Oud Extravagant
Maître Parfumeur et Gantier (2018)

Maître Parfumeur et Gantier, whose offerings veer towards the classic side of the scale and can thus be somewhat ‘safe', go after verity for their venture into oud, and by that token, safety is no longer an option. Oud Extravagant exerts the car-crash fascination of a cheese-and-diarrhoea version of its star ingredient – in much the style of Xerjoff's Zafar. Such an inflammatory opening subsides into a more-encompassing leather facet to the oud, which is then joined by the twinkle of resins and some subtle sweetish vanilla.
Oud Extravangant's heart phase is its most compelling. It has an honesty to it, presenting a layered oud without too much embellishment – as time wears on, it reveals different aspects: a deep in-the-grain kind of woodiness, floral hints, dry saffron-like impressions, the cool, soapy mystery of cardamom, while remaining very much an oud. The drama of the opening resolves into this increasing complexity, which is also accompanied with increasing smoothness.
However in the deep drydown, when the perfume drifts increasingly in a leather-amber direction, it feels like a significant segment of what made it special has sloughed off.
In the main, a luxurious foray with some serious price gouging to match. Oud Extravagant will disappoint those after whipped-by-Valkyries projection; I find its sillage perfectly adequate, but those used to more thrust from their ouds may disagree.