French niche house The Different Company has launched Oud Shamash:
A spiritual journey to the heart of the Far East, an exclusive fragrance. Oud Shamash starts off with a spicy accord of Pink Pepper, Saffron and Cinnamon. The exploration deepens into the resinous yet mysterious accord of the Absolu of Oud. A luminous alchemy intensified by the sensual heat of amber notes and patchouli. A vibrant and enchanting fragrance which celebrates the Sun God.
Oud Shamash was developed by perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour. The notes include saffron, cinnamon, pink pepper, davana, rum, rose, nagarmotha, oudh, ciste absolute, sandalwood, ambergris, woods, patchouli, leather notes, white musk, vanilla and tolu.
The Different Company Oud Shamash is available in 50 ml Eau de Parfum, $269.
(via thedifferentcompany, extrait.it)
Hmm… $269??
I guess that means I won’t be trying it any time soon…
Insane that it is so much more then the others though.
I guess they’d like to make something of the oud craze before it disappears? Although in my book, it already has.
The root word of Shamash is Shame. For adding another oud fragrance to the flood, and for charging so much for it.
I know you’re kidding, but in case anyone was wondering what it means:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamash
Oh, I was going to say it meant ‘sun’. The Hebrew word is ‘shemesh’ I used to have a friend nicknamed Shemesh: he was covered in freckles.
Well, and I don’t know what meaning TDC is using, I just googled it and found the wikipedia entry!
Thanks for that. Shame would be a bad name for a fragrance.
150 euros here in Paris for the 50ml. I like it and I am not a oud lover. The top notes smell of almonds. It’s a rather delicate, well balanced woody perfume.
Thanks!
oh god! you just made me want to try it! shame on you!!
I have to admit that it sounds tempting…
I feel like I *ought* to be tempted, but so far, I’m not. I’m overloaded by oud and overloaded by Bertrand Duchaufour.
And have to say that if I were a niche brand and Duchaufour did my latest fragrance, honestly think I’d keep mum about it. It’s starting to look silly.
I know what you mean. I probably wouldn’t use the word ‘silly’, but he’s seriously running the risk of spreading himself too thin. Any day now, perfume houses are going to say, ‘Don’t use that Duchaufour guy. Everyone’s using him.’
Then again… maybe they won’t. People seem to think he has the Midas touch at the moment.
But then, so did Sophia Grojsman years ago, and then, almost overnight, no-one was interested in her work.
The fact that he is being used by everybody, to me, comes from the same thing that makes everybody do oud all of a sudden: they look around and see who is making $. To my mind it looks silly because the whole idea of niche, originally, was that niche worked differently…niche wasn’t about sales, or fads, it was about creativity and quality. Ha. Every niche brand in the world making an oud scent (or a laundry detergent scent) is not all that different than every mainstream company making a fruity floral with pink pepper.
(sorry, now I’ll step off the soap box)
I’m afraid that if I try it, I’ll love it, I’ll want to buy it and there I’ll be with oud perfume #58 in my collection! (okay, an exaggeration, but a real “danger”! LOL)
they sent me an email “introducing” it…..I was all “oooooh look at this!” until I got to the price! egads!! Especially since TDC has (so far) had a distinct tendency to last about an hour on me.
I tend to like BD’s work….but yeah…the man is e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e.
It’s like when Mary Lou Retton showed up on wheaties boxes and it was cool….then she was everywhere ….and people got a little sick of her….
But some artists just are prolific – and since I like so many of B.D’s my reaction is – keep em coming!
I go back and forth with the oud thing…
I start to think it’s an “overdone craze”… then someone points out to me what’s the difference if it’s a new oud or a new rose or a new vanilla or a new vetiver?
Then I test some new ouds — recently a couple of SoOuds, Fam & Kanz — that are really beautiful, and I wonder why I should even be annoyed at any overdose of oud as long as they’re well done. It’s not like they’re crowding out other product; we still have 2000 launches per year.
But yeah, this sounds way too expensive. Skipping all but maybe a sample vial, and even then not furiously pursuing.
I’m feelin’ ambivelant about it myself. I really enjoy oud, I respect the point of another vanille, rose,ob, etc……I guess my question is~can we take a ……breather? Company after company coming out w/a new version of the same ingrediant one right after the other is getting old for me. I guess I’m ready to obssess about something new?
I hope you enjoy your sample though!
Joe, I wondered when someone would comment on the SoOuds. I got three samples but not the ones you tried; sort of liked Burqa but found it very close to the skin – zero sillage to my nose, at least. I should give this line another chance, I guess.
Am I the only one wondering if oud will go the way of mysore sandalwood and become overharvested…?
That’s true, actually. There was an article from the New York Times, I think, linked here a week or so ago about the declining availability and quality of oud.
But no Aquilaria trees are harmed in making many of the new oud perfumes. Someone who saw Kilian at the recent San Francisco Sniffa reported he confirmed there was no actual oud in BK Pure Oud, which is actually my favorite “oud.”
The vast majority of recent ouds are made with synthetics, as I understand it.
I only tried one Montale and didn’t care for it, so I didn’t try anything else from that line. Therefore, I can still try another 100 or so ouds before I get bored.
And Duchaufour, I’ll try anything he does. Unless he does clean. I haven’t tried Uncle Serge’s clean, so I’d probably pass on BD’s clean.
Oud is always too astringent for me, but all the other notes sound very intriguing! I’ll hope to eventually get a sample of this but can, thankfully, not worry it will make me miserable with desire.
Funny, I love some of the Montale ouds. Others seem ghastly to me but the latest oud from Kurkdjian is a new favorite. As for Bernard D. I enjoy so many from him; I will always try another.