Let me put my mark in the sand and say...”Toot...toot! HYpe train starts here!!!” If I cared about being one of the first to declare that shit!!! In fact I actively don’t want people to like it therefore making it more exclusive and just for those in the know, and being part of the Opus line that’s where I suspect it will remain, in relative semi obscurity. I could be wrong though, because it’s so excellent it deserves high praise. Opus XI Opens up with a wet flint/stone almost dewy sensation of lush greens but you can instantly tell that is the calm before the storm and there is an awesome, dense base lurking underneath. Already it’s sharp and cutting yet somehow smooth and meditative. Basically the combination of a huge styrax note which is INCREDIBLE serves as a The darker more enchanted side of resins, which can usually run the gamete between cerebral or uplifting incense or leathery and sharp or dry amber to warm cuddliness. Styrax and oud In Opus XI are the perfect marriage for each other creating a highly medicinal and cutting fragrance but one which has a ton of depth even with the relative simplicity. I absolutely loved this stuff! Bold and in your face but balanced and refined too the best way to describe its vibes if you’re not familiar with this sort medicinal/resinous/oud smell is that of Gucci guilty absolute pour homme. Not just the almost antiseptic feel (Opus is way smoother and better BTW) but a natural sense, true resinous power delivered in a unique package. There’s something raw yet refined about it and it lasts and develops for many hours. I’ve always been a fan of the Opus series, they are kinda deliberately overlooked and more obscure than the main (his/hers) releases. The first six books if you like, were nice enough but the additional volumes have just got better and better, I remember describing Opus VII as like something Al Pacino would wear in that movie ‘Devils advocate’ (although I may have stolen that from someone who said it about a different fragrance & will still not be credited
I agree with the below reviewer. There are many things in here. Given that there is no oud in this perfume (at least it certainly doesn't smell like it), and that this is therefore an oud accord, that one note will in fact be a combination of many woods, woody ambers, possibly patchouli, possibly cypriol, who knows, and I definitely agree that there's sandelwood too. If the brand insists there's oud, they must be doing a Guerlain, putting homeopathic amounts in so they can say it's there. It's not an oud perfume, it's a scratchy woody-amber perfume. It's not bad, but it's probably the least wearable of this collection I've come across (although I haven't smelled them all). It's a scratchy, screechy aroma-chemical soup, and certainly seems like an acquired taste to my nose. "I shouldn't say this but it's kind of a fake oud" - Pierre Negrin interview on Amouage's YouTube channel Update: 99% identical to Gucci Guilty Absolute, and 100% identical in the drydown.