When I received a new bunch of samples and I read the name of the house SoOud I had to stifle a yawn. After a year off in 2010 it seems like the perfume trend wheel has turned back again to oud. I will be writing lots of reviews of oud fragrances over the next few months, most surprisingly this won’t be one of them. Despite the name of the House being SoOud only two of the seven fragrances rely on Oud as a note. Of those seven fragrances it was one of those that did not feature oud which I found the best, Hajj.
The perfumer behind SoOud is Stephan Humbert Lucas and on the SoOud website he describes this collection of fragrances as:
“I am like Rousseau with his naïve paintings, much less nomadic. I love to shut myself up in my studio creating beautiful things. In this way I am free to interpret the object desired, to deform it without fear of compromise. Here then are my particular, hippy, or anarchic creations”
Hajj feels more hippy than anarchic but that is fine because it is hippy that has gone on to afford some beautiful things while still maintaining it’s free spirit. What I am particularly happy to see is that M. Lucas manages to create a very Oriental fragrance without relying on the crutch of Oud to create the exotic nature. In Hajj M. Lucas uses all the classic architecture of an Oriental but energizes it in unusual ways and that keeps it lighter than many Orientals out there.
To start a gentle application of star anise is paired with sweet citrus in the presence of tangerine. It creates a sweet spicy opening. The heart contains a more full-blooded licorice which intensifies the star anise from the top. A light rosewood and ginger complement the licorice. I have been told in a number of press materials for lesser fragrances that ginger is supposed to add an “energizing” aspect. In those fragrances what that usually means is ginger is all you can detect. In Hajj the ginger actually does add some energy to the heart and bridges Hajj to the base beautifully. That base is patchouli, tobacco, and vetiver and as heavy as that might sound M. Lucas keeps it as light and energetic as what has come before.
SoOud Hajj has average longevity and average sillage.
I have to say I really came to enjoy wearing Hajj because it felt like the antidote to Oud overload or as I called it the Anti Oud. M. Lucas stayed true to his inspiration but made Hajj feel like something different at the same time, well done!
Disclosure: This review was based on a sample provided by First-In-Fragrance.
-Mark Behnke, Managing Editor