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By S Bin Shaheen, Fragrance Expert at Perfumeo. We sell Arabian perfume from our warehouse in UK.
Oud is a woody, earthy scent that comes from agarwood, a dark resin that forms inside Aquilaria trees after they’re infected by a mould. It smells like deep, old wood and damp earth, with a smoky and slightly sweet edge. It’s strong, and it lasts on the skin longer than most perfume notes.
That’s the textbook answer. The one I give customers is shorter: it’s a woody, earthy type of smell. Most people nod at that, and then ask the question I actually want to clear up.
Not every Arabian perfume is an oud perfume
I’ve lost count of the number of times someone has heard we sell an Arabian brand and said, “Oh, so you sell oud perfume.” For a lot of people in the UK, the two have merged into one idea.
They’re not the same thing. Arabian perfumery covers sweet vanilla scents, rose, musk, fruity blends, coffee and spice, and plenty more. A good chunk of what we ship every day has no oud in it at all. Oud is one ingredient. It’s the one the region is famous for, but it’s still one note among hundreds.
So if you once tried an “Arabian perfume”, found it sugary, and decided oud wasn’t for you, there’s a fair chance you never actually smelled oud.
What does oud actually smell like?
Woody and earthy come first. That’s the core of it, and it’s how we explain it to every customer who asks.
Think of wood that’s old and dark rather than fresh-cut pine. Underneath there’s usually some smoke, a bit like incense or a snuffed-out candle. A lot of ouds have a sticky sweetness too, closer to tree resin or dark honey than sugar. Some have a warm leathery side that’s hard to put a name to, somewhere between a worn leather jacket and skin.
For me, good oud smells close to nature. Soil, bark, wood after rain. It’s the reason it’s the fragrance I wear myself.
Raw oud oil (the stuff distilled straight from the wood, usually sold as a concentrated oil based perfume) can be a lot rougher than anything you’ll find in a spray bottle. Indian oud especially can smell animalic, even a bit farmyard, when you first put it on, and some open with a sharp medicinal note like a herbal balm that fades after 10 or 20 minutes. Cambodian oud tends to be sweeter and fruitier. Most people never meet the raw version, though.
What is oud made of?
It starts with a tree. Aquilaria grows across South and Southeast Asia, and a healthy one has pale wood that barely smells of anything. When the tree gets wounded and infected by a particular mould, it defends itself by producing a dark, fragrant resin that soaks into the wood. That resin-soaked wood is agarwood. Distil it and you get oud oil. The word “oud” itself just means wood in Arabic, and you’ll also see it spelled oudh or aoud.
Only a small share of wild trees ever produce it. The figure quoted most often is around 2%. That’s why real oud oil costs a fortune, and why I’d be sceptical of any £30 bottle that claims to be “pure oud”.
Most oud perfumes, ours included, use an oud accord: a blend perfumers build to recreate the smell, with little or no natural oud in it. The usual building blocks are lab-made woody molecules such as Norlimbanol and Akigalawood from Givaudan, or Oud Synthetic 10760 from IFF. That’s standard right across the industry, from Arabian houses to big designer names. Accords come out sweeter, smoother and far less animalic than raw oil, which is a big part of why oud became wearable for everyday people.
What is oud wood scent?
When people say “oud wood” they usually mean the raw agarwood chips, which are burned rather than sprayed. In the Gulf that’s part of daily life as bakhoor, where the chips go on a burner and the smoke scents the room and your clothes. Burned oud smells drier and smokier than the oil, with less of the sweetness. If you want to smell oud the traditional way, we stock bakhoor from Ibrahim Al Qurashi.
Yes, it’s strong
The first thing most customers say about oud is that it’s strong. They’re right.
Oud sits at the bottom of a perfume, under the lighter top notes, and holds everything else in place. That’s why an oud scent is still there at 6pm when a citrus one faded before lunch.
What surprised me is that strong doesn’t mean returns. We ship a lot of perfume, and oud perfumes almost never come back. Very, very few. People who buy oud keep it, because the strength and the lasting power are exactly what they wanted. Whether it’s too strong for you is personal. If you like to still smell your perfume at the end of the day, you’ll probably get on with it.
How oud changes through the day
Don’t judge an oud in the first few minutes. Roughly, this is what happens on skin:
- First 20 minutes: the lighter notes sit on top, often rose, saffron or fruit in Arabian blends. Some ouds feel sharp here.
- Hours 1 to 3: the oud comes forward and the wood, smoke and resin take over.
- End of the day: a soft, warm, woody skin scent. Plenty of people, me included, think this is the best part.
Your skin changes it too. Warmer skin pulls out the sweet side, and drier skin can make it read smokier. Always try oud on your wrist, not a paper strip, and give it an hour before you decide.
Why oud suits a British winter
My everyday fragrance is oud, and the weather has a lot to do with that.
Cold air flattens light perfume. A fresh scent that projects nicely in July can vanish on a damp November morning. Heavy, woody notes go the other way: they warm up on your skin and stay put. With most of the UK year being cold or cool, oud is the most practical choice I know.
In summer, just use less. One or two sprays is plenty.
Where to start: Eternal Oud
If you’ve never worn oud, start with Eternal Oud by Lattafa Pride.
It’s the easiest way in because the oud is wrapped in sweetness instead of being thrown at you. It opens with plum and grapefruit, softens into heliotrope and orchid, then settles into vanilla, amber, benzoin, labdanum, tonka and oud. You get the warm, woody, resinous feel of oud with the rough edges taken off. It’s unisex, and it’s the bottle I’d hand to anyone who tells me they don’t think they like oud.
To be fair to the purists: the oud in Eternal Oud sits in the background, and if you want a dark, oud-first scent this isn’t it. For a first oud, that’s exactly why it works.
Shop Eternal Oud by Lattafa Pride
Once you know oud is for you, most of our customers move on to Oud Mood, Opulent Oud or Bade’e Al Oud. For the full line-up, see our ranking of the best oud perfumes in the UK.
How to describe oud scent
Buying it as a gift, writing a review, or just trying to explain it to a mate? These are the words that match what people actually smell:
| If it smells like… | Call it |
|---|---|
| Old furniture or a church pew | Woody |
| A garden after rain | Earthy |
| Incense or a blown-out candle | Smoky |
| Sweet, but not sugary | Resinous or balsamic |
| A leather jacket | Leathery |
| Warm skin, a little funky | Animalic or musky |
If the person you’re buying for already likes any of those, oud is a safe bet. If they only ever wear fresh or fruity scents, go for something soft like Eternal Oud rather than a heavy one.
Oud vs sandalwood, musk and amber
These get mixed up a lot, partly because they turn up in the same perfumes.
| Note | How it compares to oud |
|---|---|
| Sandalwood | Creamy and soft. Oud is darker, drier and smokier. |
| Musk | Rounder and cleaner. Oud is denser and more resinous. |
| Amber | Sweet and warm with no real wood. Oud adds weight and smoke. |
| Leather | Smooth and dry. Oud has a leathery side, plus wood and resin. |
That’s also why oud gets paired with them so often. Rose and oud is the classic Middle Eastern match, saffron makes it richer, and amber or vanilla make it sweeter and easier to wear.
Quick answers
What kind of scent is oud?
Woody. It’s in the same broad family as sandalwood and cedar, but darker, earthier and smokier.
Is oud for men or women?
Both. Across the Middle East everyone wears it, and most oud perfumes, Eternal Oud included, are unisex.
Why do some people say oud smells bad?
Usually they’ve smelled raw oud oil, which can be sharp and animalic. Perfumes made with an oud accord are much smoother.
How long does oud last?
Longer than most perfume. On skin it’ll usually carry you through the day, and on clothes even longer.
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