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What is Oud?
Oud, Oudh, Agarwood, Aloeswood, Agar, Gaharu. A few of the names used for oud, one of the most desired and in-demand materials in perfumery. At one time, it was virtually unheard of in mainstream western perfumery whilst being a precious and vital part of Middle Eastern and Asian scents.
Genuine Oud is one of the most expensive materials used in perfumery. The unique odour is created by a fungus Phialophora parasitica, that only affects around one in fifteen trees in the Aquilaria genus. From the outside, it is near impossible to know which trees are infected. The fungal attack triggers a response in the trees that transforms the heart of the wood into a fatty, dark deeply aromatic wood. This heartwood is chipped, steam-distilled and treasured.
The infected Oud is the dark beating heart of the precious Aquilaria trees and as one of the most requested ingredients at Boadicea the Victorious, the saturnine material could be described as the midnight heart
Some oud is aged like wine, to intensify the bouquet and nose-feel, and there are geographical differences too, similar to the concept of terroirs in wine. Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, Burma, the Philippines and Indonesia all cultivate and harvest the Aquilaria trees, with each country imprinting a different scent profile, due to geographical and climate variations.
Since the oud boom exploded, growers have had to consider sustainability projects to ensure re-planting and not over-harvest the trees. There has also been a transformation of scent capture technology and creating synthetic versions of oud, some of which are beautiful and necessary in order to protect tree stocks.
Oud has been used for thousands of years in eastern and middle eastern cultures, but it began making serious inroads into western mainstream perfumery with the launch of the genre-defining M7 launched by YSL in 2002 under the tenure of Tom Ford as Creative Director. M for masculine, and number 7, as it was the seventh men’s scent for YSL. Created by Jacques Cavallier and Alberto Morillas, the pungent, hirsute brew changed the direction of male perfumery forever. The use of oud in such a large dose captured the imagination. M7 and its potent, flagrant use of oud was addictive and shocking. It is hard to imagine this now, the market awash with oud compositions, some exceptional, but many somewhat mediocre and uninspiring.
It seems no perfume house can launch these days without an oud formulation; it has become de rigueur. Like showcasing a neo-fougère, a statement rose, a bold citrus, an exotic white floral. something vanillic, a moreish gourmand, an aquatic love letter, and perhaps something ecclesiastical or leathered. Oud rapidly became an enormous part of modern perfumery, either as the main player dominating the olfactive stage or as part of the blend, providing depth, contrast and sensual illumination to other materials like Turkish rose, saffron, cardamom, jasmine, coffee, patchouli, amber and aromatic woods like cedar and sandalwood.
Obsessive connoisseurs go to great lengths to sample and procure rare oud attars and anyone immersing themselves in the bustling world of perfumed social media will see oud everywhere. The hashtag is hugely used across Instagram, Tik Tok and other platforms.
The smell of real oud is unforgettable and can come as a shock to some. Oud can have facets of dark treacle, church smoke, aged rum, barrel aged sherry, vanilla pods and resinous pipe smoke. Burned for centuries as incense in religious and cleansing rituals, oud has also been used for medicinal purposes as well, the scent is considered soothing for mind and body. In perfumery, as well as being an extraordinary ingredient it has powerful fixative properties, enhancing and prolonging the depth of what lies beneath with undeniable effect.
There is no denying the influence and impact of oud on the world of perfumery, it has touched masstige, high street and the fickle world of indies scent making. Like gourmand perfumes before, many houses and perfumes have had to secede to the rise of oud based compositions and learn new ways to sell this powerful and hugely popular material to clients. Far from being a flash in the pan, oud wood has made itself into an indispensable ingredient that has travelled through time to enthral us. It has also become shorthand for the ‘exotic’, a word now fading due to its tainted associations with colonialism, but there is no denying the evocative Middle Eastern and East Asian vibes it provokes. Despite its ubiquity, it seems there is an unending desire for the romantic and mysterious black gold allure of the infected wood of trees.
There are perfumers who specialise in oud-based perfumes, more often than not, based in Dubai, where a large number of labs and perfume companies now have offices to be at the heart of the oud revolution. Visiting the UAE, the scent of oud is everywhere, in cars, aircraft, luxury malls and hotels, elevators, stores, personal care and clothing. Air fresheners, laundry care, deodorants, and incense are oud-tinted, the overall effect is one of sensual sophisticated ambience.
It is hard to imagine a time now without the pervasiveness of oud. Ever since Boadicea the Victorious launched its magnificent perfume collection in Harrods 2008, the brand has championed oud as an important signature note and vital brand signifier. But do not make the mistake of thinking that Boadicea the Victorious is solely about the beauty of oud or that the compositions are simply vehicles to showcase it. The modernity and luxurious intrigue of thoughtful storytelling is crucial to the way Boadicea has unerringly composed its glamorous collections.
As with oud itself, an ancient wood now infusing modern scents and sensibilities, Boadicea the Victorious is steadfastly true to its ancient namesake, the rebellious icon-queen of the Iceni who rallied disparate Briton tribes to push back against the punishing regime of Ancient Rome. The spirit and defiance of Boadicea and her daughters influences all aspects of the perfumes and brand image. Boldness, majesty, pride, loyalty, largesse and storytelling. It is olfactive mythmaking on a seriously beautiful scale, weaving fact with iconography, history and elegantly appointed storytelling.
Oud and its glorious personalities play a big part in the Boadicea story. There have been oud-centric perfumes over the years but the brand’s forte is using the complex permutations of oud and blending it with a luxurious and hedonistic palette of exceptional materials. The effect of oud can also be felt in the exaltation of other materials such as saffron, patchouli, guaiac wood, roses, jasmine, rum and vetiver.
Boadicea the Victorious perfumes are an important and essential destination for lovers of oud and the power and majesty it brings to fragrances. Nearly all the brand’s perfumes contain degrees of oud, depending on the depth and drama required.
Oud Sapphire, one of the beautiful Sapphire collection of perfumes, is a serene addictive homage to oud, wrapping the oud in powdery ambrette, saffron and black pepper. The delicate tea and snow nuances of Osmanthus exalt the oud over rich resins, woods and iris, encouraging the oud to smoulder seductively, drawing out the animalic treacle facets of what lies beneath.
Carbon Sapphire Supercharged blends the leathered animal intensity of Oudh Assifi mixed with guaiac wood and inky cypriol. A soulful rose scent, dewy blooms are thrashed and electrified during storms. Patchouli, amber and shadowy musks radiate through the base while saffron-gilded geranium floats over charred roses, coalescing the senses into a gorgeous sillage of amber, woods and oud.
There is perfumed magic in Violet Sapphire Supercharged, tropical fruits, raspberry and pear and dazzling floral heart notes display depth and majesty of these materials, grounded in the eternal beauty of resins, woods, vanilla, classic oud and ambery oud.
Decadence is dark berry magnetism, a late night swirl of Leather oud, rosaceous geranium and magnolia swelling out a playful heart that descends darkly into a striking fruity Cambodian oud wrapped in patchouli, verdigris suede and honeyed amber.
Jubilee is a floral powerhouse, anchored by a rich oud base note, a proclamation of perfumed pomp. The regal heart overflows with jasmine sambac, gardenia, damask rose and violet leaf with the feral sensuality of smoky oud rolling through a spicy, mulled base, bright musks and amber.
Nebulous is hypnotic cinders and shadows, dropping into the enigmatic heart of rose, oud and amber orbited by saffron, violet and musks. The oud boosts the aura of crepuscular rose and an intriguing medicinal note, all tinctured garden greens and bitter liqueurs. Oud flares as roses dim and violet fades into darkness.
What do Woody Perfumes smell like?
Often taken for granted, the assorted aromatic woods available to perfumers are complex and fascinating, a world of valuable natural resources used naturally or mimicked by skilled aroma-chemists using the latest cutting-edge scent technologies. There is an astonishing variety of patented molecules that smell nature-identical, and an intriguing selection of notes and accords that look to a more abstracted presentation of woods, tinted perhaps with the terpenic medicinal vibe of evergreens like pine and cypress, washed through with an oceanic aquatic tang of salt and iodine, woods with distinctive ecclesiastical fumes, fruity vine woods, sappy and green, splashed with berry blood and late night woods, boozy and smooth suggesting fireside relaxation in wood panelled rooms, amber whisky swirled around a cut-crystal tumbler.
It is difficult to find anyone who doesn’t like the scent of wood in some form or another. It is a universal, life affirming odour that originates with trees who are vital to our existence. The world may be divided into those who see wood as a live, precious often sacred material, whose trunks, bark, leaves, roots, sap and fruits, while an intrinsic part of the tree’s biography, also benefit humankind. But of course, to others it is money, profit, building material and fuel.
History is littered with stories like that of Easter Island where the gigantic Moai statues, built by the Rapa Nui people, stand gazing inwards to protect the island. Seven of them look outwards over the sea. For years the construction and movement of the colossal was hugely debated and then theories about rolling stones of wood and wooden sleds or ‘walking’ the figures into place. The islanders denuded the island of trees, and the concept of reforestation was centuries into the future, thus the island and its people disappeared into history, without ever realising their daily existence and customs had destroyed them.
Protecting forests and rare woods is much more usual these days, woods like Mysore Sandalwood and the Aquilaria trees
that offer us the precious dark heart of oud or agarwood. Yet watching forests across central Africa, the Amazon, and swathes of east Asian tropical greenery vanish we might muse upon the fact we have learned little. Yearning for the rights of ancient forests and their animal denizens holds little interest for corporations clearing land for cattle or the demand for cheap furniture.
The world of perfumery is hyper-aware of the inherent issues involved with sourcing natural materials. Times have changed dramatically since perfumery took flight in the modern era. Animal musks are banned and various organisations regularly rule on the amounts of materials to be used, in case of toxicity and allergic reactions. Oakmoss is a good example of this, a definitive and vital component of Mousse de Saxe, an influential base by Fabriques De Laire in 1900, that once formed the startling modernity and powerful sillage of classic perfumes like Habanita and Caron’s iconic Tabac Blond. Now, only very carefully controlled traces of oakmoss can be used in compositions and perfumers must look to technology to create synthetic accords and molecules.
Woody notes are often cited as some of the most beloved notes in perfumes and the comforting cocoon of warmth and soothing weather we desire are in fact due to the woody effects in compositions. Everybody likes the profusion of woody aromas, they tug at accrued memories, swell up from our subconscious, reminding us that perfumery concerns memory as much as how things smell. From fresh cut sawdust, sappy green wood, tarry birch, damp boats, forest evergreen, moss and mulch, pine furniture, bonfires, to ecclesiastical pews and medieval vaults of worship, pencil shavings and waxed parquet floors. Such atmospheric wonder.
We will all carry a library of wood memories, culled from our own personal geographies, travel, access to green areas, the colder conifers of Scandinavia, the Redwoods of coastal Oregon and California, British Oak, Horse Chestnut, Lime, Ash and Beam, fig, olive, cypress and citrus trees of the Mediterranean. Spruce and maple in Japan, Banyan, Teak and Sandalwood in India and the aromatic charms of Acacia and Eucalypts in Australia. Then of course there are the important adjuncts of foliage, buds, bark, fruit, flowers and roots. The importance and impact of trees in our lives can never be overstated.
We are constantly discovering new things about trees. Their longevity is extraordinary and scientists have discovered that they can communicate underground via a mind-boggling mycelium network of filaments called hyphae as part of a far-reaching connective lifeform that creates unique symbiotic relationships with trees, communicating information like weather, changes in soil, other trees under attack from predators and the wellbeing of the network.
Woods such as cedarwood, creamy sandalwood, oak, guaiac wood, fig, cherrywood, pine and cypress are utilised alongside expertly manufactured synthetic notes like Akigala wood, under licence to Givaudan, a molecule that upcycles patchouli waste into an intensely shimmering material with a radiant woody core tinted with black pepper.
Most perfume lovers are familiar with woody notes as foundation or base notes. The molecules are generally larger and take time to warm through and open on skin, allowing subtle access to the flavours as the scents develop. As base notes too, they often have important fixative properties, drawing out the blended experience to gentle and natural fade. They are vital to the equilibrium of composition, providing a invisible skein of support for other notes.
There are exceptions, woodless scents or wood notes used in perfume overtures supporting statement heart-notes like roses, jasmine and heady spices. Some brands have created the wood equivalent of soliflores, using the whole tree as inspiration, from sunlit canopy down through foliage and fruits, to the roots deep in the ground. There are technically demanding to create with any genuine sense of realism, and the success lies in the calibration of other notes, green spices, smoke and clean floral lines.
Boadicea the Victorious has been aware from the start that woody perfumes are among the most evocative of aromas for memory, skin, comfort and a sense well being. The bottled reflection of shinrin-yoku, the Japanese concept of forest bathing, immersion in nature, without electronic distractions and engaging one’s senses deeply with nature.
Woods and woody accords are flexible and well adapted to complimenting and exalting surrounding materials, providing a platform to sink into and assimilate with or echo off with satisfying warmth and moreish comfort.
Is there a specific season or occasion to wear woody fragrances? This, like so many things in life it is entirely personal. While searching for a perfume, a luxury brand like Boadicea can guide and suggest options, providing a intimate range of curated gift sets and sample sizes to help make the process easier. You may already know how much you love the presence of cedar, oak, cypress etc and the browsing clearly delineated family groups and styles will be a little easier.
In winter, woods warm us, conjure up the memories of wood, the towering ghosts of their trees. Autumn, the season of red gold is when landscapes burn with russet, crimson, apple coloured leaves transforming and dying as their sugars are absorbed back into the parent trees. The camphoraceous terpenes of evergreens live on into winter, Christmas and beyond. On skin, cold weather makes us withdraw, cocoon and yearn for comfort, soft textures and safety. Woody scents have the ability to do this, enfolding and soothing us while providing psychological solace.
Heat and summer weather do different things to aromatic wood notes, swelling and warming through the effects. Not ignition exactly, this would taint the beauty and balance of lacteous sandalwood or a Scandi pine interior. More a hint of singed aftermath, like DNA of a million distant fires, renewal and the chewy sense of safety. Holidays in the shade of rustling branches, old oak forests with gnarled and ancient limb wood. On warm summer skin, woods may seem an eccentric choice, but all things are what you make them. Perfumery is defined by the unique osmosis of selected materials, imagination and our own flesh and library of scent-making experiences.
Boadicea the Victorious understands this and while a large amount of our perfumes contain woods of one description or another, they are some that allow us more of an insight into the effect of these materials on our senses and the varied compositional ways they have been used in the continued luxury storytelling of the brand.
Hanuman celebrates the Chinese Year of the Monkey, symbolising loyalty, optimism, heroism and strength with a sprinkling of mischief. The perfume mixes citrus and sensual blooms over a chic base of woods and ambered musks. Vetiver suggests both the green earthiness of canopies over sun-dappled flowers glowing on a ground of arboreal calm. The lemon note, more lemonade than acidic wince has a lovely duration blended with blood orange, bergamot and cassis filtering downwards, illuminating the intricate mix of milky sandalwood and marigold-tinged vibe of the perfume.
Herbaceous hedonism is the essential vibe of Angelic by Boadicea the Victorious, the holy garden and apple tree surrounded by musky sage and the green spiciness of cardamom. But oh, the serpent is a sensual interruption of velveteen petrolic damask roses scattered across woods, and a papyrus note enfolded by creamy sandalwood, patchouli, cedar wood and vetiver.
A primeval pine note at the heart of Green Sapphire gives the composition its singular personality, exuding a familiar scent of petrolic terpenes that pulls us deep into darkening forests. Notes of saffron, raspberry and bruised violet, allow the burgeoning forest vibe of woody rosin to swell. Woody and earthy base notes are shot through with spicy oud, underlining the verdant mysteries within Green Sapphire.
