Oud 2.0 – meet the fresh, airy modern oud, reinvented for 2021

Fresh lemon. Fresh peppermint. Fresh lavender, even. But fresh oud? That’s right. As it turns out, oud is the surprising addition to our 2021 lineup of fresher-than-fresh fragrance ingredients you need to know about.

But how? Oud, or ‘agarwood’ sits in the scent category of woods or mosses afterall. The expertise of our perfumers has enabled us to recreate an oud accord very close to the original smell of oud, choosing not to extract agarwood due to its rarity and fragility. It’s described as rich, resinous and musty. However, composed in the right way, that same oud can be elevated to levels of bright-and-breezy freshness you never thought possible.

Take Miller Harris’ NEW Oud Éclat for instance. It’s oud (a note usually packed into the base of a scent with the other heavier notes), actually sits at the top. It’s a spot usually reserved for citrussy, fresh floral, or herby notes. You know, the bright, luminous ones that act like a splash for the senses. So, what happens to oud up there? It takes on similar qualities. Cue an aerated, modern burst of oud that completely flips our perception of the note as deep, rich and booming on its head.

This aerated oud is boosted by balsam – a clean note, characterised by its delicate warmth, a dusting of sugar, and sweet-herbaceous tagete, all adding to the scent’s undeniable luminosity. How you wear it is key to bringing out those brighter characteristics of your freshened-up oud, too.

Choose movement

Pulse points are all about warmth – using the heat of our body to gently push a scent outwards. But the modern aerated oud isn’t about that. We want to seek out moments where a swish of hair, or a flick of fabric can fling our modern oud into the air around us with careless abandon. That’s why we’re choosing just two points – the base of the neck, and the backs of the knees. Flippy dress and loose hair optional (but preferable, of course).

Dial it up

Sure oud is fancy. Yes, it’s luxurious. But when said oud is given a burst of brightness like Miller Harris’, you don’t need to save it for special occasions. This updated oud lends itself just as well to early-morning strolls on crisp Autumn mornings as it does to dressier events and evening cocktails with colleagues. The key is in the spritz – one for casual mornings, and an extra two when it comes to dialling up the dress code.