Jōvan Intense Oud review: a blingy drugstore steal!

In blogger discussions on fragrance trends, there is much talk of people being heartily 'over' oud, even though oud-forward perfumes continue to be launched at a steady rate. Why, just this year the iconic Ralph Lauren Polo begat a Polo Supreme Oud flanker, for goodness's sake. Me, I am not 'over' oud, having never been remotely 'into', 'onto' - or even 'under' - it in the first place. That said, in my last Top Sniffs and Nasty Niffs round up (of 2013 releases), I did cite Exidolo's Thirty-Three as the best niche oud fragrance of that year, but very much along the lines of 'if you like that sort of thing'.

My issues with oud are partly to do with its austere scent - at its worst tipping over into Band-Aid / Germolene territory, as with some Montales - and partly the fact that oud is integral to that whole Arabian Nights-spice route school of perfumery, of which I am also a little weary, though my attachment to all things Taif rose-related remains as strong as ever. But oud I can take or leave.

Then the other day, completely unprompted, Liz Moores of Papillon Perfumery sent me a full bottle of Coty's Jōvan Intense Oud. I am familiar with Jōvan Musk, bottles of which may be seen languishing in plastic baskets by pharmacy tills up and down the land. Indeed, the forlorn and paltry range of scents in my local chemist prompted a blog post of its own a few years back. I had not come across this oud scent by Jōvan though, which was part of a trio of launches in 2012, along with Silky Rose and Secret Amber. Liz thought Jōvan Intense Oud such a bargain at £15 that she felt I had to try it. She considers me something of a bloggers' champion of budget fragrances, and figured I might be interested in another corner chemist coup from Coty!

Papillon-themed card from Liz on my new pinboard!

Given that I am actively trying to divest myself of perfume at the moment rather than acquire more bottles by any means, I was initially apprehensive about receiving a whole bottle of an oud fragrance, of all things. After all, when Matthew Zhuk of Exidolo offered me one of Thirty-Three on a blind basis I declined, explaining that I might not like it and I hated waste - and I'm pleased to say he did just send me a sample in the end.

But in the case of the Jōvan, my worries were unfounded. Okay, so the gold ribbed top is a trifle gaudy, but what can you expect for £15? Plus the perfume itself is a smooth, classy number all right, to the point where I have taken the trouble to add the horizontal bar accent over the 'o' - and as regular readers know, there are not many perfumes for which I will put myself out in that way, typographically speaking. And I am also embracing this new acquisition despite the bottle being a whopping 88ml! 88ml?? There's another thing to love right there - a blithe disregard for standard pack sizes.

Without further ado, here is the sales blurb about Jōvan Intense Oud, from NST:

"Delight in the darkly enigmatic Intense Oud, a powerfully alluring woody floral. The scent opens with a delicately spiced blend of saffron and lemongrass before building to an addictive heart of cistus labdanum and Turkish rose absolute. Combined with patchouli and sandalwood, Oud wood sensually embraces the whole fragrance, creating an overall experience of distinguished opulence."

So how does it smell to me? Well, in a nutshell - and this may be some reassurance to any other readers who are pretty indifferent to oud - Jōvan Intense Oud isn't particularly dark or powerful, opulent or intense. Rather, it smells like the 'comfy jogging pants' of the oud world, to quote Tara's masterly description of the drydown of Penhaligon's Tralala. Who knew such a thing even existed! Intense Oud is smoothed off and sanitised - that's 'sanitised' in the sense of 'toned down', rather than in the sense of Dettol wipes etc - it's just a gentle hum of oud on your skin. And because Intense Oud isn't intense at all, it needs frequent refreshing, which is no hardship given such a large bottle. Yes, just as Lidl Suddenly Madame Glamour is like a weaker version of Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle, so Jōvan Intense Oud is a watered down take on By Kilian Rose Oud, or something of that ilk.

One of the few reviewers of Intense Oud on Makeupalley exactly sums up my own thoughts on this scent, and its appeal:

"Jovan/Coty have done a very clever thing - they've taken fragrances that are often bagged for being too strong and diluted/twitched notes to make something really wearable. Jovan Intense Oud is a prime example....This is oud, unmistakable as the trendy note going around, but it's friendly, soft, warm. I very much liked this, not least because it makes oud so easy to wear."

They may mean 'oud' the instrument, but never mind ~ Source: Amazon

Now I am not sure I could say a lot more about Intense Oud, as it is well blended and doesn't really progress as such, apart from a fleeting sharpness on first application. I do detect some rose, a whiff of saffron and a generally resinous/woody/oud-y vibe, bolstered by occasional puffs of patchouli, but I wouldn't overegg my perception of the individual notes. And for a formulation that must have cost literally pence, this is not obviously cheap or 'chemically' at all. In a blind test I could well imagine it was at least high end designer, say.

Then I happened to be over at ex-Mr Bonkers' this morning (as in my old house), to pick up a couple of pieces of mail that had washed up there despite my having been gone three years. One was a pouch containing freeze-dried Neapolitan ice cream that you can keep - and eat! - at ambient temperature. Such was our combined curiosity that we ended up polishing most of it off while I was there. If anyone is interested, it had the texture of polystyrene, but if you let it melt in your mouth it tasted just like ice cream - or ice cream that is warmed by a hot sauce, say.

And I also took the opportunity to get ex-Mr B to sniff me wearing the Jōvan perfume, as he really doesn't care for perfume as a category - and has even been known to ask me to leave the room during some of the more febrile testing sessions at the start of my hobby. Intense Oud he described as 'inoffensive' and 'a bit like luxury soap'. Much like Sarah Jessica Parker's Lovely, then, and pretty much any perfume I put before him that doesn't precipitate instant recoil or outright gagging.

So yes, as ex-Mr Bonkers' response attests, this is a smooth, entry level oud, oud with training wheels, office-appropriate oud, jogging bottoms oud - however you want to term it. It won't break the bank and it won't smell of plasters. Nor will its bottle grace your dressing table, it must be said. Not that we should really be keeping our perfume there, as we all know...

As eaten by astronauts! Not bad, but I'll stick with Häagen-Dazs

Blind gift buying reprised - selfish scent suggestions for someone else's son

Source: parfumo.net

I am not managing to post as often as I used - or would like - to, but as many fellow bloggers find, work and general life 'stuff' have a habit of getting in the way.  Another factor in my own case is that I have a ton of penpals - both regular and fumie friends - and can easily while away a whole evening catching up on emails.  Like last night indeed, when I received a request from my old English teacher - she of The White Company Noir tip off in my previous post - to help her pick out a perfume for her middle son, aged approximately 30.  I might add that I have not seen this chap since he was a baby, when I famously tried to change his nappy as he scuttled round the living room, defiant and gurgling with glee:

"I am going to buy P aftershave for Christmas and was wondering what you would recommend - blind as it were, as you don't know his tastes. The thing is, he is very easily made happy so will be pleased whatever I get, so I could just go into a shop and buy something with a respectable name (at about £50-60...is that reasonable?...though he is like me in that he enjoys a bargain!) but I thought I would run it past you."

At this point I should perhaps rewind and take a quick look at my recent statements about the whole business of blind buying...and how my stance has since softened slightly, but with caveats! The notion has been in my mind this past month or so, ever since Undina's post at the end of October - and subsequent statistics - on blind perfume gift buying.  She was more or less against the idea until she encountered Ineke's Scent Library, which she figured was so easy to like it could safely be given to family members who had either minimal interest or indeterminate taste in perfume.  In fairness the set comprises five different samples, so there is an element of bet hedging going on. ;-)

Then just the other day Persolaise published some 2013 Christmas perfume gift recommendations, featuring perfume suggestions for generic characters such as a 'distinguished older lady' - and 'gent' - or a 'little prince' and 'princess' etc.

My distinguished older great-grandmother 

So I left a slightly waggish comment:

"At the risk of sounding a Bah Humbug note, is it wise to be buying perfume gifts for other people in the first place? A voucher for Selfridges / Liberty etc might be the way to go, though it would make for a shorter post!..."

Then in my piece on The White Company's Noir, I boldly asserted that I would feel comfortable giving Noir to a friend, which understandably struck Natalie of Another Perfume Blog as 'pretty amazing'.  I did, however, qualify this comment by saying that I would only give Noir to a person whose taste I knew to lie in that general Jo Malone Dark Amber & Ginger Lily direction.  My point about Persolaise's picks was that they were rather blanket / typecast in nature - all distinguished older ladies, all young boys etc - though he probably didn't mean them to be taken too seriously either. ;-)

Source: pinterest.com

And now here I was faced with another scenario in which I would potentially be recommending a blind buy and going against my usual principles on the matter.  The twist though was that my friend's son was being positioned as "very easily made happy", which gave me rather a lot of free rein!  I realised I could therefore approach this task from my friend's perspective, as in: "What male colognes would I like to smell on my son?", or even from my own standpoint:  "What male colognes would I like to smell on my friend's son if I were ever to meet the adult version of the baby of my distant recollection?"  And on this basis I wrote straight back as follows...

"Okay, that is easy, as there are some wonderful classy classics that are within your budget that I would personally like to smell on any man.

My top pick is Chanel pour Monsieur, which is subtle and soft, yet with a beautiful citrus opening totally unlike the horrible synthetic 'tonic sport accord' you get in so many men's aftershaves these days.  I saw a small bottle of that in Boots for just £22.50!

Source: fragrantica.com

Equal favourite - but in a different, somewhat more feminine style - is Dior Homme, created by a Chanel perfumer as it happens.  It is a soft iris floral for men and quite swoonworthy in my view, and would suit someone comfortable with his feminine side.  My friend C's husband has both of these and he is a real A-type man, so I was most encouraged.  They smell terrific on him.

Source: cafleurebon.com

Other nice scents would be Guerlain Homme, which has a famous mojito top note(!), and Gucci II pour Homme, which has violet leaf, bergamot and a little soft spice.  

Source: babillages.net

Am attaching photos of all of these, as the scent market is such a minefield with so many similar sounding fragrances.

Source: ebay.co.uk

And lastly, if P would prefer something more overtly butch, more nodding towards Sean Connery or Antonio Banderas - who I think does indeed wear this! - there is Dior Eau Sauvage, a classic from the 60s that still smells good today. All the above should be available in Boots or a reasonable department store.

Source: myperfumesforless.com

I have avoided extremely spicy or woody scents in case that is too 'far out' for P.  Another good cologne is in fact Acqua di Parma's Colonia, come to think of it, or Colonia Intensa, but I would still go with Chanel myself.

Oh, and I smelt the AdP Oud scent at the weekend, and liked it a lot, but oud is a bit of a specialist taste. Here's a review of it...

http://katiechutzpah.com/2013/06/the-art-of-seduction-acqua-di-parmas-colonia-intensa-oud-for-men.html

You might want to consider that as a possible future bottle, having established if P cares for really woody notes? And whether you do indeed - I think it is important that you should like what you have bought him - for when he comes to visit! - so I suggest you try to smell all the main recommendations above.

That should keep your vetting nose busy...

Oh, and on the subject of bargains here's a great Lidl tip for men - G Bellini X-Bolt smells just like Hugo Boss Bottled (the original)!  So that is a bonus cheapie stocking filler option if you wanted - for £3.99 as usual...;-)

http://bonkersaboutperfume.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/g-bellini-x-bolt-lidl-scores-another.html"

(NB As you may have inferred, with the exception of the wild card Lidl pick, I stuck to mainstream brands for reasons of name recognition, budget, and ease of in-store testing.)

And today I heard back from my friend, who was pleased with my suggestions and pronounced them "worthy of publication".  So here it is - a blog post based on the very hobby of writing to friends that so readily (and agreeably) diverts me from blogging.


So... I would be interested to hear what scents you (would) like to smell on your menfolk?  
(If it was left up to you I mean, rather than factoring in the man's personal preferences, as in our present 'easily made happy' case...;-) )

And do you think it is necessary to take account of age or lifestyle - more so than I have done, say?
P is an advertising professional based in the South East - that's all I know about his grown up self.  I must admit that I haven't really taken his age into account if it is a factor - as I say, I am coming at the exercise from a selfish point of view!

By the way, I have since discovered that the Acqua di Parma oud scent is £135 for 100ml, so that puts it out of court, even for a future occasion.  What's with this big bottle trend?  I for one do not approve...

Not quite worth the money, even for the lining...! Source: ebay.co.uk

Bonkers In Belgium: Part 3 - A Bunch Of Mostly Oud-y Things At Senteurs D'Ailleurs, Brussels, And The Perfect Scents For Your LBD (Sticky Tape Not Supplied!)

Belgium, though a small country, punches above its weight in terms of numbers of niche perfumeries, and this post recounts my remaining solo sniffing sessions during the three day trip last August. Victoria and I had thought of spending the afternoon of our day together at Senteurs d’Ailleurs, a high end fragrance and cosmetics store in Brussels, but we ended up not leaving her flat! So after checking out of my hotel the following day, I set off in the car for Place Stéphanie, and instantly regretted my decision to drive. For I soon became snarled up in traffic gridlock caused by the inevitable road works and diversions everywhere I turned. My satnav was in meltdown and I wasn’t far behind it. In the end, I conceded defeat and abandoned the car in a side street. More by luck than judgement, Senteurs d’Ailleurs was only about 10 minutes’ walk away, and soon I was browsing the fragrance fixtures of its cool, onyx-clad interior.

A BUNCH OF MOSTLY OUD-Y THINGS

As with my visit to La Place Vendôme, I have kept the scent strips from that day, and it is apparent from the scribbled names on them that I mostly smelt a bunch of oud-y things. This is not because I am particularly partial to oud as a note – on the contrary – but because most of the new scents that I spotted happened to showcase the blessed stuff, so I sniffed them merely in the spirit of getting with the program, as it were:

The Different Company Oud Shamash
The Different Company Oud for Love
Byredo Oud Immortel
Byredo Accord Oud
Maison Kurkdjian Oud
Heeley Agar Wood

Tip for The Different Company – if you want to be different, maybe lay off the oud next time…?

I also tried a couple more Byredos that were new to me (Mister Marvellous and Seven Veils), plus the clean and forgettable Pure Virgin from The Different Company. None of these featured oud as far as I recall, but that alone was not enough to endear them to me.

MONA DI ORIO ETOILE DE HOLLANDE

My other important discovery in Senteurs d’Ailleurs was Mona di Orio’s Etoile de Hollande, a refined and retro woody rose in the general vein of Lyric Woman / Portrait of a Lady / Guerlain Rose Nacrée du Désert - which is to say, not really my style. But I could appreciate its elegance nonetheless, and there was a certain piquancy about trying a scent with Holland in the name in another one of The Low Countries... : - ) Plus the blotter smells rather wonderful nearly three months later...

Notes: Bergamot, White Peach, Heliotrope, Bulgarian Rose, Turkish Rose, Geranium, Clove, Patchouli, Cedar, Vanilla, Bezoin, Ambre, Balsam

One thing that struck me during my visit to Senteurs d’Ailleurs is that when I was alone at the back of the store, one of the staff immediately found a reason to come and fiddle with the stock in that section, possibly because they didn’t trust me not to have one of the testers away in my copious tote bag, or so it seemed to me...they did let me take photographs, mind, so credit where credit’s due.

ANNICK GOUTAL NEROLI & NUIT ETOILEE

Next up I popped into Annick Goutal over the road to try out one of Victoria’s favourite scents, Neroli, which – as she explains in a review of this scent from 2011 - she appreciates for the delicate interplay of neroli and orange blossom absolute:

“Orange blossom is darker, richer and more voluptuous, while neroli is greener and fresher. Their complementary qualities make for a particularly multifaceted orange flower accord. The composition is accented with aromatic basil and bergamot, while vanilla and cedarwood create a smooth, polished base.”

I could see why Victoria was so taken with Neroli, and wouldn’t have minded a sample of it, however, my main focus on the sample scoring front was to blag one of Nuit Etoilée instead, despite being rather intimidated by the beautifully made up sales assistant. I got lucky! I was delighted to find that I liked Nuit Etoilée very much. The minty opening was shortlived – and it didn't even bother me it as I'd feared it would. Also, despite the resinous notes of the base, the overall vibe of the scent was very refreshing and crisp, clean and citrusy, and I would defy anyone not to like it, which I don’t say of many scents. I thought it would be more “Blair Witchy” like Ormonde Jayne Woman, but not at all. For a forest-inspired scent, there was an unexpected softness rather than a prickle of pine needles. It was a “forest scent for wimps”, just the way I like them…

PARFUMERIE GUTMANN, WAREGEM

When I finally managed to drive out of Brussels – after a catalogue of wegomlegging woe, the tortuous nitty gritty of which I will spare you - I made it to my next port of call, Waregem, just before the shops closed. There was a rather gaudy funfair in full swing in the market square, but I headed straight for Parfumerie Gutmann, drawn to its window by this remarkable mannequin, a novel window dressing idea designed to illustrate the Guerlain fragrance, La Petite Robe Noire. Though in my view the frock, which had been carefully studded with miniature perfume bottles of every brand and shape, was a work of art in its own right... For when it comes to choosing a perfume to accessorise your little black dress, don’t believe anyone who tells you "less is more".

Senteurs D'Ailleurs
Place Stéphanie 1A
1050 Brussels
Belgium
Tel: +32 2 511 69 69

Photo of Etoile de Hollande from Fragrantica, other photos my own.