oud clubthe smell of oud has been hot lately (oud + rose in particular is a v popular combo).
when beetles and mould invade the outer wood of the trunks of aquilaria trees, they produce a thick dark resin in response. the wood of the infected area becomes saturated with this fragrant resin; as the tree grows older, the wood becomes darker, denser, more bitter and more resinous. the best oud comes from trees over a hundred years old, but not all old trees produce oud wood, and an entire tree may only produce a little oud wood.
in this video, al-Woozain explores oud's journey from infected tree to incense censer. he visits the storeroom of an oud seller in qatar, a perfume maker in a french town famous for flower fields, a man who travels the world to find the finest oud, an agarwood plantation in thailand, a temple with a 200 year old tree, the funeral of a ranger killed by oud smugglers, an orang asli man in a malaysian forest.
this video well worth watching! i really enjoyed it
most commercial perfumes use synthetic oud-ish blends or oud from aquilaria plantations. proper old oud is vvvvvv rare and vvvvvvv expensive.
i think uses oud from SE asian agarwood plantations. it's been a while since i've smelt it but from what i remember wonderoud is very much like wonderwood, a little more bitter and smooth but I can't really remember more. both start as peppery spare woods with a little green; they're dry and clear without being harsh.
i really enjoyed tom ford's . I managed to get a free 4ml sample that I haven't used much of. at the beginning, a rich thick rose on the edge of rotting. it overflows with a sort of resinous sweetness and quiets down to a warm amber-ish wood with a little bitterness. it's lovely but not really a scent for me so i'd be happy to send/trade(!!) the sample if anyone would like it. tom ford uses synthetic ouds. some other ouds he's done are and but i wasn't concentrating when i smelt them so i can't remember much about them. mad expensive all of them.
some other rose+oud i have smelt:
diptyque - pei described it above!
armani prive - there's a rich and thick vanilla/amber element; the vanilla/amber/oud current is stronger than the rose i feel. a very dense sort of scent
juliette has a gun- i don't really remember anything specific about this. i think it was quite pleasant in a tame sort of way
some other ouds
le labo - a musky earthy kind of oud that opens with a sour sharpness. a wood wrapped in latex and sweat.
byredo - a cold oud with a lemonade-y opening. what the fuck?? (i really do not like citrus smells). have not generally been keen on byredo's perfumes.
- a sweetish powdery iris, young green berries and oud of a sort. can get cloying. not really my taste.