Hello friends. I recently shared this review with another forum, and thought it might be useful/informative to members here who are wondering about Grandawood.
What is it? Wild Oud sampler from Grandawood.com.au Cost: AU$150 for five 0.1 ml sample vials.
Service: Excellent: quick shipping, good packaging. Grandawood's website though, is infuriatingly naggy. They send you emails and messages if you put stuff in your cart and then leave. I recommend signing out or clearing cookies to avoid this. The origins of the oils are not always easy to determine, either.
How did I apply these? 2cm swipe of the sample dipstick onto my clean forearm.
Wild Dark Merauke
Origin: Merauke, presumably
1 minute: medicinal blast of eucalyptus, wintergreen and jungle canopy
3 minutes: the blast has settled into a medium minty freshness (minty like a mint julep, not toothpaste-minty) with a curious and not unpleasant rubber/disinfectant note, like opening up a fresh Band-Aid.
10 minutes: Potting soil plus ozone, like the air when it's going to rain soon. Settling down a little.
40 minutes: Has combined well with my skin scent and is now putting off a flinty, high-pitched mineral/earth note, like clean clay.
80 minutes: Finally safe for company. A lovely leafy green garden aroma.
110 minutes: Greenness is getting a little less lovely and a little more threadbare. To be honest, it isn't my favorite type of smell.
140 minutes: The mentholated opening has returned, with a soft woody backdrop, and continues this way until it fades out completely.
Scasa Saat
Origin:
Cambodia
1 minute: Rubber, leather, and bacon. Yes, bacon. There's a powerful smoke hit combined with an unmistakable meaty aspect. Quite intriguing but not really presentable yet.
5 minutes: Still leathery/smoky but the meat has receded (been eaten?)
15 minutes: Barnyard qualities begin to emerge. Manure, hay and grass combine with the pre-existing leather and wood to make a truly pastoral scent. Cat is suddenly very interested in my arm.
50 minutes: A most delightful and unexpected sweetness is peeking out. I can't tell if it's honey, maple, molasses or what, but it's lightening and broadening the entire landscape.
75 minutes: It finally hits me what the sweetness is. About 10 years ago I had the good fortune to smell some fearsomely expensive narcissus absolute, and *this is that scent*: pillowy-soft sweet clean strawlike floral. It's the perfect complement to the barniness. Cat has been locked out of my room because she keeps trying to lick me. Still wouldn't go out in public with this on.
100 minutes: Whoa, who's started smoking vanilla Cavendish pipe tobacco in my house? THIS is the scent I want to wear in public. Still not 100% barn-free but definitely more presentable.
150 minutes: Has softened into a smooth dry benzoin-heavy amber. I confess to a weakness for extravagant perfumery ambers like Parfum d'Empire's Ambre Russe and Lutens' Ambre Sultan. This is not that, but rather a softer, more solemn amber. Not completely stripped of the sweet tobaccoey goodness but any mainstream perfume house would be thrilled to package this aroma as their latest amber scent.
170 minutes: Fade out on soft woody powder.
The Scent of Enlightenment II: Crimson Flower
Origin: unknown
1 minute: LEATHERLEATHERLEATHER with some additional twists of cured and tanned animal hides.
15 minutes: A strong pine/evergreen note emerges, resinous and tarry but quite pleasant. Reminds me of a piñon salve I got in New Mexico... comfortingly incensey.
45 minutes: GRAPES. WTF. Bunches and bunches of succulent sweet purple grapes. Not a winey grape scent either. I have a sudden craving for a PB&J.
75 minutes: Fruitiness has receded to reveal a softly oudy leather/wood note, glazed with a layer of beeswax.
110 minutes: Well hello there, lapsang souchong tea.
140 minutes: Woodsy tea until fade out.
The Forbidden Scent
Origin:
Brunei
1 minute: Buckets of barnyard, heavy on the hay and manure.
15 minutes: Manure is receding but this is still uncomfortably high-pitched and immobile.
45 minutes: Like I said, immobile. Has not changed since last sniff. This could be any commercial Oud Du Jour.
80 minutes: Holy smoke! Literally, holy smoke. Astoundingly, after nearly an hour and a half, this stagnant and previously unimpressive oud is pouring forth billows of luscious churchy incense smoke. I cannot say if this replicates actual burning
agarwood, having never had the pleasure, but WOW is that an impressive effect. It may disturb those around you, it's that realistic.
120 minutes: Still smokin'. I imagine I can actually see the smoke but realize that is not in fact possible.
140 minutes: The smoke illusion continues and I feel as though I can actually smell ash from the imaginary incense. Vetiver and grassy notes appear and remain until fade-out.
Kalimantan
Origin: Borneo
1 minute:
Sandalwood dust. Smells like an old sandalwood fan my mother had. Smooth, cerealy, very pleasant.
10 minutes: Still sandalwood, but the tangy yogurty note of great sandalwood is very faint.
30 minutes: Has not developed significantly, or if I'm to be honest, even moderately. I wonder if this is made with less-infected agarwood? None of the fermentation or animalic notes I've come to associate with the other ouds in this sampler. Still pleasant, but I can't think of a reason to pay big bucks for this over my vintage Caswell-Massey sandalwood EDC or any other good sandalwood.
60 minutes: Yep, sandalwood. Actually this is bizarrely impressive in its monotonous linear longevity. It's kind of boring on its own but if I were blending a natural perfume and had unlimited funds, I might use this to add a consistent sandalwood tone to my scent.
90 minutes: I take back what I said at 60 minutes. This is not kind of boring, this is extremely boring. It's nice but absolutely not worth the money and I'm wondering if it's even real, so unchanging it is.
Which ones would I personally consider FBW? Scasa Saat definitely, Crimson Flower possibly.
That's all folks, hope this was useful. If the community would like I will also review the Cultivated sampler.