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Oud vs perfume
Most “oud” on a shelf is alcohol perfume with a woody accord. Here is how that differs from alcohol-free attar, and how to tell which you are buying.
Walk into a mall and “oud” is a category on the same wall as citrus and vanilla, usually an alcohol spray with a woody accord. Walk into a house that pours attar and you are buying oil: no ethanol, a drop on skin, a slower day.
Both can smell good. They are not the same product, and they are not worn the same way.
Alcohol perfume wearing the name
A typical spray is a small amount of fragrance compound dissolved in ethanol, with water and a little stabiliser. The alcohol is doing two jobs: it throws the scent into the air in the first minutes, and it lets the brand fill an attractive bottle at a price people will pay for 50 or 100 millilitres.
When that bottle is labelled oud, the compound often includes synthetic woody-amber molecules. The word on the box is a mood. It is not a promise that you are buying agarwood, or even oil.
Attar as oil
Attar skips the alcohol. The bottle is the oil. That is why 5 millilitres is a serious amount, why you dab instead of spray, and why the trail is closer to the body. Read what attar is if you want the longer definition, and how to apply it before you put a drop on a shirt.
Our attars are alcohol-free, blended from natural oils: oud alongside musk, sandalwood and amber. We bottle in Toronto, one profile at a time.
How to tell what you are holding
Ingredients or a product page that lead with alcohol (ethanol, denat.) are spray perfume, even if the name is oud.
A bottle with a spray mechanism is perfume. Attar is a dabber, a wand, or a tight stopper.
Price per millilitre of genuine agarwood oil is extremely high. A large cheap “oud” spray is telling you something else is inside.
A house that will say what sits in the blend, and admit when a batch is finished, is pouring oil in good faith. A house that restocks the same SKU forever is usually running a formula.
Which one should you wear?
Wear spray if you want a cloud, a matching set of bottles, and something that behaves like every other perfume you have owned. Wear attar if you want the oil on skin, a slower day, and a scent that does not smell like the duty-free aisle.
If you are in the Greater Toronto Area and you want the second thing, we will drive it to you once the first batch is bottled. Join the launch list or start with buying attar in Toronto.
Keep reading
- What is attar?
Attar is perfume oil, not alcohol spray. Here is how it is made, why it lasts on skin, and how it differs from the oud you see in department stores.
- How to apply attar
Attar is oil, so a drop is enough. Here is where to put it, how to make it last, and what not to do with a concentrated oud.