Oud

As something of an amateur fragrance cocktail mixologist, I often find that I want simple, earthy base notes to anchor and round out other fragrances I might find too sweet, fruity, or floral on their own. Demeter Oud fills this role for me and provides a somewhat more complex alternative to my standby sandalwood, mahogany and leather base fillers. I'm pleased with the light, some might say imperceptible, impression of oud in this frag, as I have always found other scents with strong Oud notes to go rather dirty and fecal with my chemistry (looking at you, Terre d'Hermes). As a stand alone fragrance, I would say this pulls masculine, though soft rather than aggressive. Projection is good, longevity middling but better than many Demeter pmu colognes. If one were looking for the concentration of oud typically found in expensive designer and niche scents, this fragrance would disappoint; but if you enjoy a subtle, earthy skin scent that's a bit darker and richer than sandalwood, Demeter Oud is very pleasant.

This smells so damn good. I recently got into fragrances and bought a dozen small demeter fragrances so I could learn the smell of common notes used in perfumery. Although I'm a bit disappointed to learn that many people don't think this actually smells like oud, I find it smells incredibly good mixed with the jasmine and cardamom samples. It's difficult to describe this smell but I would say it's definitely a little sweet like vanilla but with a rich woodiness? Maybe something slight spicy like cinnamon? I don't know but it's straight up heaven to my untrained nose and I'm not a huge fan of vanilla or gourmand scents.

this is baby oud. if you like oud, but traditional designer ouds tease but are just too much, this is for you. soft and friendly.

wonderful mellow comforting. love it

I bought several samples from Demeter a few years ago, largely for the novelty of it (dirt? thunderstorm? frozen pond? sign me up, I want to see what this is about), but to also familiarize myself with what certain scent notes were supposed to smell like. This was one of the samples I ordered, I remember it very well.... and I really don't understand the hate this fragrance is getting in some of the reviews. Where Taylor of Old Bond Street's "Sandalwood" cologne has that sort of old-school English gentleman/grandfatherly feel with sandalwood, Demeter's "Oud" has that same vibe to it, but a little more resinous and incense smelling. It's almost ancient smelling compared to "Sandalwood," but it's also lacking that "barnyard and fecal matter" scent that other oud based fragrances on this site are said to have. The only downside to this fragrance that I can imagine would be that it's a difficult fragrance to wear just on it's own, you would HAVE to layer this with something else, I'm just not creative enough to look through the massive library of Demeter fragrances and figure out what you could layer this with, though... a vanilla would be an obvious and safe choice, but at last check, their vanilla fragrances were sweet gourmand fragrances, and I don't know how that would work with this.