Most perfume houses buy their oud. Fragrance Du Bois grows it.
The house is run from Paris, and its first fragrances appeared in 2013, with Fragrantica listing Oud Noir Intense among that opening wave. What sets it apart sits thousands of miles away: privately owned, sustainably managed agarwood plantations in Asia that supply the oud for every bottle.
The background matters. Oud forms inside the Aquilaria tree, and wild stocks were so heavily logged that every species of the tree has been protected since 2004 under CITES, the global treaty on trade in endangered species. Fragrance Du Bois has made that its cause. The house states that only pure oud oil from its own plantations goes into its perfumes, so every drop can be traced to a legal, sustainable source. It goes further. For every 50ml or 100ml bottle sold, it pledges to plant at least two trees, one teak and one Aquilaria, under a conservation project supported by the Thai Royal Family Foundation.
The perfumes themselves are written by established French noses, each given a brief The Perfume Society describes as unusual: create freely, without regard to the cost of ingredients. Guillaume Flavigny built the marine-fresh Oud Bleu Intense. Olivier Pescheux brightened oud with bergamot and ginger in Oud Vert Intense. Natalie Cetto took Oud Jaune Intense tropical with monoi, ylang ylang and pineapple. Christian Provenzano wrote Parisian Oud around rose, jasmine and leather.
Now the quiet industry fact this house is built against. A great many perfumes sold with "oud" on the label contain none. The Perfume Society, profiling Fragrance Du Bois, notes that many supposed oud perfumes contain "nary a drop" of the actual ingredient. Synthetic oud accords are legal, sustainable and often smell wonderful. But real plantation oud is rare, and priced like it. Fragrance Du Bois bottles sit deep in three figures.
The plantation is their story. The scent is the part you wear. Our Citrus Oud Intense is our take on Oud Orange Intense, and Brazen Cherry our take on Rude Cherry, both UK-made sprays at 35% extrait. Browse the full Fragrance Du Bois collection, or read the best oud fragrances in the UK.
