24 Platinum Oud Edition
ScentStory FZE (2013)

Similar in strength and smell to other rose heavy ouds like Montale Dark Auod and Thirty-three by Ex Idolo.

Very floral and dark/dirty. Again, excellent projection and longevity.

Whoa… the oud really slaps me in the nose at first sniff. The oud I smell is very synthetic and somewhat sour. It pretty much overwhelms the fruity floral opening: there's rose in there and citrus but the citrus seems a bit muddy /less sharp than it should, but oud dominates. The opening manages to settle down to a clearer presentation after twenty minutes.

At the heart level of its pyramid 24 Platinum Oud lists guaiac wood, jasmine, saffron, patchouli, and cashmere. I can agree that I am smelling those approximations, except for the cashmere (?) – I could have sworn there was no wool in the accord. The heart accord is okay.

The base lists amber, musk, driftwood, and oud. It is somewhat sweet and very little oud shows up in it. The driftwood appears as a soft, slightly salty wood.

Rather interesting fragrance – the use of synthetic oud does bring something a little new to a fragrance as economical as this. The oud is obnoxious at first but then it calms down to an acceptably synthetic delivery. Not a bad fragrance for an extremely low cost introduction to the oud concept.

24 Platinum Oud marks another interesting creation by Scentstory from the 24 line, connected to its namesake 24 Platinum but unique and fun deviation in its own right. 24 Platinum Oud might be best be characterized as a classic rose/oud combination, with these two aspects dominating the fragrance. There is more citrus in the opening and perhaps some patchouli and other woods in the dry down as the notes breakdown suggests, but this is thoroughly rose and oud from start to finish. As far as rose/oud combinations go, 24 Platinum Oud isn't too heavily earthy, as one might argue of

24 Platinum Oud departs from 24 Platinum a bit more than 24 Gold Oud departs from 24 Gold. Whereas 24 Platinum is a semi-green rose mixed spiciness that dries down to a sweet vanilla, 24 Platinum Oud is not green, and is more of a rose/oud combination that lacks the sweeter vanilla-based dry down of 24 Platinum. Whereas I disliked the extremes of 24 Platinum (the acerbic opening to the powder/vanilla bomb dry down).

Strong like the other 24s I've tried, Platinum Oud is a welcome try for rose oud fans, and an affordable one at that, at $65 for 100ml or so on FragranceX. This isn't an instant must-have bottle for me, but after another wearing or two, I might consider it. It definitely isn't as strong of an entry overall as 24 Gold or even 24 Gold Oud, and there are better roses and rose ouds out there, but perhaps not at this price.

7 out of 10