Black Oud London
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Absinth crashes in with herbal austerity, immediately undercut by something damp and fungal—the mushrooms establishing themselves as the true disruptor. Within moments, that vinegar note sharpens everything into an almost pickle-like acidity, herbaceous and deliberately off-putting, as though Meshell is asking whether you're truly ready for what follows.
The tuberose emerges wounded, its creamy florality corrupted by earthy papyrus and the persistent mushroom damp. Here the leather-like base notes begin their creep upward, creating an unsettling dialogue between floral sweetness and something akin to worn hide, whilst the spice builds—not warming, but rather prickling against skin like static electricity before a storm.
Precious woods anchor everything into a dusty, terracotta-hued base where that leather note becomes almost skin-like in its intimacy. The fragrance dries down to something predominantly woody and earthy, the floral elements now merely whispers, whilst that vinegar sharpness fades to a distant acetic memory, leaving you with something austere and mineral, closer to a handful of cool soil than anything conventionally beautiful.
Notorious Gold arrives as a deliberate provocation—a fragrance that refuses the comfort of familiarity. Christi Meshell has constructed something genuinely strange here, a composition where the typically ethereal tuberose is dragged through damp earth and rendered unsettling by the peculiar inclusion of mushroom notes. That fungal element transforms the opening's absinth bite into something almost medicinal, herbaceous in a way that feels slightly fermented, as though you've wandered into a Renaissance apothecary during a particularly humid August.
The genius—or perhaps the audacity—lies in how Meshell pairs precious woods with snake leather and terracotta to create a skin-like, almost corporeal quality. This isn't a fragrance that hovers above you; it adheres, becomes tactile. The spicy undertones (88% accord strength speaks volumes) emerge not as warmth but as a subtle prickling sensation, papyrus contributing papery dryness that clashes deliberately with the fleshy tuberose. There's vinegar here too, that pungent note that most perfumers hide—here it's front and centre, sharpening the composition into something acidic and challenging.
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3.5/5 (265)