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Velmok – :
Shams Oud to me smells very similar to a sauna. It smells like wet wood and hot rocks. I love the scent and the performance is great. This one has been high on the want list and I’ll definitely get a bottle as soon with my next purchase. I’m just waiting to consume some of the bottles in my collection first.
This isn’t a mainstream fragrance by any means.
BaronKuzma – :
The most highly rated and beloved of the MEMO perfume line is this breathtakingly gorgeous peppery wood fragrance that immediately transports you to Middle eastern lands. The key thing to note here is that in spite of its name, this is not an Oud-centered perfume. The Oud is there and of very nice natural extraction but it is completely enveloped by a spice mix comprising of pepper, saffron and ginger. In addition, as the perfume settles you will discover notes of cypriol, labdanum, birch, tonka and tolu balsam. The perfume is very reminiscent of incense that is burnt in mosques and is a somewhat of a beast mode perfume. Sillage/projection are tremendous like most MEMO offerings and longevity very good as well. The good news is the perfume quietens a bit with the passage of time but this can be several hours. One for bold, unafraid and brazen personalities, this is modern perfume mastery of the highest order. Perfect for wintry days where it just immediately envelopes you in a spicy warmth. Enjoy!
Nekroman – :
I’m glad to finally try out Memo Shams Oud as it has a good reputation in the fragrance community. Slightly spicy hints of ginger and pepper in the opening give way to a blend that’s sweet and woody, mainly,the resins of labdanum and tolu balsam taking center stage, flanked by vetiver and oud on onside and the curious tonka on the other.
After the initial spicy blast, it’s noticeably sweet throughout its life, primarily due to the resins but also the tonka lend its signature sharp sweetness, and this group contrasts the oud and vetiver and keeps the whole blend in homeostasis.
It’s sweet, woody, creamy, and slightly earthy. Pretty pleasant and unisex, though I figure this to be a cold weather fragrance more than a warm weather fragrance.
Shams Oud is a great performer, strong on projection and even better on longevity. At relatively standard pricing for the line of $250 for 75ml, though, it’s surely in the category of one needing to love it in order to buy it. I do think I love it but am not sure I’m in need of that much juice for this fragrance in particular, which would fit in among an assortment of quasi-similar resinous cold-weather-ideal scents.
8 out of 10
asc887speagoessenda – :
Strong pepper in the opening. Then a warm, earthy, slightly woody and sweet resinous mix – mostly tonka, styrax, labdanum and balsams. The oud is minor. This mixes with the pepper to create a warm, comfortable scent. There’s something a little camphoraceous, almost minty, like a touch of lavender – is that the cypriol? Shams Oud reminds me of those warm and spicy men’s scents, but without the awful “men’s cologne” accord that they all seem to have. Like Memo’s Moon Fever, the tonka is strong on me. In the drydown, without the spices, it doesn’t smell very unique, but it still smells good. There’s something in the base that reminds me a lot of Tom Ford’s Tobacco Vanille – probably the sweet tonka. I wouldn’t buy a full bottle, but I will enjoy my sample! Like.
mikola – :
Beautiful dry, almost dusty in the opening. The opening is a burst of pepper and labdanum, tinged with the saffron so prominent in African Leather. A dry smokey oud is there from the beginning. As others have mentioned, this is a very woody, non funky oud.
After a few hours, this begins to mellow and become more cozy. I have no problem getting a solid 8 hours of longevity.
I find this to be a very manly and a bit daring scent that stands out from the usual cast of freshers, while not going to far down the “funky” route.
Bastion – :
@gtabasso: I don’t fully understand your comment that this is “a real oud without the barnyard piss and with all the smoke and ash”. I have lived in Saudi Arabia before, with a lot of exposure to Oud in all it’s forms and varieties (oil, wood chips or in mukkhalat, and coming from China, Thailand, Brunei or PNG, e.g.). Currently, I work in Malaysia, again with lot of opportunities to smell “Oud”. Now, I wouldn’t say I am an expert but there are so many different scent profiles that you can’t say there is one real Oud smell. The most important thin is first to distinguish between the note of Oud wood and smoke and Oud oil. I have never come across burned Oud that smells barnyardy. However, Oud oil, especially e.g. Hindi Oud can have this scent profile. On the other hand, I find Thai Oud for example to be more green-ish and sweet… Just my 2 cents 🙂
Shams Oud is a beautiful spicy fragrance with, to me, just a little hint of burnt Oud chips. I actually get more frankincense out of it then Oud. Nevertheless, for lovers of spicy scents this shwould be perfect!
Qerdf3eererdf – :
Absolutely love this fragrance. I bought African Leather by Memo and received a sample of this fragrance. I was pretty biased when I first put it on. However when I gave it about 20-30min to settle down, I faced an absolute beauty of ginger, clean vetiver, some other spices I just can’t name. For the next 3-4 hours the smell turns even more peppery on my skin, revealing all the beauty of Saffron, almost little harsh but still goes with undertones of earthy oud smell. Oud is always at the center of all notes, which is very earthy, deep, dry oud.
Given its olfactory profile, this is an underrated piece of art. I kind of wish it does stay that way too. This can be a signature scent. I’d wear it at cold night with some light breeze, this can turn into delight.
Demyen – :
Shams Oud is a dry yet resinous and perfectly “warm” scent. It opens with gorgeously high quality saffron, along with some ginger and toned-down pepper. The opening is just breathtaking in its dry beauty.
The next stage of the fragrance is where the resins and oud take over. The oud accord (I’m not sure if it is authentic oud, but it is beautiful regardless) is wood/smokey…. no cheese or barnyard nuances to speak of. In this sense the oud reminds me of Tom Ford’s Oud Wood. But the absolutely stunning resins in this fragrance separate it and differentiate it from any further comparisons to Oud Wood.
About 4 hours into this magical journey, the tonka comes to the forefront and blends splendidly with the resins, creating an absolutely intoxicating, narcotic dry down.
An absolutely stunning unisex fragrance and a must-try for any fan of balsamic fragrances.
dimonis_best – :
Memo Paris is one of my favorite perfume houses, and this one is gorgeous! Shams means ‘sun’ in Arabic, and this is inspired by the god Mithras and his golden chariot carrying the sun across the sky. Its warm. bright oud accord is luxurious and tells the story with touches of saffron, ginger and pepper mixed in – colors of the changing light. I put it on, and was overwhelmed with how fantastic this smells. Layered with dazzling resins, I couldn’t get enough! Good sillage and longevity – I want a bottle now!
Mafik777 – :
Holy mother and father of all ouds. This is one of the best ouds on the market! Wow. It is a real oud without the barnyard piss and with all the smoke and ash. My second fave after Boadicea Complex. Kilian Incense Oud is another fave this is up there with. This dries down to a lovely church incense. I put it on at 4. At 11:30 p.m., it’s still going strong. When I got warm in a hot theater, I thought I was going to knock everyone out around me.
eev001InsuffBooni – :
I just realized.. This is one of the only oud fragrances that smells like Japanese aloeswood incense!
igors1009 – :
Beautiful oud and a majistic shred of wood burning slowly on a peice of coal ..
10 minutes later .. smells like RUST.
I don’t know how and why but it happend.
Shocking turn of events.
newlas – :
Best oud scent I’ve ever smelt! Reminds me the days when I was in Tibet and Nepal. I feel I’m a god from Chinese or Tibetan mythology. Be in despair of wanting a full bottle immediately..
Lexx899 – :
A basic, smokey oud, withuot barnyard or animalic overtones; nor medicinal as some pure oud oils are. A tad smokey, a tad “masculine” (in the conventional western sense; the more get into fragrances, the more I am realizing what a time- and culture-bound concept rating fragrances as male/female or day/night fragrances really is).
It smelled almost like the finer of the pure oud oil samples I had purchased from Agar Aura and smelled at an oud bar weeks prior. But: it wore off very quickly on me. I tried it on three different occasions,including different times of day, under and over clothes, overnight vs at work, etc. It didn’t stay on me at all. Literally 30 sprays across my body of this were dwarfed two hours in by one spray of Luxor Oud I had applied to a scarf I wore all day (made by, I believe the same company [I have yet to re-try that one and write a proper review: I had the one spray on a scarf by accident; I wouldn’t usually confuse perfumes before buying/rating].) I was disappointed and mystified, because it had seemed like a clear, true, good-quality., nieither-too-subtle nor too-rank oud to use as an undergarment for other fragrances, as the bass layering piece in oud or leather that I am hunting for at the moment. Sad sillage, nonexstant longevity, good smell.
I am shocked that the grafrance pyramid reveals so many notes. While I wouldn’t call Shams oud ‘one’-note’ as an insult, I felt one of its strengths was how direct and pure of an oud smell it is. I would never have guessed all those other scents in it–and, like I say, have smelled pure oud oils that are equally or more complex than this scent.
I couldn’t sense the ginger at all. If you want ginger and oud, try Oud Rideaux by Cartier, their new 6-fragrance oud line.
I sampled more than several dozen oud fragrances aat the boutique I had made a 4 hour two-way fieldtrip to get to, and out of the dozen or so that I had made into little spray samplers for home, this was one of the two that I actually dared spray on my arms (one per arm) before leaving the store. Unlike the montale arabie oud, which changed on me, this one didn’t. It stayed put and has never seemed offensive to people near me or coworkers, even though I am pretty sure they can smell it. It is unisex/non-human enough that it might even smell like I live in some wonderfully scented Zen dojo and the smell impregnates my hair and body.
But it is a disappointing ud, surpassed by other ouds by the same fragrance house, and certainly by ouds even by Tom Ford–who has made great fragrances bu which I look down on a little bit as they are mainstream and being a snob comes easily.
klinoke – :
You smell all of the pepper oil,ginger oil, saffron, and hint of floral. If you are a fan of peppers and ginger which gives a very strong fragrance and last thru out the day. Fall/winter, day and night and unisex.
Sachaadolleasp – :
What am I missing here? The one star of the Memo line I should have liked ends up smelling like Frankinsence and spices.
I’m also detecting a lot is iso e super. The ISO came to life on my skinafter I washed it off.
_4yBAK_ – :
Scent – oud, pepper & labdanum.
Season/Time of Day – I prefer to use this one in the colder months, day or night.
Projection – I didn’t get noticed, I didn’t get a compliment.
Longevity – I get 12hrs consistently.
gesyor – :
I just ordered a full bottle of this lovely after sampling it for the last week. I think this one of those unique scents that stands out with flying colors from most other ouds on the market. First of all, it´s not a typical oud, but is quite boozy/woody and stronger on the labdanum and tolu balsam.
It´s extremely pleasant throughout, from application to drydown. Initially it´s fruity and has some smoky notes that quickly disappear and leave the fragrance to evolve further with notes of pepper and vetiver. But then the labdanum, oud and tolu balsam kick in, making it a long lasting feast on my wrist. This is truly quality perfumery!
Shams means “sun”, and it makes sense, this is a sunny oud, like a warming smile! It has woody qualities, but enough spice and SUN to turn itself into so much more than an oud, a woody or a spicy fragrance. The way this is composed and put together makes it one of my top five, can´t wait to receive my full bottle!
Highly recommended! (Even if I have smelled others since writing this critique and it´s not among my top five anymore).
8/10
liontiv – :
Shams Oud is a real knockout and top marks for creative vision, I can’t recall smelling a fragrance like this?
Shams opens with the full on might of the rest of this line, definite oud quality with a balsamic warmth and pepper sharpness. This is an onslaught, a total envelopment of quality ingredients like saffron and oud taking on that strange, other worldly smell. The top notes remain and I get a definite spicy sweetness like clove/cinnamon/ginger throughout this fragrance which along with the deep resins and precious woods make Shams oud a very special brew indeed.
I only tried this in store first on a card then on my skin, so I need to get a proper sample to wear. However I wrote the review because I was dying to comment on this wonderful stuff. Still far too much money to shell out for one of these and far too much juice in the bottle for me.
For the record I do have full test size samples of Moon Leather (not in the database yet), African Leather and maybe a couple of others so I have the opportunity to see if they stack up. My opinion of Memo from what I have tried is pretty high though.
kighgloro – :
Really great woody-oriental. Not your typical oud fragrance. Feels spicy & dry-woody, no harsh/medical oud here.
I think it’s lovely and sophisticated. Love the spicy sweetness in it – almost like a sweet cinnamon on a background, but it’s just a play of ginger, cloves and pepper. Well done.
Aerohopleneribir – :
Shams Oud is a wonderful fragrance with birch wood, pepper, amber, incense and a very tame oud. It’s not dark, brooding or medicinal, but it has a sort of clean, freshness to it like a newly built outdoor altar burning incense to the gods. After a few hours this perfume still has a strong presence on my skin as the sweetened wood scent dries with a creaminess that continues to hover on the top of my skin for over 10 hours. It’s a gorgeous, classy scent for both men and women.
roma1020 – :
This is a resinous and charred take on oud with a slight medicinal bite. Lots of spices upfront, but for the most part, it’s a dry, scratchy labdanum. It’s also extremely strong.
It starts forcefully with a blast of black pepper drowns out the resins, but soon after the balsam and the labdanum peek through. The oud accord is tricky to pull out as it’s wrapped tight around the vetiver, and the two notes sit a little too close. The initial impression is one of earthy, dark tones — very resinous, smoky, and dry. It’s pleasant enough, but frankly, quite unoriginal. Epic Man and La Fumee are doing something very similar to this.
Soon enough, Shams mellows out and the pitch drops down a few decibels. It becomes a tad more sweet, but overall, it maintains its labdanum / balsamic structure and doesn’t really change that much. But that’s true with many scents in this style because they’re already dominated by notes that are commonly considered to be base materials (balsams, vetiver, cedar, labdanum etc), and what you get toward the beginning is probably going to resemble what’s still on your skin ten hours later, which, for the most part, is the case with this one.
So, it’s very tenacious and very durable, but very static. The problem I have with these kind of scents is that they’re limited in what they can convey and they don’t distinguish themselves very well from each other. The key is keep them from going too muddy, and shams just about manages that. The downside is that you really do feel like you’re wearing a base in need of a perfume, so you have to resist the temptation to spray something over the top of it. Shams isn’t that oudy, but it’s dense and earthy. For it’s genre it’s fine, but it doesn’t provide any new thrills.
Shkalik – :
If there’s oud in this I honestly can’t smell any. Seems to be more of an impression based on the other notes to be honest.
The opening to “Shams” is a powerful spicy blast of black pepper and fresh zesty ginger, but this quickly evaporates into a powdery, oily meld of cypriol, styrax and tolu balsam. Picture an old church, with beams of warm sunlight streaming through the windows, illuminating clouds of dust and incense settling upon the empty pews.
The warm ambery incense reminded instantly of “Akkad” by Lubin, only with less vanillic sweetness.
30 mins in, the woods fade, but the powdery smokiness remains and things feel much more subdued, sweet and unisex. It wears like this for several hours, fairly close to the skin.
Its beautiful, very atmospheric, and in my opinion, better than “Akkad” as the spices and woods give it a more manly substance. If you like the smell of churches, you will love this. But if you’re looking for oud, it ain’t here.
Valdes61 – :
This is too strong for my nose but I really like the scent. reminds me of going to catholic church on a sunday! the oud is dominant and the pepper sharpens the whole product. really oriental, try it out!
demergi – :
Pleasantly strong, pepper and oud blend evenly. To try.
flopexina – :
I used but my husband also used this.Thıs ıs really unisex fragrance and very strong.I thınk ı will not buy again
sahil_84 – :
With this scent i imagine myself being in Indonesia on the stairs in front of a enormeous Boedhhatempel or on a temple square where they have just lit incense.
Wonderful blended, long lasting and beautiful quiet drydown!
mafiya – :
Shams is quite an interesting take on the modern-oriental theme. It opens with a very “contemporary” pepper/ginger accord immediately joined by dry-earthy woody/mossy notes (vetiver/nagarmotha), spices and oud. The overall effect is remarkably stark, energizing and balmy at the same time and brings to mind of a successful mash-up bewteen a trendy masculine (such as Bang/Terre) and a more classic oriental a-là Pure Oud by Kilian. Tonka beans and amber start lurking in the back providing some sweetness to balance the harsh opening. In this phase Shams reaches its peak of charme. It’s bold but not overpowering, solid and modern, distinctive yet easy to wear. While it’s not a sillage monster, it still projects quite nicely.
After a couple of hours or so, oud begins to fade and merges with a moderately sweet labdanum/ambery that takes over till the end (which occurs at 10+ hrs). Overall I’d rank Shams among the most easily approachable oud-based compositions around. Its modern structure makes of it a valid option for anyone looking for a different take on the oriental theme. Very nice.
Rating: 7/10
yuriy030579 – :
I first smelled Shams when a SA sprayed it on a test strip – it smelled wonderful! There was pepper and tonka bean together with oud, ginger and some balsamic notes.
On my skin it was different. Still interesting but a lot sweeter than on paper. It seemed like there were gallons of honey in Shams, clinging to my skin for at least 6 hours.
It was rich and warm, I constantly thought of the colour red, heat and embers. In this respect, Shams is the perfect name as it is Arabian for “sun”.
I learned not to judge a perfume without trying it several times. So I revisited Shams again and again. This is the result:
– the start is spicy and a bit medical (the typical oud smell). The oud is predominant for the first hour. Nice.
– After one hour Shams starts to resemble Manoa. Still nice but a bit lame.
– After 2 hours you get vanilla and this is mostly it.
I am sure there are other vanilla scents worth trying and a lot of oud fragrances that are better than Shams (take a look at the Montale series or the Arabian nights series by Kilian).
Shams IS nice but not earth shattering.
Mr.babs – :
This is an absolutely gorgeous seductive scent that starts of as a musky peppery fragrance and after about half an hour you start to get the ginger coming through and also the sweet, smokey luscious smell of vetiver. You do not need much of this perfume and it really does last and is a very seductive, sexy fragrance that will have people asking you what that fragrance is as it is very unusual and throughout the day will change slightly in a good way during the dry down and as the hours pass by. This fragrance will easily last a good 5-8hrs without needing to respray and will last the next day minimum on clothes or on your bedding Lol! Yes it is pricey but you don’t need much and you won’t forget you have it on either because of the subtle change in the fragrance throughout the day. I don’t have much of this left but when I have saved a few more pounds I will buy the 75ml size as that will last for ages. It’s definitely not for the fainthearted this is for the person that wants to ooze classiness, sexiness and class and wants to tempt people and get them to notice who they are but with subtlety at the same time xxx
коля доля – :
Shams became a member of my collection 😉 about a month ago. In my opinion it’s a quite special oriental fragrance (I do not think it’s delicate at all…) starting with a wonderful strong peppery blast with saffron and indeed subtle and not at all harsh or medicinal oud. It’s a very strong fragrance and on my skin it lasts forever. The perfumer advised wisely to use it in autumn/winter time because it might be to much for spring/summer weather. My collection is quite big, but I think that Shams will become one of my better colder months fragrances 😉
otsey – :
I was expecting typical Arabian perfume full of oud, roses and dust. Surprisingly it is very delicate and full of light fragrance. The oud and saffron are prominent from the start to the end but they are very well balanced and none is harsh. There is also sweetness in this fragrance as an echo from vanilla and tonka beans. I can classify Shams as a woody delicious. However I like it a lot there is one problem. Sadly it doesn’t last on my skin longer than one hour. After that time the only little sweetness remains and it is detectable if you sniff your skin. Shams is good to have it in the collection if you love perfumes but it is not worth money if you are looking for strong oriental one.