Dark Aoud Montale for women and men

This fragrance has really impressed me. It opens with a dry yet fresh sandalwood accord mixed in with Oud. It's smoky and enigmatic and it has this leather accord within its composition which goes really well with the others notes when it shows itself.

I have to say Dark Aoud is one of the most exotic fragrances I have ever tried. And there is more to it than just Oud and sandalwood. I'm picking up leather and pepper and other notes I cannot put a name to.

It feels almost alive on your skin in the way it morphs from the fresh oud to the dry sandalwood then the leather. Then suddenly after a few hours the freshness disappears like someone switching off a light switch and you are left with a living darkness on your skin.lol ..... Wonderful scent.

This is a outstanding combination of a great, dry and rich sandalwood with oud. Put this on the skin, and you will feel in orient for hours, as a powerful wave in your nose. The best of Aoud Line!

I think an older woman can easily wear most of Montale's unisex creations, even the strong Aouds. The 'strong' scents of my youth (Opium, Ciara, et al) just don't work anymore. Greyland was love-at-first-sniff, then Cuir d'Arabie, Black Aoud, Aoud Musk (heaven!), and now Dark Aoud, maybe my favourite of the bunch. I wouldn't characterize it as a 'Woody', though. On me it's very much an Oriental/Chypre type scent. It layers amazingly well with Molinard's Habinata, which feminizes it a bit. Isn't quite as long lasting and dominant as Black Aoud, but that makes it easier to combine with other scents, which I love to do. It will, of course, outlast anything you pair it with, whereas Black Aoud will simply bury anything you pair it with.

I liked this one,it´s pure wood,remember a little fendi uomo,nice smell.

.......Notes.......................

Sewing Machine Oil.

Ephemeral Black Pepper.

Cozy Hot Bread.

Sandalwood.
....................................


Deep smell.
Highly Recommended.
A true master piece made to impress.

Longevity: 10
Projection: 8
Scent: 10

This is an amazing fragrance.

As Adrien02 mentioned, there are other things in the pyramid than sandalwood and aoud (namely black pepper, saffron, vetiver, teak, leather and grey amber), but they stay mostly in the background till the end, almost imperceptible and too well blended, almost only there to accentuate the interplay between the two woods.

Upon initial application it's almost pure sandalwood, but so fresh, clean and warm that it verges on floral and makes the whole experience bizarrely feminine. After an hour, the bright sandalwood wafts out, leaving only Darkness, with a capital D.

Dark Aoud's mood is not quiet or gothic - it's a bright, crisp, nose-twisting, in-your-face darkness, like a huge black velvet sheet freshly dipped in gasoline and tar wrapped around you. It's brooding in a different way, it's dry, aggressive, upsetting. Darvant on Basenotes said it's like the scent of death itself - he's right if by death he means suffocating in a burning chemical/petrol refinery plant amongst barrels of gasoline and some freshly carved ebony coffins. I know it all sounds morbid, but this dark, smoky, medicinal and camphoraceous perfume does conjure up such images, and still, wearing it feels SO right, so comfortable.

After the first few hours of wearing it, I can hardly imagine a woman pulling it off (unless she's one of Star Trek's The Borg), and it could only be considered elegant if it wasn't so eminently dark and different.

I had no problems with its longevity; it does get around you quickly and stays, even after a long shower.

An amazing fragrance - if you're into heavy scents, this is impossible not to like.

UPDATE 1
I've worn it periodically over the past few weeks, and an update is due. I usually find no problem with wearing heavy/dark scents during the day (Dali Pour Homme, Michael Kors Michael FM, Narciso Rodriguez FH, etc.), and while these usually make me feel elevated and invigorated with their unusual auras, Dark Aoud is a whole different experience.

It gives me the detached confidence of a cold, black iceberg when starting out in the morning, but by the end of the day its bone dry and aggressive chemical smell induces heavy fatigue... Taking a shower doesn't help either, this thing sticks. Use this juice only if you plan to have it on for a few hours only!

I like this. Very dark, deep smell, smokey and wonderful. It's just such a shame my skin seems to drink this up so quickly. One minute its presence is felt so strongly. Then, suddenly, it's just a faint hum that can't be smelt until my nose is practically on my wrist. Such a shame... but such is body chemistry I guess.

I've just sampled and tested this, and the opening is wonderful! This is one very forward, powerful, stark scent. This is an amazing scent that really works well for me. (You can hear the 'but' coming, so...)

The longevity and sillage on me was a bit disappointing. Granted, I didn't apply very much and should probably have tested with more of the sample, so i'll give this another try once I've done that. But within a couple of hours, this had vanished on my skin. I suspect there's a tricky balance at work -- too much and you'll create a cloud; too little and it dissipates within hours.

But oh my God, what a scent this is. Little wonder that Montale has become the de facto reference standard for Ouds. This is outstanding.

I really love the aoud opening and warm sandalwood. Sadly though my skin eats it up and there isn't a hint left after a couple of hours. If it lasted longer I would really be tempted to add it to the collection.

OMG . . .This is Oud to the n-th power! So serious! I took one whiff and knew my sweetheart would love it. Long lasting sweet smoky fragrance that goes deep into your olfactory senses. I gave him 3 samples to try: Wild Aoud, Blue Amber and Dark Aoud. He thought they were all tough but Dark Aoud won hands down. I never want him to be without it. I found more notes on Luckyscent.com:
Indian sandalwood, agarwood (oud), black pepper,
saffron, vetiver, teak, leather and grey amber.
On a scale of 1 - 10 I give it a 20! : D

Still it is possible to name it as Super Aoud. Very dry and tart mix oud with sandalwood. This symbiosis the present mysticism. Something similar could be found in early releases of Montale. Many abuse this house for redundancy of releases, but time of a turn of experiments leads to excellent result.

My favorite fragrance...one dab on the wrist and I'm in heaven.
Sillage and lasting power are beyond hope.
Love to wear it when it's sunny, the amazing fragrance gets even stronger.
Thought Montale coul not do better than Black Aoud, I was wrong!!!

A stark, severe, bone dry and indeed dark fragrance that to the usual medicinal oud a-là Montale introduces some spices and sandalwood. From the beginning I realized that Dark Aoud was not supposed to really evolve but while it can be considered a quite linear composition it still has an outstanding personality and some depth. One of the most minimal releases by the french house whose richness is achived by a single accord made out of a double dose of smoky agarwood and sandalwood. Insanely intense, nutty, dry, assertive. Monster projection, monster sillage and monster lasting power. One of the best fragrances in the Montale's range. Highly Recommended.



Rating: 8/10

Sorry to say this (as I like some of Montale´s aouds very much) but Dark Aoud turned out to be a false twin of Wonderwood on my skin.
The beginning was rather surprising, there was something special there but then, within half an hour or so, it became Wonderwood.

Guess the skin chemistry has a big say with this one.

i bought it and it is fantastic !! real oud shot with santal alba, sandalwood, really a very dark smoky and wrapping scent ! not so heavy that ive expected and im a litte disapointed about the strength i think montale had put real good oud quality in there so they did not put a lot and that is the cause of the loose of strength of this one comparing with others aoud of this maison !
but the quality is real it smells nearly exactely like some oud oil ive got from al qurashi a great maison of seoudi arabia specialised in oud !

for those who fear that it would be weak, dont worry nothing to do with killian or other western oud scents really weakened to suit western users, Dark oud is erally strong and has a wonderfull lasting power, if you want to make a big impression, a dark somber really serious oriental impression get this !!

Great dry sandalwood, very mysterious.