Try telling people that your perfume contains pungent oil extracted from a thick black resin produced by a parasitic mould and you'll probably get suspicious stares.
But refer to the pungent ingredient as oud and watch their eyebrows rise with interest.
— From As a fragrance ingredient, earthy oud breaks the mould at The Globe and Mail. Kevin is quoted in the 11th paragraph.
Czech & Speake is a British bathroom fixtures brand. They started their fragrance line in 1980 as part of an overall strategy to “do everything that has to do with luxurious baths” (they also carry shaving products and leather toiletry bags).1 Dark Rose is one of their newer scents — it launched in 2003, and I can’t say for sure when it was taken off the market (reportedly due to production problems of some sort or another), but when I first tried it in late 2006, it was already impossible to find. Is it a kindness or a torture that perfumistas routinely share samples of discontinued fragrances?
Dark Rose was re-launched this year, and I was looking forward to trying the new vs. the old. Most unfortunately (or not: sometimes it’s best not to know) my original sample has turned, so I can only tell you about the new. It has rich top notes, with lots of saffron and that medicinal smell that often accompanies oudh wood (the notes: saffron, Bulgarian rose, patchouli, sandalwood, oudh, amber and white musk). It does, undoubtedly, smell vaguely like bandaids for a time…
UK niche line Boadicea the Victorious has launched the Oud Collection, eight new fragrances exclusive to Harrods:
At the heart of this new collection is the rare and beautiful ingredient Oud, the aromatic resinous heartwood from the evergreen Aquilaria trees…
Comptoir Sud Pacifique has launched the Voyages to the Orient collection, a new set of fragrances in their Eaux de Voyage line:
Aoud de Nuit (shown above left) ~ “A sensual and captivating nectar revealing the magic of the East thanks to an armful of precious woods and vibrating spices wrapped up with musk and vanilla, sustained by a pinch of warm caramel”, with notes of bergamot, blackcurrant, black rose, iris, vanilla, cardamom, saffron, cedar, caramel, patchouli, sandalwood, oud, tonka bean, musk and animalic accord…
The word “oud” — when relating to perfume — always makes me think of…MONTALE. Montale has won the oud wars in the West by creating more oud-centered fragrances than any company in sight (or smell). When I heard that Le Labo was releasing an oud perfume, I thought: “Poor Le Labo — you haven’t a chance!”
Le Labo launches Oud 27 this month; it’s Le Labo’s first global launch since 2006. (Oud 27 will not be associated with one city — you can buy it at all Le Labo boutiques.) Le Labo divulges only a few components of Oud 27: incense, cedar, patchouli, saffron, gaiac wood and oud…
Stella McCartney in conversation with Alexandra Shulman (video, talks about new scent L.I.L.Y) http://t.co/VAKYigvK "French parfumier Guerlain on trial over 'race slurs'" article at Telegraph http://t.co/lVDxoZMi Vote for NST's Mood Board on FB and win a Zoya Nail Polish collection! http://t.co/MXHMN7I3