L'Eau-xikon: OUD - You either like it or you don't

Some people can't get enough of it and prefer to apply it in its purest form - others turn up their noses at the mere mention of its name... we're talking about the fragrance oud oil, which is extracted from the resin of the agarwood tree. Agarwood trees grow mainly in the rainforests of Southeast Asia and are nothing special in themselves. But when they are affected by a special fungal infection, they produce the most valuable tree resin in the world and the purified oud oil made from this resin is often more expensive than gold. 

Oud has been burned in incense burners in oriental bazaars for over 2000 years. Arab women use this to perfume their bodies and clothing by standing over the burners. The scent of oud is difficult to describe. You hear it smells musty and animalistic - others describe it as warm and aphrodisiac. The fact is that oud has secured its place in European perfume culture over the last 15 years and is represented in a wide variety of combinations and intensities in niche and designer perfumes.

However, oud in the fragrance pyramid does not mean that the perfume has to smell intensely of agarwood. This now-established ingredient can give a fragrance an incomparably intense body, power, and fullness without standing out as an independent fragrance component.