is!
In this Oesel, an extraordinary theme is addressed, one of my favorite themes of the 90's and early 2000's.
What fascinates me most about this situation is the waxy and honeyed, narcotic and slightly animalistic aspect of the fragrance.
Nicotiana alata or as we know it as "Queen of the Night" is excellently rendered in this perfume, along with its characteristics with aspects of fresh, green, narcotic and slightly indolic tobacco!
The perfect pair of the much-loved triad - petit grain - orange blossom and jasmine, is divine, being practically the heart of many famous perfumes, from the golden age of modern perfumery: the second half of the 90s and the beginning of the 2000s. From Le Male to Versace - Dreamer, from Joop Homme to Fleur du Male and, finally, this Xerjoff Oesel that completes the theme and brings it to perfection!
Love at first whiff, just like it was with Fleur du Male, becomes an undisputed signature for me!
I dare say, having known almost all the perfumes of the house of Xerjoff, that this is one of the best Xerjoff, maybe even the best!

It's amazing how different from anything else this fragrance can be, specially on the masculine fragrance market. I'm a woman. I love it. The opening is something very strong and balsamic. Then it softens to a lot of orange flowers and some amber powder. Gorgeous.

Xerjoff is one of my 3 favorite houses ( the other 2 being Amouage and Boadicea )....this one , however , I'm not crazy about...this is a surprise because parts of this fragrance remind me of a couple of fragrances I really like...strange as it may sound , the first 15 minutes or so I get a strong impression of Bogart Furyo...Throughout the life of the scent I smell Amouage Reflection Man...not a fan , but maybe little traces of Le Male...get a good dose of amber and orange flower...nice in it's own way , but a no buy for me...

Oesel is really an interesting scent. Imagine a strong, rather real-smelling orange blossom paired with a heavy dose of woody petitgrain, so it smells heady and floral and potent, but also dark, waxy, and woody. Then, take that and put it over Creed's signature aquatic mix of of Allyl amyl glycolate, dihydromercenol, and ambrox, so it smells like someone layered a woody floral perfume over a citrusy Creed. The result might be a bit of a hard sell - the salty aquatic elements are fairly masculine, while for people who live places where orange blossom isn't considered a masculine smell, the flowers are quite loud and feminine and will likely scare away the Creed fans who are clearly a big part of Oesel's intended audience.

It all works better than I'm making it sound. It's kind of like someone took CK One and replaced the lemon on top with citrusy flowers, but upped the concentration until it was very rich and strong. There are absolutely wonderful points in the day, especially when the base starts to come in and the ambrox mixes with a pinch of soapy vanilla to create a ridiculously thick, luxurious bed for the flowers. It ends up as sweet vanilla after going through an orange creamsicle stage (which is the only part I really didn't like).

Worth testing if you're an open-minded fan of either florals or aquatics. But if you believe in rigid distinctions of masculine versus feminine in your scents, you can probably safely skip this.