Not a lot of saffron or incense in this at all. My humble opinion...It's oud and guaiac wood no sweetness there and nothing to lift it. It's really good if you like the smell of agarwood don't get me wrong...Longevity and projection are massive. A dark, strong, dank, woody smell but it's not great and certainly not worth the money. What I love about MFK OUD is the saffron and patchouli are totally evident and make an actual perfumers composition...a piece of art if you will. It's one thing being minimal but this is just lazy and the only way the price tag could be justified is if the finest Oud has been used. I don't know if that is the case? I find the mark up on By Kilian has a lot to do with the packaging...I mean the bottles are nice sure but not THAT NICE! The refills are quite reasonably priced if you enjoy the scent, I'd just get them. Not this one though there's a bewildering array of more imaginative Oud based scents out there. Shame too because I've quite liked By Kilian perfumes so far. Listen to the wise words of @jht4060 below and you won't go far wrong.
Pure Oud has to be one of my favourite fragrances from Kilian, although the name is a bit misleading. It obviously doesn’t contain real oud, but if you were expecting that from Kilian then that’s on you for the most part. If you can accept that fact, it smells brilliant. A dry, earthy oud accord is used here, furthered by the dry papery-ness of guaiac wood. To contrast, you’ve got some rugged balsams and a powerful blast of sweet saffron and cypriol which is intensely dark, rich and oily with subtle apple-y nuances. It does come off rather sharp and medicinal, but it smells absolutely fantastic. This definitely isn’t a scent which anyone could enjoy, it’s clearly made for a very specific sort of taste. That oud/cypriol combination is very polarising, but nonetheless is a combination I absolutely love. I would buy this if it wasn’t for the obscene price tag.