The House of Oud — Just Before
Essence
Just Before is a 2018 unisex amber/woody-oriental from The House of Oud (THoO), the Italian niche house built on the friendship between Italian perfumer-CEO Andrea Casotti and Jakarta oud producer Mohammed Abu Nashi; this particular composition is credited to perfumer Maurizio Cerizza and belongs to the house’s “Arts” collection. Conceptually it is built around anticipation - “the moment within the moment, before it happens” - and olfactorily it is a saffron-and-palo-santo-led creamy vanilla woody, distinguished from the crowded sweet-saffron-vanilla field (BR540, Initio Psychedelic Love) mainly by its palo santo, which gives it an earthy, resinous, almost meditative character that fans say smells more natural than perfumey. It is widely regarded within the niche wearers as one of THoO’s standout scents, with the major caveat that its performance is gentle.
Scent Profile
The opening is a bright but pungent flash - bergamot and lemon with the unmistakable “pungent character of saffron,” which several wearers initially read as sharp, medicinal, or even cough-syrup-like for the first 20-30 minutes. As it settles, the heart is where Just Before earns its identity: palo santo (the “sacred wood” of South American shamanic ritual) brings a dry, earthy, slightly minty-piney resin; myrrh adds a balsamic, licorice-tinged depth; and ylang-ylang flickers in and out with a soft tropical-floral creaminess. The base is the comfort zone - a smooth, creamy vanilla with benzoin, amber and sandalwood, warm and balsamic, faintly spicy (wearers report cinnamon/cardamom and “Springerle cookie”/“cinnamon roll” facets). The signature accord is creamy vanilla-amber wrapped around earthy palo santo and balsamic myrrh, with a sweet-saffron glow. The scent is moderately linear after the opening burns off, holding a cozy warm-spicy-woody-vanilla skin-scent for hours. Wearers caution that it smells too sharp sniffed up close but blooms when allowed to project naturally.
Performance
Performance is the central, repeated criticism, and it is important to set expectations against the marketing. Retailer copy claims “excellent longevity… typically lasting between 8 to 10 hours” - this is sales language and contradicts wearers experience, which should be trusted instead. On published coverage, longevity rates a qualitative assessment and sillage a qualitative assessment; the recurring verdict is that it “sits close to skin,” doesn’t “create a scent bubble,” and offers “moderate to long lasting if oversprayed but” intimate projection. A published coverage reviewer bluntly summarizes “Poor sillage, okay longevity. Fall-winter.”
Wearing Context
Just Before is a cool-season, evening-leaning scent that doubles as a cozy daytime comfort fragrance precisely because of its soft projection. wearers and house framing converge on fall/winter, evening and intimate settings - candlelit dinners, close encounters, reflective solo wear - with the palo santo/myrrh giving it a “calming and reflective,” even spiritual, quality some wearers prize. It is genuinely unisex; published coverage notes it “starts out feminine-leaning, but goes unisex,” and one wearer argues it reads more truly shared than the more feminine Psychedelic Love. Its quiet sillage makes it office- and crowd-safe despite the rich notes. Perception is “rich… liquid gold rich,” warm and a little mysterious rather than loud or sexy in an obvious way.
Comparisons & DNA
Just Before lives in the modern sweet-saffron-vanilla-woody family and is most often triangulated against three references. The dominant comparison is Initio Psychedelic Love: multiple wearers call Just Before “a tamed version of Initio’s Psychedelic Love… a bit more saffron, much closer to the skin,” with “almondy oud” replacing Psychedelic Love’s heliotrope - the explicit trade-off being that Psychedelic Love is “a beast performer” and “nuclear” while Just Before has “a much better presentation” but far gentler projection; the advice is that if you found Psychedelic Love overwhelming, Just Before is the wearable alternative. The second reference is Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540: wearers agree both use a “subtle sweet saffron note” but stress that Just Before “does not smell like” BR540 beyond that. Third, published coverage’s similarity engine flags Roberto Ugolini’s Seta and Lalique/others’ Roses Vanille-type vanillas. Within THoO’s own range, the closest sibling is What About Pop, with drydown similarities only. The unifying delta is palo santo: it is what makes Just Before “unique” and “unlike anything I have in my collection” to its fans, distinguishing it from otherwise comparable saffron-vanillas. A few wearers also name-check Hermès Eau des Merveilles/Elixir des Merveilles and ELDO Frustration as adjacent feels.
Reception
Among the niche wearers, Just Before is well-regarded but divisive on a single axis. published coverage rates it a qualitative assessment for scent (documented assessments), with longevity 81 and sillage 31 wearers scores that sit oddly against the qualitative complaints - a sign that those who like it tend to rate generously while acknowledging it’s soft. Praise centers on uniqueness (“a very unique fragrance and unlike anything I’ve gotten my nose on”), the palo santo/vanilla blend, the cozy “smells of Christmas, cinnamon candy, honey, campfire” warmth, and the beautiful hand-painted bottle (published coverage’s bottle score is notably high at 6 across documented assessments). Criticism is twofold: weak performance (“so weak and unimpressive”) and a minority who find it “a little generic” or derivative of Psychedelic Love. The opening’s sharp/medicinal phase also costs it some first impressions.
Versions & Reformulation
Single composition, no known reformulations. Just Before is sold as an Eau de Parfum, most commonly in a 75ml bottle, with smaller hand-painted formats (a 7ml is documented). The House of Oud notably hand-paints its 75ml and 7ml bottles, so “no two are exactly alike.” There is evidence of a later re-presentation marketed as “Just Before New 2021” (same scent, updated packaging/branding) and a regional collaboration release (“Just Before Saffron,” a THoO × Scentido edition for certain markets), but these appear to be packaging/market variants rather than reformulations of the juice. The fragrance remains in production.
Acquisition Notes
Just Before is current and sold through niche retailers and the brand. Full-bottle 75ml pricing is high-end niche: list prices cluster around the $220-240 mark , one retailer shows $240 with sale pricing, another lists GBP 220 discounted to ~GBP 155), so shopping around yields meaningful savings, and grey-market/discount perfumeries carry it below RRP. Decants and samples are widely available from the major decant houses, which is the recommended entry point given the polarizing performance - try before committing to a pricey full bottle. The hand-painted bottles mean cosmetic variation between units is normal, not a defect. As with any pricey niche scent, buy decants from reputable splitters and full bottles from authorized niche stockists; verify you’re getting the standard EDP rather than a regional variant if that matters to you.
Notable Facts & Lore
- The House of Oud frames Just Before around the theme of anticipation - the charged instant “just before” a kiss, “the caress of skin, the breath mingling between two souls” - positioning the whole scent as the pleasure of expectation rather than fulfillment.
- The house’s own copy makes a point of palo santo’s identity as “the essence used by Inca shamans in their religious rituals,” leaning into the wood’s sacred/meditative associations as the fragrance’s hook.
- The brand itself is a piece of lore: founded on the cross-cultural partnership of Italian perfumer Andrea Casotti and Jakarta oud producer Mohammed Abu Nashi, THoO’s conceit is that oud appears in every fragrance not as a dominant note but as a “bridge” between other ingredients - and indeed wearers of Just Before rarely register loud oud, consistent with that philosophy.
- The hand-painted, smooth-stone-shaped bottles (meant to fit in the palm) are a signature design talking point.
- Just Before has no major celebrity association or viral moment; its reputation is built through niche-wearers word of mouth, where it is repeatedly cited as proof that THoO’s strength is unusual, art-driven compositions rather than blockbuster performance.