Pure Oud
By Kilian (2009)

Dark woods, oiled leather, hot tar, and a bed of incense. No florals or brightness to speak of. This is the abyss gazing back at you.

I cannot add a thing to the excellent description provided by ClaireV. I will just say I adore this creation and am very glad to have it in my collection.

Pure Oud is the racehorse of the Western oud-based fragrances; all sinew and nerve, and not an inch of fat to spare. Kilian could have easily named this Oud Noir or Dark Oud, because Pure Oud really does convey the inky, matte darkness of a moonless night sky.

It smells like a black leather jacket tinctured into a pool of black tar and then vaporized into a mist of gasoline.

Pure Oud draws a line around itself and stays within it. Real oud oil has a smell that spills messily out over every line you've drawn for yourself; the brazenly-named Pure Oud (it is purely synthetic) is self-contained. But they do share a common denominator – both smell other-worldly and somewhat stark.

For me, it is the Western-based oud fragrance that comes closest to mimicking the smell of real oud oil. Not a sour, fermented-smelling Hindi or Assam oud oil, but one of those aged, dry oud oils where you can pick out hints of leather, dried fruit, melting plastic lunch boxes, and smoke.

Caveat: Pure Oud is a minimalist take on a maximalist smell, i.e., it does not approach the complexity or range of aromas of real oud oil. Nothing this obviously synthetic can come close to copying something so rudely natural.

But the experience of using oud oils and attars is not interchangeable with or comparable to using traditional fragrance; one is a quiet, more private experience geared toward internal contemplation; the other is a projection of oneself to the wider world. We shouldn't keep holding up one against the other in a race for authenticity. Prefer instead that benchmark of Guy Robert's: Does it smell good? And yes, Pure Oud does smell good – very good indeed.

I find Pure Oud to be very quiet, but long-lasting. Sometimes, to turn up the volume a bit, I re-spray during the day, twice, or even three times. This way, it builds up on the skin in layers of translucent ink – leather upon rubber upon gasoline, until it finally pushes off the skin in a sulky swirl of woodsmoke.

a rather simple oud accord with low duration!

Genre: Woods

While most certainly not what its label would lead one to believe, Pure Oud does enter on a rather enjoyable oudh reconstruction. In its general style the opening parallels Francis Kurkdjian's fine Oud Cashmere Mood and Oud Velvet Mood, with which Pure Oud shares several listed notes. The oudh accord here is initially complex – both medicinal and animalic. Saffron and cypriol emphasize the smoky, medicinal aspect of the oudh, while myrrh adds depth and roundness.

Where Pure Oud falls down is in what I tend to think of as the “mechanics”: sillage and projection are both limited, and lasting power is only moderate. I can see the resentment at having to reapply a scent in this one's price range after only a few hours. The drydown, I must admit, is also something of a disappointment: the oudh accord unravels into a relatively bare ensemble of woody notes.

To its credit, and unlike so many current oudh-themed fragrances, Pure Oud does not lean heavily on rose, and thus has a more individual profile than a number of its niche competitors. Still, at these prices, one has the right to expect more - and can get it, too, from Kurkdjian's aforementioned Oud Cashmere Mood and Oud Velvet Mood, both of which trump Pure Oud in terms of projection, tenacity, and sustained compositional depth.

A pure "representation" of oud, where "pure" means the fact this oud-like main accord is linear and straigthtforward. Of course there is no literal purity as regards of the materials – this stands to pure oud oils like PU leather stands to cows. Anyway, a dry and solitary oud note, a material I do not love that much especially when used in a "prominent" way, mostly because it smells a bit boring to me. The smell here is that canonical burnt-tires rubbery feel of agar wood, rounded by vanilla and amber and softened by a subtle yet detectable floral accord, with a slight earthy/balsamic base and a leathery feel. A crowdpleaser for me, as it smells quite pleasant and refined, no obscure decadence, rotting notes or other "pure oud" notes. This does not mean Pure Oud is a bad scent, just perhaps a bit dull and trendy: it is austere, soft, elegant, and delivers just a hint of "fashion magazines-inspired" oud mysticism and darkness without smelling unpleasant or challenging - that sort of glossy, trendy, safe "elegance" that links together most of Kilian scents in my opinion. Mellow drydown. A bit light and pretentious as all other Kilian scents, which to me lack quite much in depth, taste, projection and persistence. One of those scents which may be a nice purchase in case of hard bargains/last-chance sales.

6,5/10

Horrible. Smelled like a tar oud combo. Made me gag.

Sawdust and oud, this is warmer than some ouds, and not medicinal. There is a peppery note that helps, but this is rather forgettable among a large assortment of ouds.

It's like someone sat down with a pad and pencil, wrote down that they wanted 25% of this and 25% of that and 25% of something else, got somehow distracted elsewhere, mailed away the formula, and never realized that the numbers didn't all add up to 100!

Even though this is called "Pure Oud," don't let that deceive you into expecting Oud. Although you're expected to pay through the nose, your friend in the middle of your face will never be particularly exhilarated by this pleasant but painless fragrance...

At the end of the day, I just can't get over the name. It's deceiving. I will repeat, it's deceptive. Manipulating and disappointing. All because of the name. It is neither Pure nor Oud. There is no purity. There is no Oud. There is, however, attention spent toward placing a focus on Oud, but it is not prominent, and it doesn't justify the hefty expense.

If you're a salesperson and someone who has never smelt Oud (but has read lots of reviews) approaches you asking for a recommendation -- I can imagine endorsing this if you work on commission, but I would never suggest this to a friend, and I would never pay full-price on a bottle for myself, and even if I received it as a gift, I would never wear it often enough to justify keeping it amongst my few preferred possessions.

The best among the four oud samples I have from Kilian.

Killian Pure Oud.
Designed by Calice Becker as part of the Arabian Nights Collection for By Killian and launched in 2009; Pure Oud smells woody, leathery, smokey and offers a realistic interpretation of the aroma of burning oud wood chips/incense, as this oud incense smoke might smell if it were bottled as a fragrance. I have been very impressed with the artistic quality of most everything Ms. Becker has created and Pure Oud is no exception. Pure Oud is a standard fragrance by which many other oud scents that have been created since will be measured against.

The smell of Pure Oud on the skin is a cool, dry scent of mossy, oudish and smokey woods that have an inviting nut like warmth to the aroma staying warm through to the base. There are no florals or fruit in the mix keeping this oud recreation solidly in the "leather oud" department, as a type of oud fragrance. Some of the major notes are: oud (probably synthetic) cypriol oil, gaiac wood oil, copahu balm and saffron oil. The smell of this fragrance is not immediately pleasing but it is very pleasing nonetheless, probably more provocative than pleasing. The appeal of a darker fragrance of this type is the recollection of hard won qualities that leave their tracks in time through woods and the natural world. This is a classic fragrance aroma - one of the best of its type in my opinion. Pure Oud lasts several hours before receding into the background, so it is not nearly as long lasting as some and this could be a negative for some, but I peronally like the gentle nature of this otherwise very roughly cut scent. rating 4. / 5.

Oud pierced by a sharp carpenter shop's offcuts kind of wood note. This smells like one of the cheaper offerings from a bog-standard attar merchant. It has the Middle Eastern vibe alright, but you couldn't possibly get commoner within this denominator. Points of interest: dry and not sweet.