Oud Essentiel is a woody spicy fragrance that launched in 2024. Created by Thierry Wasser, it is part of the Absolus Allegoria Collection. It is an enchanting and mysterious journey to the heart of the world’s wonders once night falls: fragrance trails celebrating deep and powerful nature, revealed by striking contrasts by moonlight. A stirring oud with sensual accents, Oud Essentiel is a homage to the most sumptuous facets of oud wood. In the darkness of night, this legendary rare wood is revealed in all its strength and depth on contact with smooth rose notes and mysterious leather notes.
Oud Essentiel is an ode to fragrance's legendary oud wood in which its sensual character is revealed through the subtle alchemy of rose and leather. - Thierry Wasser, Guerlain Master Perfumer.
Oud Essentiel is an eau de parfum, edp.
Fragrantica: "Mysterious, dark, delicate, raw. A rider makes camp amid a thicket of wild roses. The campfire of the night before exhales ribbons lit by the morning twilight—barely warming the leather of his riding gear. Dry, airy and surprisingly cool for a perfume with a significant leather note. Neither classic nor novel in the way that nature can be neither of those things. Definitely not a recommended blind buy. Performance and overall quality are outstanding and the price therefore is extremely fair. It is a 125 ml bottle after all and it's easily on a par with Eau Sauvage Parfum. A deep love for me and my first true signature scent after quite a search. Thank you Guerlain. P.S. if you sort of like Encre Noire but want something 100x better, try this."
Fragrantica: "If you’ve tried a lot of oud, rose and leather scents then this won’t blow your mind. Nevertheless. This is still pretty underrated. Opens with a dry, peaty, somewhat bandaid-y oud. Not barnyard or animalic at all, but still quite dark due to the smoke. After a few minutes you’ll get a very nice patchouli rose that isn’t too far off from you might find in Portrait Of A Lady. At this point you might be tempted to write this off as nothing more than “another one of those”, but fortunately, this isn’t the end of the story, because as it dries down it uncovers the familiar Guerlain DNA, an almond-y vanilla amber accord that underpins scents such as Shalimar and Habit Rouge. It’s not to say that this turns into anything remotely similar to Shalimar, this is much more about the oud and the rose, but that “Guerlinade” is definitely there. If point of this is to combine middle eastern and french perfumery, then it succeeds, it leans more towards the middle eastern side, it’s dark and heavy but it’s easygoing enough as to not offend most people who aren’t used to this type of stuff. It’s far from the only release that goes in this direction, so it’s not innovative in that regard but I would definitely consider it one of the stonger “western” or “entry level” ouds. If you expect something more you’ll be disappointed, but I don’t think that this the point. After all, it’s called Oud Essential."
Fragrantica: "Absolute recommendation for oud/forest fans! So I just bought this fragrance last week after going to the store for another fragrance (Montblanc extreme leather). This just took me by surprise! Absolute amazing oud scent that stays on you for hours. This reminds me of going to a cabin in fall or winter where you are surrounded by a wet forest. Price wise I find this very good because it is a 125ml bottle and doesn't need a lot of sprays. 2-3 is enough."
Fragrantica: "Best oud fragrance imo the rose and oud and leather combo is definitely my favorite. Longevity 10/10. Projection 9.5/10. Smell 10/10."
Fragrantica: "Clean, very dry and smoky, but also somewhat light and ethereal. It's a bit too charcoal-y for me at first but it's amazing once you get past the opening. Leather plays a subtle supporting role, while a truly beautiful, delicate rose slowly unveils itself throughout the drydown. Saffron is not listed as a note but I think there's a bit of that as well. There's nothing scary, animalic, barnyardy or otherwise off putting about this one. If you like smoky, woody scents then you have to try it."
