L’Oudh by Tauer Perfumes

Smells like excrement and animal. Only for the brave. Plus, the liquid is an oily mess. 2/10.

To me, it smells like a horse in every shade: the animal, the sweat, the excrement, the tack leather, and the stable. All of this, but with a certain amiability, not negative, though I don’t want to smell like that. On my skin, it projects massively and lasts forever: even after showering the next day, I can still smell it. I think the 2ml sample will last me years.

I tried it expecting the beastly animal Oud promised on YouTube. It’s a very well-made fragrance; the opening is an Oud bomb with myrrh nuances, but as it dries down, the leather takes over—that classic Tauer leather—and it stays that way until the end. It’s good; I hesitated to buy it due to the opening, but luckily I let it settle. I’m not a leather fan and was looking for pure Oud with other facets. I won’t be buying it, but I recommend giving it a try.

L’Oudh? It should be called ‘Le Castor’ 🇫🇷. It’s incredible what’s written. If anyone finds it strong, invasive, and difficult to wear, I respect that and understand why. But saying it’s impossible to wear out or pick up someone, or that Ajmal swallows Tauer, are comments from people who don’t know what they’re talking about. The Laos oud is noticeable, though it doesn’t smell fermented or cheesy. It’s not the protagonist; the castoreum (synthetic) overwhelms everything and tends to smell ‘acquired’. It’s an animalic perfume, period. It doesn’t smell like the elegant leather of Acqua di Parma, the realistic one of Meydan, the smoky floral of Great Britain, or the elegance of Henry Jacques. Here, it smells like raw, dirty, unfinished leather, very smoky, earthy, burnt, and petrol-like. Very animalic, but not because of the oud. It’s like Dusita’s Oudh Infini (discontinued), where people think it’s oud when it’s the civet that dominates and makes the perfume difficult. The same goes for Sarah Baker’s Jungle Jezebel. L’Oudh has little development, doesn’t project much at arm’s length, but that smell accompanies you too much and can fatigue the nose. It sticks like gum. 100% masculine, 300$ for 50ml is reasonable for niche and Andy Tauer. It has all the adjectives: piercing, invasive, dense, potent, difficult, dark, animalic, dirty. I like the castoreum, but not so marked as here. Do you know Tom Ford’s Oud Wood Intense? They’re different. OWI is fantastic because the castoreum adds a dirty, sensual, acquired tone over the oud, but here everything is multiplied by 10. It can be different and dark, but if everything ends up weird, I don’t see the artistry. I find it interesting and difficult; I’ve used it a few times and sometimes it dominates me. I would have liked to see other elements amplified to add nuances while respecting the animalic base, but the use of castoreum is excessive. The bottle will last you a lifetime (like Zoologist’s T Rex). In the medium term, it gets tiring quickly. Masculine, high longevity, modest projection. Restricted versatility.

Dark, animalic, smoky, and acquired, a very potent scent. For me, one of Tauer’s best, that one from the early days, when he was in his prime. Note: I’m talking about the first batch, the one signed by him. I have decants of the new one (with the sticker) and it seems softer to me, though the first one might have improved with time. In a few years, the sticker one might smell the same, or perhaps a Laos oud as dark as the first batch wasn’t achieved 🙁

Very difficult scent. Extremely dirty and dark. I admire dark and complex aromas, but in this case, they don’t convey pleasant sensations. I have the idea that this composition is a game Andy doesn’t master, or at least, he lost this time. P.S.: It was me who didn’t understand or master this perfume. Andy wins. Bottle bought.