Beauty Care: Xerjoff More Than Words Perfume Review

Xerjoff More Than Words Eau de Parfum is primarily a sweet, jammy rose and moderately animalic oud fragrance. The composition sweetens with resinous notes and lightly spiced woody notes in the middle and drydown phases, but it was a fairly linear progression overall, so if you like the first hour, you’ll probably enjoy the remainder of the fragrance’s wear!

More than Words Notes

Though the brand has tried to keep the notes secret, here are what retailers list them as… oud, fruity notes, floral notes, ambery notes, ambergris, woody notes, olibanum, and labdanum. It is supposed to inspired by a “secret club of writers and poets.”

What does More than Words Smell Like?

It opened with sweet and sour fruits–I detected hints of apple, rhubarb, and possibly lemon–against a soft, jammy rose. For the first 30 minutes or so, More Than Words was bright, fruity, and sweet with rose, and then facets of oud started to emerge–at first, just slightly animalic but it grew in its strength, becoming more animalic while a salty undertone came through against the oud.

Most of the wear was quite linear, which is never a bad thing so long as one enjoys the note structure to begin with, and I found that the oud was more animalic initially, especially as the labdanum brought a leather note with it, but from the third hour through the drydown in the sixth hour, the oud became less and less animalic. This occurred as the fragrance became more resinous, woodier, and slightly spiced with the fruitiness softening while the rose continued to bloom.

Longevity

It lasted for eight hours until it was a skin-scent and about 16 hours before it was quite difficult to detect on my skin. The sillage and projection were moderate but it was surprisingly intense and long-lasting as a skin scent.

Testing Methodology

For testing, I used 1/3 of a 0.7ml sample vial dabbed to the underside and topside of my wrist area. I used an unscented moisturizer prior to applying the scent as I found scent did not hold well here otherwise.

I purchased my sample in January 2022; fragrances are known to be reformulated over their lifetime, so be mindful of when a review was made, e.g. a review from 2010 may not reflect what the same-named perfume smells like in 2022.

Availability

More than Words is available for $120/100ml.

If possible, I highly recommend trying a fragrance before purchasing a full bottle because fragrance can wear differently just because of skin chemistry. Skin chemistry can effect not just the longevity of a fragrance but also what notes are prominent or hidden.

More than Words Samples

We recommend the following retailers for purchasing decanted samples (typically 0.7ml to 2ml in size). This is a fuller list, so individual availability may depend on inventory.