Hi guys. I know this thread is a bit old but Lushai Hills is mentioned several times here and I'd like to ask something about it. I just received my bottle from Zak this morning. The oil smells very nice, very unique with delicate distant florals, a rosy character, powdery-kind of like immortelle, fresh, sweet pastille candy, tea with milk, and traces of deer musk and sandalwood soap.
My question concerns its strength. Do you guys find it very faint? When my nose is six inches or so away from the swipe patch on my arm, I start to lose the scent. I could barely smell it at all at first. Is this due to my aging olfactory bulb, or did you have the same experience?
I haven't smelled that oil. However, one of the possibilities could be that the nose got overwhelmed with all the stuff that's going on, and became fatigued, hence unable to detect the scent much. It happens sometimes with me. I'd be scratching my head why can't I smell it, but people around me say "Wow you're wearing oud? It's strong". If this happens that's probably the case.
Recently I visited dear Mr
@Taha . Rather than the usual "both arms dabbed with oud", I smelled three oils. A super classic perfumey unnamed Kalimantan. A cambodian. And a very special Malaysian...Ayu.
Malaysian Oud.. Maybe I'm biased, I don't know. But the first artisanal oud that affected my perception on aromatics, was Sutera Ungu. Aside from
@Ensar I don't know if anyone here has it. Since Sutera Ungu, I haven't found ANY oud from AA that smells anything like it (SOME slight nuances were found in Ceylon 1...). But Ayu, well... the moment I smelled it, I said "Taha, this one strongly reminds me of something"..He said "Yeah I know. Sutera Ungu". Spot on! It is almost identical to Sutera, but with the Kedah Woody OOMPH...yet delicate and elegant. For one to pinpoint individual notes of this oil, he/she needs to have a trained nose. I'd say "out of this world" since I can't pinpoint the aroma to any specific existence on earth...but maybe it's due to my olfactory weakness.
The part that baffles me, Sutera is from Terengganu (Far east peninsula). Ayu is from Kedah (Far west peninsula)...Even the people of both states speak almost totally different slangs.
If they were to say "Where are you going?" It'd be like :
Kedah : Hang nak pi mana?
Terengganu : Mung nok gi mane (ne - as in -er in paper)?
If it was mere distillation technique, I bet some other oils would've achieved a similar scent. If it was a particular species, how come oils of other species don't smell at all similar?
Well, that's that. If I could I'd get all of Ayu off Taha's hands, except perhaps a bottle for him as a memento, for old time's sake. If only I could.