In Dubai, oud is part of everyday life. It’s used to welcome guests, mark religious moments, and scent homes before gatherings. Long before it became a note in modern perfumery, it was already embedded in how people live, host, and celebrate.
What Is Oud
Oud refers to the resinous heartwood of the Aquilaria tree. Over many years, parts of the wood darken and become aromatic, producing a resin that can be distilled into oil or burned as incense.
The material reached the Arabian Peninsula through early trade routes linking Asia with the Gulf. From there, its use became practical and familiar. Homes were scented before guests arrived. Clothing carried it after prayer. Oil was applied for evenings, celebrations, and moments that mattered.
In the UAE, oud is still used in these ways. It’s burned quietly. It’s worn close to the skin. The aroma settles into spaces rather than filling them, lingering long after people have moved on.
Oud behaves differently from most fragrances. It doesn’t arrive all at once. It warms gradually and changes over time, often smelling different hours later than it did at first application.
What Makes Real Oud Different
True oud oil comes from the Aquilaria tree, but only when the wood produces a dark resin over time. The process takes decades, and only a small percentage of trees ever produce it. That rarity drives the price, but the appeal is in how it smells.
Natural agarwood oil behaves differently from synthetic oud, which uses lab-created compounds to mimic the scent profile. Natural oud is woody and resinous with hints of smoke and sometimes sweetness. Cambodian oud tends to be smoother and rounder. Indian oud is sharper, more medicinal, almost animalic. Laotian sits somewhere between. Collectors can identify the differences immediately.
While agarwood is sourced from parts of Asia, the UAE and wider Gulf countries age, blend, and work with the material, shaping how oud is refined and used today.
Many prefer attars and extraits over lower concentrations. They sit near the body. The scent doesn't fill a room. It becomes noticeable when someone comes near, then lingers faintly.
Understanding Concentrations
Oud comes in different forms. The concentration changes how it smells and how long it lasts.
Attars are pure oil blends with no alcohol, typically the most concentrated option. A single drop can last 12-24 hours. Extraits contain 15-30% fragrance oil in an alcohol base, offering strong projection with easier application. Eau de Parfums sit at 10-15%, making them more approachable but requiring reapplication.
For oud specifically, concentration matters more than with other fragrances. Real oud oil is so potent that even small percentages create noticeable scent. In Dubai's climate, many prefer attars for their potency – they don't evaporate as quickly as alcohol-based formulas and actually heat with body temperature to release more depth.
How Oud Gets Worn
People rotate oud like they rotate watches or jewellery. What works for an afternoon doesn't necessarily work for an evening. Softer blends, often cut with citrus or florals, are applied during the day. Resin-heavy oils come out at night.
Some people layer. A neutral musk or amber base goes on first, then oud on top. Others layer multiple ouds – Cambodian under Indian – to build complexity that shifts throughout the day. The approach is personal.
Climate matters too. Summer amplifies everything, so many pull back to rose or sandalwood instead. Winter is different. The intensity works better with cold weather.
The Night by Frédéric Malle
The Night doesn't ease anyone in gently. Created by master perfumer Dominique Ropion, it contains one of the highest concentrations of natural Indian oud oil in modern perfumery.
Dark, almost medicinal from the first moment, it is animalic in a way that can feel overwhelming if one is not used to real oud. But give it twenty minutes and it transforms into something resinous. By the two-hour mark, it's settled into a woody base.
This isn't for every day or every occasion. It's polarising. People either get it immediately or find it too much. But for those who love real oud, The Night is the standard. It shows what the material actually smells like when nothing softens it. Bottles cost around AED 5,000 for 100ml, pricing that reflects the ingredient cost more than brand markup.
Khaltat — Blends of Love
Made in the UAE by Emirati Mohamed Hilal, founder of the Mohamed Hilal Group, Blends of Love focuses on aged agarwood. Dense and dry from the start, with a slight heat that reads as spice rather than sweetness. There's a faint leather note early on, followed by softer resin.
The scent deepens over several hours without spreading outward. Nothing is added to smooth it out or make it more accessible. It smells the way concentrated oud oils smell in the UAE — deliberate and recognisable if you use them regularly.
The bottles follow the same principle. Substantial in weight, minimal in design. No ornament, no excess branding. What matters is the oil inside.
Amouage
Amouage is an Omani fragrance house that blends oud with other materials. Dry and spicy at first, followed by incense and resin. Frankincense appears early, then the oud becomes darker and woodier.
The scent moves in stages. Spice and smoke first, then wood, then something richer. It lasts without projecting forcefully.
The bottles are formal and architectural, pulling from Omani heritage. Weight and symmetry define them. Like the scents, they're built to last.
If you're used to Gulf perfumery, Amouage reads immediately. Structured, confident, made for keeps.
Henry Jacques
Henry Jacques works differently from typical perfume houses. At their Dubai Mall salon, you don't walk in and buy a bottle. You create one.
Clients spend months with perfumers, testing oud oils by origin and age, seeing how materials combine on their skin chemistry. The result is an attar or extrait that is singular, shaped around how one person's chemistry interacts with the oils.
Sultan No. 1 and Oudh Imperial are the signatures for those not commissioning a personal blend, but the real appeal here is building something no one else will wear. The bottles themselves stay in a home permanently, crystal flacons finished with gold or stone. Ornamental pieces as much as fragrances.
Hind Al Oud
Founded in Dubai and used widely among Emirati families, Hind Al Oud treats oud as something already understood rather than exotic.
Sheikh A, their flagship, blends agarwood with spice. Full-bodied but not heavy, recognisable but not loud. The concentration is higher than most Western perfumes, which means a single application can last an entire day and into the next morning.
It gets chosen because it registers immediately to those who know it. That recognition carries weight. It's a scent that signals belonging without needing explanation.
Roja Parfums
Roja Dove's United Arab Emirates extrait was made specifically for the Gulf market, part of a limited collection honouring regional fragrance culture.
It softens oud while keeping its character. The base is powerful oud tempered with rose and saffron, something floral and slightly sweet. You smell different notes depending on how near you are and how long it's been on.
The details matter. Hand-applied gold lettering, Swarovski crystals set into the cap, bottles kept in leather cases. Built for display as much as use.
Why These Scents Matter
Oud has survived fashion cycles, market shifts, and countless reinterpretations. The appeal sits in sensory memory — bakhoor smoke in enclosed rooms, aged oil on contact, the subtle acknowledgement when someone’s scent enters a space.
It’s often referred to as liquid gold, a name that speaks to rarity as much as value. High-grade oud remains one of the most expensive natural materials in the world. But in Dubai, its worth isn’t measured only by price. It’s measured by presence and longevity.
Worn quietly, chosen carefully, and used over years rather than seasons, oud remains the region’s most enduring signature.
