Notorious Oud

Exquisite Indonesian oud with a global perspective. Formulated in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, with North African papyrus, Afghan saffron, and Bulgarian rose.

Oud is the most notorious perfume ingredient. Everyone seems to have an opinion about it. Genuine oud oil is the most expensive perfume ingredient on the planet. The few remaining tree trunks in the jungles of Southeast Asia are guarded by the government—theft is punishable by death! Entire trunks of the agarwood tree infected with the black resin can sell for millions. Oud is the stuff of legends—now it's threatened by overharvesting.

Aromatically, oud is one of the most diverse and complex oils in the world. Depending on the location, age, and method of extraction, oud can exhibit countless dazzling facets, simultaneously woody, spicy, floral, smoky, rooty, musky, subtle, fecal, and animalic. The hunt for rare ouds that are treasured and worn directly on the skin is somewhat different from the creation of oud fragrances.

Like most modern perfumes, oud perfumes find inspiration in the exploration of fragrance oils that could never be mass-produced (for regulatory, environmental, artistic, and economic reasons). The magic of the perfumer's intuition lies in their ability to recreate specific scents using other materials.

Notorious Oud—that's me sitting in Brooklyn, contemplating a rare Indonesian oud I've acquired. I'm thinking about what makes its essence resonate and how a single oil would grow into a transcendent perfume. I took fine raw materials from around the world—Bulgarian rose, French lavender, Egyptian papyrus, and Afghan saffron—and built a corset around this wonderfully complex oud accord. Oud that wears lightly and beautifully.

- DS

The fragrance playlist is available here!