L’oudh opens with an inky, raw leather note that’s smoky and soaked in spilled gasoline. Eschewing the traditional accompaniments of rose or amber, there’s nothing here to soften the bluntness of the oud, but it still comes across as smooth, with an oily or buttery texture. The metallic facet of Laotian plantation oud gives L’oudh a cool industrial vibe that suits the Tauer aesthetic very well. But what’s really impressive is that while the L’oudh is certainly animalic, the oud note is not at all sour or fecal. Instead, the accompanying materials have been cleverly chosen to accentuate and draw out the smokier leather and tar notes of oud, rather than its funk. Thus, castoreum emphasizes the warm, rubbery facet of oud, cypriol its inky smokiness, and Java vetiver its brooding, rooty character. L’oudh is an essay in darkness, as black and as unfathomably deep as a tar pit. Despite the darkness, however, L’oudh feels comfortable and lived-in, like a beloved black leather jacket that’s been to a few campfires in its day. Which is, of course, part of what makes L’oudh so phenomenally sexy.
