(RARE) Ensar Oud - LILY GRIS - 50ml - 2023 London Oudfest Exclusive

Description: "I SHALL WALK AMONG THE LILIES OF THE FIELD AND LEAVE MY TRAIL IN STARDUST." Lily Gris (Abu Yog) by Ensar Oud Crafted With: Blue Lotus, Abu Yog Oud, Orange Blossom, Jasmine Tea, Tobacco, Saffron, Cambodian Oud, Myrrh, Rose, an ensemble of precious oils. - Extremely limited September 2023 micro batch production, likely less than 20 bottles produced in the world. Available only during the 2023 London UK Oudfest from Ensar Oud and sold out completely. One of his most stunning creations. - Hand numbered bottle #12 - Features EO Platinum Abu Yog oud oil (see below) - See photos for fill level - Includes box and cap - 50ml size - Original first release -----MANUFACTURER DESCRIPTION:----- Iris is one of my many obsessions. But those who know me know the love I have for lilies. The challenge is that while iris offers you an actual extract to work with, lily – much like gardenia – is a subject of great craft and imagination. And imagination is where the perfumer truly abides. It’s easy to put out a scent pyramid that reads like one of a million bucks, but to evoke gardenias out of jasmine and tuberose, to craft the perfect ambergris accord or to give sandalwood the heft and volume of rose – these are different matters altogether. There are two types of lilies in perfumery. One of them is the woodland lily-of-the-valley. The other is my great love, famously presented to you in avant-garde self-destructive fashion in compositions like Mystical Lotus and Blue Kalbar. But while Mystical Lotus was full-on blue lotus, the secret to this composition was to strip the blue lotus of its blue and turn it toward the valley – this requires the same olfactory feat that mutes the purple facets of iris and turns them white. Here, the hedonistic carnality of the blue butteriness of the water lily must sacrifice itself to give life to its unattainable terrestrial counterpart – the docile, ever-flirtatious, never-attainable lily of the valley. A rendezvous where that inimitable beauty of the valley’s ethereal grace and fleetingness melts into the narcotic buttery accord of blue, also known as nymphaea caerulea (only the most beautiful aromatic could be named nymph of the waters). ~ This meeting of blue and blanc gives you the Lily – but what about the Gris? You can’t dismiss aphrodite. Ancient Egyptians couldn’t resist the narcotic aphrodisiacal quality of blue water lilies, and neither could I. As a perfumer, you start to wonder: Civet and orange, cumin and musk, oud and rose, the tantalizing touch of a lily and… what? In Yemen, ambergris is consumed for sexuality. It’s heated and infused into teas and drank for… you know what. So, what could be more apt (and rapt!) than to let our nymphs escape the pond and freely bathe in a sensual pool of sunshine, sea salt, and iodine! If lily and ambergris were not the weak spot of this perfumer, I would have called this my Japanese plum blossom incense installment, in line with Iris Blanc and Yamanashi. Smell Lily Gris closely and you discover that this isn’t only a special place between the pond and the ocean, but that those delicate lilies are donned in the plummy facets of kneaded Japanese incense. Beachcombed white juxtaposed with royal vault vintage grey punctuated by Japanese plum and a zen aesthetic throughout. The Japanese aesthetic is one of complication in simplicity. Overstatement via understatement. With this in mind, imagine you’re attending a kodo sitting and those plummy facets of the incense slowly get fractured through a prism of mauve Pinoy resin and pale beachcombed white to create a pristine periwinkle. Imagine those sweet indigo notes dipped into a pond of sinking-grade Leyte gyrinops and aquilarias that give lift to the ambergris dancing with blue nymphs of unmistakable purity, all of which – not so coincidentally – give birth to the perfect plum blossom neriko accord… … this psychedelic is not one I like to microdose on, if you know what I mean. If you want a lily ghalia, this one is not for you. Between the sweet purple repleteness of Iris Ghalia and the animalic roar of an EO musk, Lily Gris is a scent of immaculate sophistication, elegance, and total zen. Is Lily Gris so singular so as for it to be the only lily-themed ambergris in all of perfumery, kind of like Iris Ghalia is the only iris-centric musk? Or will this become a trend? I wouldn’t be able to tell you because I’m in a field of lilies and the only thing to follow me here is the gentle breeze from the coast carrying upon it the salty savor of the ocean. *The sinking-grade Abu Yog oud that’s in here alone is worth $850. -----ABU YOG OUD OIL DESCRIPTION----- I’m trying to, but I can’t think of anyone who wasn’t bitten in the Philippines. Robbed, stabbed in the back, swindled out of tens of thousands of dollars, you name it, someone who went oud-hunting in the Pinoy jungles can tell you about it. The reason for the double-dealing and rampant treachery is because there was big money at play – and even bigger agarwood. If you know anything about what went down in those jungles, you’d know that things happened at breakneck pace… You were never the only player on the ground. There was always someone who got there before you, or someone who came after and had no intention to let you have your turn. You can imagine how a similar story unfolded during the pioneering days wherever a shovel struck a thread of gold, or a sunburnt man rinsed a muddy but softly glistening stone to reveal its real worth. It was a time when all it took was a new gang to annex the spot or seize the man – before another band tried to do the same, and then another. No surprise, the biggest investors were the Chinese, but they were by no means allowed to dominate. Hunters and brokers from literally every corner were in the thick of it. From teams out of Cambodia and Thailand to the big guys in Dubai and Saudi, it was like hearing breaking news that diamonds were discovered and watching throngs of people backed by big bank accounts rush to the scene. One guy from Vietnam was arrested by officers who wanted a piece of the pie for themselves. The officers were in cahoots with the dealers. As soon as the wood was paid for, the buyer was ratted out to the local authorities who knew exactly when and where to lie in ambush for the unlucky buyer. He was imprisoned and deported twice. Undeterred, he made his way back by boat a third time and struck gold. It’s quite surreal that this happened in real-time. Even more surreal that a lot of it went down during Lockdown. It’s equally strange to know that it’s not happening anymore. The game in Abuyog lasted only about nine months. When listening to stories of oud escapades in the Philippines, there’s one refrain you keep hearing: ‘Leyte, Abuyog, Leyte, Abuyog!’ When collectors talk about agarwood from the Philippines, that’s what they mean. This particular spot in Leyte, called Abuyog, now ranks alongside Nha Trang and Myitkyina as one of the legendary jungles that are no more. It hasn’t sunk in yet. People who think these are stories haven’t caught on; it hasn’t hit them that Abuyog is done. They hear of new Abuyog wood, not knowing that whatever they’re being pitched now only piggybacks on the fame of actual Abuyog. Smells nothing like it, but costs the same… The thing to note here is that all this talk is about oud wood. If it was such a mission to get your hands on the raw materials, imagine what it took to turn those precious pieces into oud oil… Because of the fierce competition, Abuyog agarwood was expensive from the get-go. Now that the jungles are done, the price of any and all harvests is only determined by those lucky enough to own any. I get asked for my Abuyog agarwood by collectors and brokers who know I have vintage Nha Trang, Cambodian, Laotian, and Terengganu wood straight from the palatial archives of Sultan Qaboos. Rather than true vintage Indochinese wood of proper Royal provenance, these folks would rather I part with my Abuyog instead. (Ahem. I ain’t parting with any of them.) That’s why Abu Yog (the oil) is so special to me. It’s not just that we can’t easily do another Filipino distillation. It’s that we can’t get this specific aroma again – never mind the sinking grade black carving dust it was made from, which is now the stuff of oud folklore and history – not to say fairy tales or wishful thinking. Abu Yog showcases facets of vintage Vietnamese and Cambodian ouds, but while those would be bitter, Abu Yog has at once this peppery bite and cooling effect. In olfactory terms, there’s a deep blue current gushing through Guallam’s red. This stands in dead contrast to other Filipino oils that you might have come across… non-Abuyog harvests (of questionable caliber), typically shipped to and distilled in India. These tend to have generic tangy, fruity profiles, if not fermented, while others are punctuated by notes of burnt chocolate or coffee. To be fair, because of the high costs of even average-quality wood, plus logistics, even these mediocre oils could cost a few hundred dollars a bottle. Artisanal Filipino oud is a different story. Thanks to previous experience with ORII and Pinoy, you know what’s possible with high-grade Filipino materials. Add to that your experience with the ambient blue dripping purple cooling smell of raw Abuyog agarwood, and you know what to aim for. Nha Trang and old Cambodis have a regal scent to them. The softly spicy, bitter red just says Royal to me. Then you see Sidi Kruger’s infatuation with Brunei’s blue, which is sublimely inviting; that sense of regality replaced by the sheer succulent scent of sinking blue. Abu Yog dangles in between. There’s that tinge of olde Guallam, the thick liqueur texture of a 70s Cambodi, the regality of its red – drenched in the peppery blue-purple resinous cool that defines the inimitable scent you get from oud that drank from the soil of Abuyog. Easily one of the most succulent nectarean elixirs on Earth. This is not a ‘new gen’ oud. It doesn’t begin and end with fleeting top notes. This is full-spectrum oud that – take just one swipe – is so lush you need to catch your breath before you’re done taking a single whiff, and go back for more!

Price: 2749.99 USD

Location: Santa Monica, California

End Time: 2024-09-26T21:52:11.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD