You either love or loathe oud. It is notorious. Notoriously divisive. It is the most polarizing perfume category in the realm of luxury scents. By a long way, some of us can’t get enough of it, while others just can’t stand it. They find it cloying and suffocating. It’s too much like an Arabic souk. Too intense and too in your face. It’s too powerful for even Bergamot to mitigate or another heady accord like guaiacol placate. To put it bluntly, in the minds and nostrils of its detractors, it is more of a pong than a perfume.
More eye-watering than alluring. A scent not for the meek and faint-hearted, but for those who like the sweet, pungent smell of balsamic vinegar spilled on a forest where a herd of goats has just been and where earlier someone had a blue cheese picnic. Its many critics call it noxious. Many advocates call it whatever the opposite of noxious is.
Oud most definitely is an acquired smell. Oud is also known as agarwood. Some people don’t like the thought of spritzing themselves with a dark resin produced when a fungal mold (phagophore parasitic) infects the aquaria (or agar) tree. Some people don’t feel right or attractive wearing a tree’s defense mechanism. As it takes hundreds of years to produce the resin, Oud is one of the world’s most expensive and precious raw materials. The aqularia tree is also fast depleting due to over-harvesting and habitat loss. It’s illegal to harvest the resin in the wild.
It is an undoubted luxury. Lavish as well as sensual. Sustainable plantations of Oud have been established in Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia where the infection process is performed by hand rather than naturally. Due to the high cost of natural oud oil, perfumeries often use the smallest percentage in conjunction with other ingredients such as cypriol or patchouli.
Oud is best worn in hot climates. It is best on warm skin. Try skincare brand Chantecaille’s Oud Fume. You have to respect oud. A gentle dive rather than a deep one into the world of top oud perfumes would involve such fragrances and hyper-links as:
- Initio Oud For Greatness
- Granado Oud by “Nose” Leonardo Luciezo
- Diptyque Oud Palao
- Tom Ford Oud Wood
- Ormonde Jayne Man
- Intense Oud by Gucci
- Christian Dior Paris Oud Ispahan
- Cartier Oud Musc
- Maison Francis Kurkdjian Oud Satin Wood or Baccarat Rouge 540
- Acqua Di Parma Signature Of The Sun
- Parfums De Marly Layton
- Creed Royal
- Versace Pour Homme Oud Noir
- Amber Oud by Al Haramain
- Byredo Ould Immortel
- Killan Paris Musk Oud
- Le Labo Santal 33
If you don’t trust oudy eau de parfums or agarwood-heavy eau de toilettes you could try out Urban Apothecary Oud Geranium room spray and see how you get on and whether you and your family are oud compatible. You could become an Oudist.