Monsieur Oud

How do you make a cologne out of oud oil? This is a question that burns in the mind of an oud man.

This is how Monsieur Oud began.

Colognes and oud are like the in-laws that never get along. You can’t imagine the zest and citrus that define classic colognes backed by the dark, leathery animalics commonly associated with oud. Colognes are bright, ouds dark. Oud is everything a cologne is not. And vice versa.

Monsieur Oud took shape in my mind’s eye because of my infatuation with Walla Patta. The notes of frangipani and osmanthus and orange blossom and mimosa it naturally displays.

Some will recall the days I would wear Suriranka Senkoh like there was no tomorrow, taking swipes that probably added up to a few hundred dollars a day. I’d wear it to bed, then again at breakfast, when heading out, when coming home, swimming unendingly in its heady florals and aquatic caress.

Then the desire crept into my artistic other to bring out these notes and accentuate them with the actual flowers. To create a cologne-like citrus bomb, rounded off with all the frangipani, mimosa, osmanthus tonalities of pure Walla Patta.

There are three main chords humming in the base: that aquatic cool if of incense-grade Sri Lankan oud oil, joined by one of my oldest and most precious musk infusions into Mysore 1992 exalted by vintage 1998 Kupang sandalwood from Timor. Each of these oils is a collectible aroma in its own right. But I haven’t even gotten to the base proper.

The true pulse of Monsieur Oud’s foundation beats loud and clear with wild Sri Lankan aloes. Featuring the mintiest, greenest incense-grade Walla Pattas bubbling on a coal, the base is further cranked up with the historical distillation of Chugoku Naya to thrust the Sri Lankan legato into turbocharge.

In the heart notes, you’ll smell the most expensive flowers on Earth. From red champaca to Thai frangipani, French mimosa, osmanthus, iris, and sumptuous orange blossom, paired with rare flowers sourced from Italy, Bourbon coffee blossoms from Madagascar, and the most sought-after jasmine in existence: It’s so unique you won’t even recognize it as jasmine, but rather as pure animal musk.

For the top notes, I picked the choicest bitter yuzu from Japan, Italian bergamot, Paraguayan guaicwood, Brazilian rosewood, and balsam of the fir tree, silver fir, and rare petitgrain—all spiced up with lusty top notes of pink pepper… and a touch of civet.

Monsieur Oud is an encyclopedia of flowers, of oud, of natural perfumery that I’m never really going to consider finished. It’s gone through so many revisions I’ve lost count. And I’m still working on it. Some close friends of mine own versions of it which I don’t have the recipes to anymore, due to working and reworking it day in and day out, like a work of poetry which you keep editing and revising, printing and reprinting, because the subject is so close to the heart you never really can be done talking about it.

Unlike working with synthetic ingredients, the interplay of natural aromatics coming together takes time to happen, profiles change, develop in unforeseen ways. One slip of the pipette and it’s back to the drawing board—or the waiting list for next year’s harvest… which may or may not turn out the same.

Any writer, painter, or filmmaker knows that a big part of your self goes into what you create. Monsieur Oud has been, hands down, my most ambitious composition to date. The most expensive, labor-intensive, and personally humbling creation I’ve put out in the last 15 years.

Featured Testimonials…

I remember smelling it for the first time and I was like wow this oil smells different. I’m not the biggest fan of floral heavy scents but Monsieur Oud is different. Somehow it reminds me of cracking up a can of sprite mixed with a bouquet of florals and a nice hint of oud in the background.

 

Monsieur Oud is like a cologne for daily use, nothing about it is offending or too overwhelming. A fresh, floral and easy to wear scent that’s perfect for the warmer days of the year.

—Chris A / Germany

💐 ❄️ 🌹 🥀 🪵 🪻 ❄️ 🦌 🪵
Humbly entering the Holy Month of Ramadhan 🌙 with a masculine but inoffensive floral bouquet 💐 in a pot of minty cool oud and vibrant sandalwood.

—Saad K / USA

On this hot and humid July day down here in bayou country, the French culture still lives and what better way to rock it then by wearing this MASCULINE SCENT created by the legend Ensar Oud MONSIEUR OUD PURE PARFUM & ATTAR.

To me, this masterpiece opens with EO’s blend of pink pepper, a hint of bergamot and whiff of civet. As it dries into the heart notes, the parade of floral scents start marching through, led by frangipani, red champaca, iris and luscious jasmine. By the time the base notes start to emerge, I am nose blind, but then I step outside into the heat and that’s when the drum line starts to pound my nose–loads of what we all love–that cool, green and minty Sri Lankan oud mixed with that manly musk that makes me stand up tall and make me proud to be a man and not afraid to smell like one to!

Down with the woke, embrace this MANLINESS.

—Jason M / USA

Beautiful stuff, it’s a gentleman fragrance, polished and refined with much dignity 👏🤵‍♂️.

—Rezwan G. / Canada

Beautiful oil 🔥.

—Syed Jawad S. / Pakistan

Very underrated in my opinion … beautiful scent.

—Anas A. / USA