No 38 Oud Wood

Tom Ford's Oud Wood helped popularise smooth, Westernised oud in mainstream perfumery, and No 38 follows that exact template: a spiced rosewood-cardamom opening moving into an oud-centred heart and a vanilla-tonka base. The structure is faithful and the cardamom spice is well judged. The main gap is in the oud itself, which reads softer and less resinous than Tom Ford's accord, and in how quickly the vanilla-tonka base takes over, pushing the scent sweeter and less woody than the restrained original. It's a warm, cosy, easy-to-wear interpretation of the oud-wood genre rather than a precise match, and performs adequately for a few hours of close wear.