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serpolev – :
One spray and I am transported to some far away bustling bazaar. Ignore all the nasty reviews. This one is a delicious sweet spicy treat. Does require several sprays and doesn’t stay very long on my skin. But hope they never stop making it!
denyka – :
Not bad if you can get to the dry down, about 15 mins, past the medicinal, sharp beginning. Unfortunately, I don’t get much patchouli or anything else for that matter. Soft rose takes center stage with oud in the background on my skin, much more feminine than masculine. On my clothes it is slightly more unisex with oud a bit more prominent. Would not repurchase.
Alexandrkiev69 – :
Slightly soapy, floral. Give it time for the top to come off and you’ll detect a nice balance between oud and rose. The other listed notes do not feature strongly. For instance –
where art thou, labdanum? I don’t love it, but don’t hate it either.
blok_ada – :
Got this in the mail today. Unfortunately upon first smell, you’ll instantly get that Deet or Off mosquito repellant scent. While you’ll get a faint whiff of Rose, it’s too faint to be noticed and you’ll end up smelling exactly like Deet or off. Glad it was only $10 bucks, this one is a miss. Noting sexy, unique or mesmerizing about this.
Scent:2
Longevity:7
Sillage/Projection:5
Unique/Industry First:2
Overall:2
A poor offering and effort from Jovan here. I expected to smell much more oud, unless this is how Jovan wanted this oud to smell, it comes off as sour Oud, poorly done. This unfortunately isn’t even worthy of wearing to work, It doesn’t smell good enough, or decent enough. People will honestly think you’re wearing mosquito repellant.
kozins62 – :
It’s no bug spray. What an insult! Well, maybe on someone it is a bug spray, though.
On me it is a full blown ROSE! With a bit of agarwood and saffron. No patch on me, a bummer. The thing about this fume is that you think it vanished in 1 hour after initial spray, but hold oooooooooon. It stays and stays, and stays….for 12 hours. But it is a rose that stays, nothing else. If comparing with Agent Provocateur, which is saffron-Vetiver and a bit of rose on me, Jovan is a rose all the way. And it’s a sweet rose, tea rose-so to speak. I was surprised with the staying “power”.
перекись – :
I love oud but this is not oud. This is a bit chemical/harsh/alcohol/bug spray on the top. Lightly spiced, barely rose, similar to the Amber scent. Powders in the base. Lots of patch in the base.
Yurikogtr – :
Oud can be a real turn off especially in this day of “catch and release” top note oriented frags. People are not interested in hanging around for a scent to develope. I blind bought this, and I must report how pleased I am. It’s a spicy oud rose that reminds me just a tad of Robert Piguet Casbah. There’s an acohol bite that resides next door to the rose. The bite never really goes away. It cleans up the dirty oud and makes it wearable. I really like it and I want to see how it performs when our NOLA weather heats up. This is a great low cost option for the oud commitment-phobe.
dima0585 – :
Rose and oud. Fleeting hint of lemongrass, then strains of patchouli and sandalwood. Sharp rose scent stays throughout. Spray lightly, two or more sprays could offend those around you. Definitely try before you buy.
Waft – :
Intense Oud is a winner for me. I’m a huge Jovan fan in general and this is no disappointment. It’s a warm, rosy oud and reminds me very much of Wild Musk except that you can smell it for more than three minutes, lol, even if it’s not quite exactly intense. I love Secret Amber–it may actually be in my Top 5–and while I don’t adore this quite as much, it is also a very worthwhile autumn scent. It reads a very true unisex on me, not leaning feminine as SA does, and don’t be put off by the harsh opening as it settles down quickly. Fans of true, Middle Eastern oud perfumes may not be impressed with IO, but I feel like you could do a lot worse for a Western, $15 take on the concept. It just plain smells good.
timur0707 – :
For a few bucks what do you expect? Jovan’s Intense Oud isn’t that bad overall. I just don’t find that there’s much there after an hour or so. There seems to be some oud initially and the opening mix and first hour are pretty pleasant. Most noticeably I can smell oud and the labdanum I believe.
After the first wave of this things start to go downhill really. I don’t get much of the heart of the fragrance. I’m guessing you’d have to wear quite a bit. Not sure – I really didn’t have a large sample of this.
It’s 15$. Do with it what you will.
Stanger33 – :
Jovan Intense Oud was another scent that I recently retired to the off season shelf and will let rest for the next 6 months. It is a campfire, chuck wagon breakfast.
Probably most everyone reading this has smelled Jovan Musk and if you have not then the next time you walk through a discount or drugstore you can find a quick sampler and do a spray. I do not need to spend much time telling you how it smells.
Intense Oud has that signature Jovan Musk DNA of a strong heavy heady musk but it takes it into a new direction and you get the smoky oud. I have owned probably a dozen flankers of products from this Coty house and just when you think you are getting bored of them, they come out with a little jewel like Intense Oud.
Probably every fragrance fan has a nostalgia bottle in their collection and for me it is Jovan and its flankers. We did not have a lot of money growing up and my mother used to buy me Jovan musk and a few drug store scents of its ilk. She would often sneak into the bathroom and steal it and use it herself. Id gripe but it was ok because she made sure to never let either of us run out of it. And I knew she bought me things when she could have spent money on herself. We had boxes of cheap testers before it was cool to buy them on ebay. Maybe in an odd sort of way, when we could not afford a lot, Jovan was the signature scent for both of us. I can remember walking to school with Jovan Musk for men on like it was yesterday. My walk was longer than most and I never really liked it that much even then but it was what I had and my bottles never emptied and it was different than every other guy reeking of Polo Green or Drakkar. Thankfully the long walk let it settle down a bit before I arrived. Every time, Ive worn any Jovan it started off loud.
Over the years, Ive probably worn and owned all of the Jovan line. Coty has probably sold tens or hundreds of millions of these bottles and built one of the top 3 best selling fragrance brands on their backs and I think they now have 40 some odd fragrance lines in their portfolio. Of all of the Jovans, Intense Oud is the one that I feel is the best in house.
With Intense Oud you get that huge initial blast of Musk that you get with all of the Jovans. And it dominates the fragrance at the top for about 45 minutes. And then the grass and Oud come peeking through and the fragrance starts to feel a bit like being at a campfire. We are talking a complete synthetic experience here and you are going to get synthetic musk and synthetic oud. No deer or endangered trees were killed in the making of this fragrance and I am glad of it.
Intense Oud like all Jovan Musk fragrances has exceptional performance. These things do not go away and they last till you wash them off and they will push outward. I spray half as much with them and they still project, perform, and last like a beast. With Intense Oud, the oud part of the fragrance comes out in the mid and dies before the never ending musk takes over the base once again. Intense Oud, is smoky with depth and gives a different feel; but it isn’t as loud as most Ouds and it dances with the musk rather than fighting it. So perhaps some might object slightly to the best part of the fragrance living in the background a bit. There are ouds with screech and noise that are obnoxious and this is not one of them. In many respects, I like an oud with manners.
I actually wear this quite a bit and yet my bottle is hanging around over 85-90% full despite having owned it for 3 years. I do go light on the trigger and being a limited edition, I do suppose that I have hand drift away from it and towards other fragrances at times. But I do wear this more than the other Jovans. Its so good, I might never use up my current bottle of Jovan Musk for men and the quite decent Silky Rose bottle has been overlooked a few times. I own a backup bottle of Intense Oud and it is one of the few Jovans worthy of one. I thought about getting a second but I have Jovans clogging cabinets already and I just couldn’t do it. The bottles just seem to last forever. Still, this is the one in the line, that I hope to have a good while into the future and I secretly hope that I wont run out of this one.
Overall, I am going to grade this one out at 84 which is a half grade and a tick above silky rose. Jovan Intense Oud gets maximum points for performance, very good points for scent though I doubt that any Jovan will ever get an excellent from me, and it gets good points for value. Value is a mixed bag and I bought both of my bottles for about $12 each but this is a limited edition and its apparent that supplies are getting low and will rise in the future. About half the discount houses have ended inventory of this product and the other half have raised prices to the $15-$20 range and prices are going to continue a slow climb up just as they do with other discontinued scents. Again, this is one I want around for a long time and limited editions bug me if its a fragrance such as this one that I really like. Too many of our favorite ones get discontinued, leave the shelves never to be found again, unless one wants to troll ebay and pay 10X what a fragrance should be worth. Every fragrance fan has a sad panda story about a bottle they loved, wore, and emptied and cannot find again. To be honest about the matter, I gave this one a couple of brownie points in memory of my mom even if shes still not around to give me a couple of bottles for free. Right now, you can still buy Jovan Intense Oud for under $20 and that is the price range that let me give this one an 84.
I am not an oud fan at all but I actually enjoy the oud in this guy. It stays in the background and is smoky rather than medicinal and I think it gives Jovan Intense Oud a completely different look than any other fragrance from their house. I can put it on and instantly recognize that its a Jovan Musk and yet it has a western and outdoorsy feel that really appeals to me.
When you work on a ranch or farm, you occasionally will have a roundup or a harvest. And when you do, its all hands on deck. You have a limited time to get the crops harvested and if you cant get them in then its money left in the field. Usually the boss, owner, or foreman will hire a cook so that the hands can work without having to worry about taking time to come back to the bunkhouse or even take time to cook something to eat. And usually the cook will be given a budget to feed the hands. And to reward the cook for staying under budget the cook will be allowed to keep what they don’t spend. Its honestly, usually a nepotism deal and the cook is often a relative or friend of the boss in charge. And what that means is that you get beans. You get beans for breakfast, you get beans for lunch, and you get beans for supper. Still beans cooked over a fire and spiced right are different than what you get at Taco Bell and the rancher that serves the best beans sometimes gets the best hands. I don’t like beans much anymore and they have been too familiar in my life. And yet, sometimes you find some that are good.
There are a lot of people on these boards that write reviews about what fragrances movie stars might or might not have worn and try to suggest hints of feigned glamour or that wearing this or that scent makes them feel rich or valuable. And if spending a couple bucks a day makes you feel nice then its a good investment.
But Jovan Intense Oud is not one of those scents. Jovan is a fragrance line you can buy in drugstores, discount stores, and probably dollar shops as well. It is a wake up with the sun and some chill in your bones and a stiff back from sleeping on the ground kind of scent. Its loud and bold and proud of how it smells and it lets you know about it. And it can live in the glove compartment of an old Willys jeep next to some gloves and a zerk gun when you don’t have time to drive back to the headquarters.
On days you wake up, comb your hair once, shake your boots for scorpions and then put em on, eat a plate of beans, dust yourself off, and go to work with little time to debate which movie star wore what scent on what flick, this is a good fragrance.
Jovan will always be a lot too common for most people to enjoy or wear or wax endlessly nostalgic about with movie stars and plastic dolls of pretend glamour; but my mother loved Jovan and was proud to smell clean and nice and because she loved it so, then so do I. And sometimes, its easy to be happy and proud of eating a plate of warm beans and smelling of musk and campfire on a cold morning when you see a field of wheat and you know the work you are doing is going to feed the world.
Нимфа77 – :
Like it and will wear it. However, more like when I need some decaf coffee. From what I gathered here under Oud in notes section, real Oud has to be oil? Agarwood is really only a representation at best in western spray fragrances. This is why I started with some Al-Rehab Oud Attars (oil roll-ons). Indeed, I am a westerner, who admittedly loves a heavier fume. However, we are talking middle east perfumery so I had to learn how an oil works and in what amounts. Attars seem to warm with the body and actually grow stronger over time. They have massive sillage. Slowly I’ve come to adore these little 6ml powerhouses. They are excellent for me to dab on the wrists to really punch up whatever fragrance I have going on my chest. Jovan Intense Oud isn’t really going to show you what Agarwood is. A western perfume Oud isn’t middle eastern. Here it was a trend that is already become tiresome among perfumistas. In the far east it remains the standard. Summary, I see Jovan Intense Oud as a nice woody. It isn’t Dehn Al Oud or Sultan Al Oud and I don’t expect it to be. (you can get those long lasting perfume bomb attars for well under $10.) Give a real Oud time if you are from the west. We have western expectations. That is natural. Your first instinct may be to run. However, please avoid thinking of this as more than a representation of Agarwood. If the theory is correct, maybe a bottle of Jovan is a safe buy for Oud ‘light’ .. since the designer and niche fumes will also be western representations of the real oil.
dredsh – :
Oud and me – a love/hate relationship. This one is just light enough for me to appreciate. I love saffron and I love this scent on a friend of mine.
For those who are real oud lovers, this will probably be way too light. But if you are new to oud or warm Middle Eastern scents, you really ought to at least sniff this one. It is quite gentle for oud and I can smell a warmer resemblance to Al Rehab’s Musk al Medina, which I own and love. This does not have any citrus however, but a little powdery, haziness that is so cozy. Quite comforting.
Fair longevity and sillage. Unisex and gently niche.
Enlil – :
Rose with a little bit of oud that gets really sour after the opening & stays like that for an hour before calming down.
Nothing special.
Neutral. Not a like nor a dislike.
View167 – :
I detected warm scents of Off or Repel mixed with formaldehyde. Bleh. I felt like I was going to be inundated by chiggers any minute. This would be something great to spray on a chair leg that your dog won’t stop chewing on. Not for me. I’m disappointed because I read about this on a buy recommendation and there really aren’t any testers for this. At least it was only $10. If this is what Oud smells like then they can keep it.
viktoro25 – :
I’m not a big fan of Oud, but I like jovan musk alot for both males and females, so I thought I’d give this a try, the drydown is interesting, long lasting, but its not for me! had to give it away. I think this works well with layering, its cheap about $12, try it, it might work for you.
artistssa – :
After purchasing Cartier Declaration d’Un Soir and getting my nose more familiar to rose, I have to say that Jovan Intense Oud is a bad fragrance. Not too bad, but not acceptable. Too intense in the first, and do not last that much. It is like the fragrances that people used in middle east in 300 years ago. Not modern and not that pleasant. There is a faint synthetic oud smell here. I believe the better name for this product is the Intense rose.
Still you can gamble with your 10$. Maybe you like it more than me.
ATnON96 – :
Turkish rose and labdanum are delicious, with notes of camphorwood which is probably oud interacting with the lemongrass. More of a woody rose resin scent than an oud scent. There’s a powdery element but it isn’t baby powder and doesn’t detract for me, who usually dislikes powdery notes.
ma_mi_shytka_89 – :
Whoa. Just … whoa.
I totally get the Off! spray note at the beginning. It is one harsh and horrible burst of synthetic ech.
After the dry down, on my skin: it is all smoky pencil shavings after that, mixed with some kind of floral. There is also an undercurrent of Jovan White Musk For Men, which I always thought worked well with my chemistry. 3 sprays on my wrist lasted about 10-12 hours and there was a shower towards the end of that time period.
Intense Oud is not quite like anything else I have ever smelled. I can’t see myself wearing this to the office at all, but elsewhere? Maybe. Just maybe. I bought this one blind and I don’t regret it. Slightly brilliant.
polic2000 – :
If I was to name this fragrance, I would call it Intense Ow!
it is so strong even after drying down and applying quite sparingly.
I’ve tried mixing it with rose fragrance to see if that would help, but no such luck.
I really wanted to like this as I am excited and curious about oud and thought this will be a cheap way to see about it.
I know there is a pleasant scent in there, but it smells better spritzed on a piece of paper than it does on my wrist.
I will try a better quality oud perfume.
Not the top of the heap sort.
so many fragrances have oud in them, some are hard for me to locate and some are cost prohibitive for a blind buy.
my search continues.
seryikuhto – :
Love Jovan musk for men. Think amber is terrible. Wanted to love amber and oud but the oud was somehow even worse than the amber. To my nose, nothing reddening at all. Totally synthetic and harsh.
jakakaka – :
This smells exactly like Off bug spray to me. This was a blind buy and will be going back.
Perfoinfor – :
I bought this along with Secret Amber and Silky rose. There is oud in this but it isn’t the kind I like. It’s skanky kinda oud in my opinion. I get the lemongrass, rose, and saffron. The oud is the main player and it just isn’t that good. It’s the same oud used in Oudy by Al-Rehab. So basically it’s the barnyard/horse stables oud. If I would’ve known better then I would’ve saved my 7 bucks and invested it into a better oud. For example, CJ Scents makes a Rose Oud for around 20 bucks and it’s just miles better than this especially in quality. This stuff doesn’t really project and lasts a couple hours on my skin. When people say that you get what you pay for it’s true in some cases, like this one. I’ll wear it but I’m not gonna put on 10 sprays because I think this might offend people.
4/10
KemHergeBeamp – :
Being unisex I expected a certain amount of sweetness so I have combined this with M Generation by Mauboussin which is dry, in a ratio of 2 of this to 1 M Gen.
The result is like a niche perfume to me.
Tunoks1989 – :
Woody and rosy, combines with a slightly sharper notes of patchouli and lemongrass to bring you incense.
A sandalwood + rose incense of almost any brand is what I get from this, generic but not in a bad way. Kind of like walking into one of those odd little shops that contain clothes, strange hand-made items and have an incense stand tucked away in the corner and it perfumes the whole store.
It’s nice,
I would recommend a blind buy, It will cost you less than an average lunch.
alex__gera – :
On first spray I got intense rose and saffron in my nose ….. I felt a faint smell of lemongrass there. It was sweet, maybe because of saffron, or because of sandalwood. To be honest, I feel ashamed to go out with freshly sprayed “Intence Oud” on my arm. It is too feminine in first 15 minutes. Then the rose and saffron scent decrease slowly, but patchouli remained there and made it smell dirty. the final scent is the smell of soap. Soap with rose smell …..
Imagine you smell a rose that is grown in a patchouli garden. It is green, fresh, not clean, and warm scent.
Longevity on my skin is good. 6 hours maybe. projection is good for 2-3 hours.
For $10, it is a good fragrance. However, I cannot classify it in the fragrances that I like.
*****
Update:
I get more used to it recently. It is in my like category now. I don’t wear it in a day that I know i have to sit with many people, because I think it may not be a pleasant smell for many people. But I like it.
IRudenkov – :
I smell way more rose than I do oud. It’s more like an animalic rose scent. I do detect a hint of sandalwood providing some sweetness, which there is very little of.
It gets better as it goes along.
Very good fragrance for the price if you’re a fan of oud/rose fragrances, and a good starting point if you want to dabble in that category.
For $10 on Amazon you can’t really go wrong.
bychenkodima – :
I did my blind buy of this fragrance without consulting the review of Fragantica at all. I decided to take it because of the word OUD.
I ve just received it today/ It does not dissatisfy me at all. At my first inhaling, I suddenly found the intensity of OUD, not the saffron nor the lemongrass at all. I do mean its last note becomes its first note to my nose.
It smells so oriental woodsy and seems to take me into a harem.
I m wholeheartedly fond of this scent.
zgl286InsuffBooni – :
Ferdinand66 I am so happy you liked my review ; )
бурундуляка – :
Frankly, this is awesome for what it is! Woodsy and woody, herbal, slightly medicinal on me (that’s a pro and not a con), spicy, and well-layered in its development.
Even as cologne, it’s longevity is pretty good as it just gets closer to the skin. I think it would be a great one to layer as a primer once it dies down some, with something else also spicy or woodsy.
I never wore the original Jovan Musk so I can’t comment on how this compares to that one. In fact, this is my very first Jovan anything and I’m pretty pleased with it.
taller-fire – :
Just got mine today. I really loved it and I think it works with my chemistry.
Today I layered. Charlie Blue right out of the shower. Waited about 30 minutes and sprayed Oud on clothes and a little on wrists and neck.
Ordered all three – the Oud, the Amber, and the Rose. I loved the Oud but the others not nearly as much.
The Oud made me remembe why I like Knowing so much.
My only complaint about this is that it does not last very long.
gurza2007 – :
Spray this over Yatagan…WOW! GRRREAT COMBO!
tttt.vita – :
Rather odd smelling cologne. Not a fan at all.
macarav – :
I am really not a fan of this fragrance. Yes, Bonnie52, there is an off smell that could be taken as a BO smell. Not sure what it is. I don’t think this will be on the market for very long. I had very high hope as I usually love Jovan perfumes : (
kaa15 – :
I don’t know what to think of this scent as I have no idea what OUD is supposed to smell like. This sort of smells like a perfume that has gone over but at the same time it smells like an old wood pile. I don’t smell any floral or patchouli scent in it. I don’t know if I really like it or not. I keep smelling my arm, maybe trying to get used to the smell. I also got the Secret Amber one too….it is lovely! I may try layering them.
Does anyone else get a hint of BO in this?
realist78 – :
Woodsy sultry, muskiness smokiness – this is like a mix of Jovan for Men, Estee sensuous Noir (as another reviewer has mentioned) and a mix of KL and Giorgio Red on my skin. It is almost like a modernised 80’s oriental but with the more modern and fashionable patchouli/oud notes of today’s nose. This juice is very potent so the cologne is more like a high end EDP when first sprayed and it is rather brash and slightly chemical at first and resembled the aroma of horse-chestnut/badedas at first with a pine note. Once it mellows out it surrounds you in a cloud of mysterious sultry smoky notes – don’t smell close up until it dies down a bit as it will put you off at first it develops a sweet musky overtone and resinous balsamic/vanilla tones once it has warmed up. I have a feeling this may become my new winter replacement for the likes of Obsession/Imari it is destined to be worn in cold weather. The bottle is huge and the value is tremendous considering the 88ml bottle was shipped to me for a total cost of $11.99. If you love woody orientals and love Sensuous noir this is a must-try. I am intrigued by the Rose and Amber variants now and may have to track those down. Something in this smells strikingly similar to Estee Lauders Knowing and I keep getting blasts of sandalwood soap – the proper kind made with proper sandalwood essential oil. A very mysterious fragrance nothing like I have owned before.
33bit – :
LOVE LOVE LOVE this fragrance! I tried it for the first time last weaken but didn’t buy it as I had already bought Kenneth Cole Black. I will be going back tomorrow to purchase this. As a teenager, I wore Patchouli oil. This reminds me so much of it but better! I love those woody, resiny scents. This will definitely be one of my favorites!
Plerieglone – :
This is very sweet… more like amber and honey, with a little bit of oud. I guess I expected something more woody and green, but this is just a bit too sweet for my taste. When I first compared this with Jovan’s Secret Amber, the amber smells sweeter, but when I actually wear the perfumes, the amber one calms down, while the oud one stays very sweet – the amber one ends up smelling quite less heavy. Well, at least I got it for under $10
FilipBuketa – :
This is my second Oud Fragrance. I’m 2 for 2. I like Demeter’s Oud too. Jovan’s Oud is Fantastic!!! Reminds me of The Art Of Shaving Sandlewood. The Base notes are Sandlewood & Oud (A great Combo) I’ll be wearing this a lot. I just wish it was easier to find.
DanielVK – :
Intense Oud smells very oud in the beginning, but dries down to a very nice musky Oud. I applied two goodly sprays and the fragrance remains but is not overpowering, eight hours later. This definitely feels related to Jovan Musk For Woman, but it’s a good association. The comparison to Midnight Oud does not go amiss. Musk is not listed as an accord, here, but I definitely get that, and just a touch of rose accord. For people on a tight budget, I’d say this is a safe blind-buy (at under $10) for a beginning exploration of Oud.
The base of this perfume is definitely Jovan, and I don’t think that’s entirely a bad thing – I have a gorgeous aunt who wears Jovan Musk For Women and it’s a very good association for me, but it is certainly distinctive. If you dislike JMFW, you may not like this, either.
alex008371 – :
This seems to be an attempt to do Montale’s Black Aoud on the cheap, so to speak, and it succeeds wonderfully. Sure, it’s not as strong, but it is certainly strong enough! I just used a half spritz and that was fine. The rose note is mild as is the patchouli. The oud note is excellent at this price point, and there is no iso e super overload or any other use of synthetics that I find to be excessive. If you have not tried any oud scents before, this may smell medicinal and/or “chemical” to you, but that’s what this material smells like! I think I prefer Lanvin’s Oud and Roses scent, but that one reminds me of wormwood more than oud. I’m not sure what Jovan was thinking here – are they selling this in the Middle East? Do they think the scent aficionado demographic is now large enough to justify selling a really inexpensive version of Black Aoud? Wouldn’t they be the kinds of people who want “the best?” If you want a fairly good oud scent to fiddle around with and don’t want to spend more than $20 or so, this is certainly worth considering. Note that from what I understand, none of these “oud scents” contain more than a tiny and undetectable amount of real oud. If you want real oud then just buy oud itself. Otherwise, these kinds of oud scents are more like an impression of oud, at best.
UPDATE: I see some bottles on ebay for about $10 total still! If you want to spend $100-$200 more for a “better” rose/oud, go ahead, but the reviews for this scent (since my review above) are quite telling. Some say it’s gone in an hour, while others say it’s at least 12 hours! Some say it’s nothing more than bug spray, while others say it’s strong rose from start to finish. Some say there’s no oud note and others say it’s too strong. Obviously, this is a scent that is likely to confuse the “oud scent” newbie, possibly causing revulsion, but notice how most of these reviewers don’t tell you about other oud scents they’ve tried (possibly none!). It also is one that you can’t judge at first because at this price point you’re not likely to get the “beautiful” top notes that you pay an extra $50+ for if you buy the latest designer scent. People who expect more at this price point are deluding themselves, IMO. This scent is the proverbial gift horse; if you want to look it in the mouth it is to your own disadvantage!
kalan1969 – :
I guess there’s oud and then there’s oud. I just wish this one was actually more intense as the name suggests, but it is only a cologne and so I guess I really shouldn’t have expected a heavy hitter. I’m definitely not getting the staying power that other reviewers have mentioned. A pleasant enough perfume, but so far all the oud fragrances I’ve tried have left me non-plussed. This is no exception. Maybe oud ain’t for me.
yynnaa – :
A soft rose-oud cologne with modest longevity and sillage. Very dry, kind of a soapy quality, reminds me of Juliette Has a Gun Midnight Oud. I like some sugar with my oud so this one is not for me, but I think it will find a place in my significant other’s wardrobe–he helped himself to my sample vial of Midnight Oud a few months ago.
The soapy quality comes from the rose, I think. I’ve run into this accord a lot with rose perfumes, and it can’t be sweetened up through layering. It’s its own distinct scent.
Perfect for men or women. Couldn’t resist picking this up on eBay for $9 shipped.
Albann770 – :
Hurrah! To see Jovan Oud added to the database makes my day. Thank you, Fragrantica staff!
Personally, this seems to me the perfect beginner’s oud. This amazing little trio from Jovan is fast on it’s way to approaching cult status. I myself have a weakness for this Oud far more than the others in the trio. Why?
FIRST and most importantly, the note ‘oud’ agrees with my chemistry. If oud is not your note, you are not alone. I feel grateful, since this is one of the few popular notes that truly works well for me.
SECOND, Jovan’s take on oud is in no way truly intense. Trust me, there are ouds out there FAR stronger! What we have here is a well balanced, “introductory oud” – fully capable of layering and adapting to many tastes.
THIRD, of the three Middle Eastern themed Jovans, Intense Oud is the least sweet and the most unisex. Since so many women’s Arabian perfumes are terribly cloying on me, unisex Arabian scents are a better bet.
As perfumes go, I would call Intense Oud mildly sweet, with a gentle amber presence. But someone else might not notice the sweetness at all, owing to the loudness of oud on their particular chemistry. I appreciate thi