Louban Montale for women and men

This is a perfect Montale for when you are in the mood for oud (ha!) but don't want it to be in your face like Black Oud etc. The olibanum note makes it into a dilute "oil of oud" smell. Easily a unisex frag. I wore it happily today on a warmish day with a stiff breeze, but could smell it comfortingly on myself for many hours. I agree with Hilaire that it is very subtle, for a Montale. I will gladly use up my sample, but it's not quite up there for a FB & besides I have quite a few ouds in my collection.

I find that oud, like patchouli, can be almost gag-worthy in huge doses. I like both of these notes, but in moderation, and Louban certainly fits the bill here. A really nice mix.

This reminds me of a trip to Tunis I made a few years ago, it smells exactly like the perfume souk there in the Kasbah; Attar of Roses and something more like dried rose buds, Saffron, Cardamom, preserved lemons, and something earthy and milky, which I presume is the musk and oud base.

I haven't been to Lebanon yet (the Louban of the name) but I imagine that a trip to the Souks there would smell very similar to those in Tunis.

This is a perfect evocation of the Arabic love of roses and spices. Adorable if utterly gobsmackingly expensive. I've just received it today so I can't comment on sillage or longevity definitively yet, but I have a feeling the former will be decent and the latter better be good or I'll be writing to Montale to complain. LOL

I love this so far though.


Edit: Longevity on this is AMAZING, as is sillage, it doesn't choke everyone around you but it does subtly envelope one for hours and hours (coming on 6 hours now actually).

I have to revise my review below, now that I have worn Louban all day. I haven't been able to smell it but I've had 5 compliments so far stating how wonderful the fragrance is. If it had just been a single compliment I might have smiled and shrugged it off, but 5? I seriously need to consider investing in a bottle!

A very light, ever-so-slightly sweet combination of rose and musk. Sillage is very low for a Montale scent and unlike the Montale perfumes I've sampled, longevity was almost zilch. The initial effect was gorgeous but disappeared far too quickly.

The dry down is the same one than Eau d'Iparie by l'Occitane. Deceiving! Very weak for a Montale...

Montale often repeats also I find similarity to Aoud Damascus. Louban is more combined and it has the leader is incense. But it is an antique incense and it has celebratory mood. The rose and musk further follows. Frequent occurrence of violet leaf quite pertinently. Probably it isn't original for Montale but it is beautiful and sensory.