Fragrance Finder Selection

The Best Oud Fragrances

Oud (agarwood) is the most precious ingredient in all of world perfumery: this resin produced by a tree wounded in response to fungal infection can be worth several times its weight in gold, and its smell — deep, animalic, woody, lightly smoky and of fascinating complexity — has been venerated for millennia in Arab, Indian and Japanese cultures. In the West, oud arrived in commercial perfumery in the early 2000s through houses like Tom Ford and Maison Francis Kurkdjian, who adapted it to European palates while preserving its characteristic depth. Today oud comes in raw and intense Arabian versions, in refined and modernised Western versions, and in accessible synthetic interpretations. This selection covers the entire range — from the ideal introduction to the most sophisticated expressions.