{"product_id":"ramon-monegal-soul-of-oud","title":"Ramon Monegal Soul of Oud Extrait de Parfum","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhat it smells like\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRamon Monegal Soul of Oud is an amber-woody extrait de parfum and one of the two pillars of the house's My Ouds quartet. It opens on cashmeran, nutmeg and coriander — an unusual top for an oud fragrance, because cashmeran is not a fresh material at all. It is a musky, woody, faintly ambery synthetic that behaves like a warm cashmere blanket, and starting there means Soul of Oud never has a bright phase. Nutmeg and coriander add a dry, dusty spice over the top, more like an opened spice drawer than a curry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe heart is where the money is: two distinct ouds, Assam and Padong Laos, alongside rose. Assam oud is the Indian style — leathery, animalic, slightly barnyard, deep. Padong Laos oud is drier, sweeter and more resinous, with a honeyed woodiness. Layering the two gives the heart a dimensionality a single oud cannot, and the rose sits across both, adding jamminess and lifting the animalic edge into something floral. Wearers commonly report a chocolate facet at this stage, which comes from the way the dark oud resin reads against the rose and the vanilla waiting below.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe base is vetiver, amber and vanilla: earthy roots, warm resin, sweet cream. As an extrait, this projects strongly for the first two or three hours and then settles into a dense skin scent that is still clearly present twelve hours later, and on clothing for days. One spray is a decision.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWho made it\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSoul of Oud was composed by \u003cstrong\u003eRamon Monegal\u003c\/strong\u003e and released in 2017 as part of My Ouds, a four-fragrance set in which he works through agarwood from different angles — Soul of Oud, Oud on Fire, Ocean Oud and Alhambra Oud. His own note for it reads as a fable: wild oud wood planted in damp earth of musk, nourished with chocolate sap and held up by vetiver roots.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe describes the result as powerful, imaginative and sensual, and calls it the quintessence of oud.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWho it's for\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is for people who already know oud and want a European interpretation of it. It is not a Middle-Eastern-style mukhallat and it is not a designer \"oud\" with a token woody note — it is a genuine two-oud composition built in the Western pyramid tradition, which makes it richer than most and more structured than a traditional attar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you like rose-oud but find them thin, this is the dense version. If you are new to oud entirely, start with a sample: the Assam facet is animalic and takes acclimatisation. It is unisex, though the weight of it skews slightly masculine in wear. Note also that Soul of Oud and Oud on Fire share an opening — the house's own framing is that Soul of Oud then turns chocolatey and floral while Oud on Fire turns smokier and woodier, so choose accordingly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eWhen to wear it\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSoul of Oud is a cold-weather, night-time fragrance. Winter and late autumn suit it best; in summer heat the oud and amber can become overwhelming within minutes. It is made for dinners, evenings out, special occasions and any setting where a heavy fragrance is appropriate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eApply sparingly: one spray to the chest or a single dab at the wrist is enough for a full evening. Because it is an extrait de parfum, the concentration does the work, and over-application is the most common complaint people have about fragrances of this density rather than a fault of the composition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eAbout the house\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRamon Monegal is a Barcelona perfume house founded by the fourth generation of Spain's most important perfuming family. His great-grandfather's drugstore led to the founding of Myrurgia in 1916, and Ramon trained inside the family company from 1972 before studying with Artur Jordi Pey at Firmenich in Geneva, Marcel Carles in Grasse and Pierre Bourdon in Paris. He spent some thirty years as Myrurgia's in-house perfumer, and when the company was sold in 2000 he stepped away from corporate perfumery to work independently, launching his eponymous house later that decade. Literature is his stated inspiration after nature, which is why every fragrance is housed in the same faceted inkwell flacon with his monogram embossed on the flip-top cap: one vessel, many stories. Soul of Oud Extrait de Parfum is available at Redolia Perfumery as a full 50 ml bottle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n","brand":"Ramon Monegal","offers":[{"title":"1.7 oz (50 ml)","offer_id":54459703623996,"sku":"8436543920383","price":365.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0987\/7078\/0476\/files\/ramon-monegal-soul-of-oud-white-1.jpg?v=1790431601","url":"https:\/\/redolia.com\/products\/ramon-monegal-soul-of-oud","provider":"Redolia Perfumery","version":"1.0","type":"link"}