Perfumers Call This Rich and Sultry Fragrance "Liquid Gold"—a Fascinating Look at Its History

Welcome to Worldly Beauty, a quarterly franchise in which we highlight beauty products, ingredients, and traditions rooted in culture. To offer an in-depth look, we're sharing perspectives and recommendations from local experts and tastemakers. A celebration of diversity, this column goes beyond what we know to shed light on the beauty practices and philosophies that make the world go round.

Fragrance is intimate, evocative, and rooted in time, place, and culture. That’s true of iconic perfumes: Chanel No. 5, Frédéric Malle Portrait of a Lady, and Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540. That’s also true of singular fragrance notes and ingredients, whether it’s fragrant tuberose flowers grown in Grasse, France, citrusy bergamot sourced from sun-warmed trees in Calabria, Italy, or rich oud derived from rare, resin-soaked wood in Southeast Asia.

It’s impossible to overstate the cultural, historical, and religious significance of the latter. Oud, which takes its name from the Arabic word for wood, is known for its distinct aroma—one that experts praise for its complexity. The most common descriptors are woody, earthy, smoky, sweet, and animalic. Clearly, it’s multifaceted and slippery to categorize. Take any two oud-centric perfumes, and they will differ based on type, concentration, and auxiliary ingredients. Regardless, it’s a rare and expensive ingredient—so expensive, in fact, it’s been famously dubbed “liquid gold.” It’s no wonder oud has historically been associated with wealth and opulence.

While it's almost unfathomable to extricate it from modern perfumery, oud has been treasured for thousands of years in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, where it was (and still is) used in herbal medicine and religious rituals by people of the Islamic, Buddhist, and Hindu traditions. Estimates date back as far as 1400 BCE.

Ahead, learn more about this ingredient that’s steeped in thousands of years of history and tradition.

Oud is derived from the Aquilaria (Agar) tree, which is primarily found in Southeast Asia. According to DSM-Firmenich perfumers Alexandra Monet and Frank Voelkl, the tree emits a fragrant resin when it falls ill with infection. The resin soaks into the interior wood, or the “heartwood” of the tree. “The oud is then harvested by stripping and distilling the tree’s bark,” say Monet and Voelkl.

Luis Cavallo is the North American brand ambassador of Creed Fragrances. The brand’s portfolio contains multiple oud-based scents, including the recently released Oud Zarian. “For Oud Zarian, Creed works exclusively with the Jalali family, fourth-generation cultivators based in the Sylhet region of Bangladesh, who produce an exceptionally rare 80-year-aged oud,” he says. “Unlike common practices in the market, Jalali oud is produced artisanally, using a meticulous short-distillation technique that takes three days. This process typically takes three weeks, but accelerating it creates a more refined and polished olfactive impression.”

Once the oil is extracted from the resin-soaked wood, it can be used to craft a fragrance. “It's famous for its strong, sensual, woody smell. Think rich, bold, and unforgettable,” Monet and Voelkl say. “If you love a perfume that's noticeable and complex, you might fall in love with oud.”

While it might be easy to take oud for granted now that it’s found in so many modern perfumes, the experts emphasize its rarity and expense—the reason it’s long been associated with wealth and luxury. (Cavallo calls it “liquid gold,” whereas Monet and Voelkl call it “black gold.”) “Less than 2% of the agarwood trees naturally produces oud, making it one of the most expensive raw materials in the world,” Cavallo says.

It makes sense that oud is significant beyond the world of fragrance, seeing as it’s such a rare and precious ingredient. Cavallo says it only entered the world of modern perfumery in the early 20th century. Before that, it was “used in the Middle East and Southeast Asia for thousands of years, dating as far back as 1400 BCE, with its earliest known use in spiritual and religious ceremonies.” Socially, it has also signified cordiality, helping welcome guests. “In the Middle East, it is also seen as a way of being hospitable to guests, offering them oud smoke as a gesture of respect and generosity,” Cavallo adds.

Oud is inextricable from the Middle Eastern fragrance market, both past and present. “This note has historically been utilized in Middle Eastern fragrances for its ability to add an intense warmth and sensuality to a fragrance, and remains present in more modern scents as well,” Monet and Voelkl say.

Interestingly enough, the experts say oud is being “used as a facet rather than as a predominant note” in Western markets. “Oud has been gaining popularity within the Western market by being utilized as a warm woody note that is able to add depth to a fragrance,” Monet and Voelkl say. “I have found that the Western market tends to use ouds in a more moderate way as more of a facet to create a subtle, long-lasting warmth rather than allowing it to overpower the overall character of the fragrance. What I find so unique about ouds is their ability to provide an air of mystery to a fragrance, which often makes the fragrance more intriguing for consumers.”

Oud plays well with myriad other fragrance notes, specifically those that “complement its depth or soften its intensity,” Cavallo says. Examples include rose, vanilla, sandalwood, or saffron. Monet and Voelkl agree, noting fruit and wood notes are especially complementary. “Adding fruity notes to an oud will add some color and contrast to the rather dark and dry facets of the oud with a juicy brightness, making it a bit more approachable for the Western consumer. Woody notes, of course, will also pair well since oud notes already have a woody connotation.”

As for fragrance notes that don’t *usually* pair well with oud, the experts say it’s anything that’s too light. Oud is so rich and complex that it has a tendency to overwhelm these kinds of fragrance notes. “Oud is a dense and complex note, so it cannot be paired with notes that are too light simply because the oud would drown them out. This is why perfumers prefer to anchor it with bold notes,” Cavallo says.

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