We Tried Zara's New Oud Perfume Collection

Zara just lifted the lid on an oud perfume collection. Here
Zara just lifted the lid on an oud perfume collection. Here's what four R29 staffers thought of them all.
Susan Devaney, acting managing editor

Perfume: Hipster Oud

One spritz of Hipster Oud and I was transported back to life in the Middle East. Having lived there for over two years in my 20s, it's an aroma – along with strawberry-scented smoking shishas, burning incense and cooking shawarmas – that I will always associate with a life I once fully enjoyed on foreign soil. Like the constant rising heat of the continent, oud is a warming scent. Zara's iteration, with delicate notes of rose and lily of the valley, make it quite sugary sweet but still strong. Hours after my one and only wrist spritz, I can still smell it on me. While it's lighter and fresher than a traditional oud, it's still a bit too heavy for me.

Updated with author’s edits
Maybelle Morgan, entertainment editor & acting operations manager

Perfume: Endless Oud

For my fragrance of choice I love something deep and musky, the way smoke lingers in your clothing long after a summer barbecue. I had never heard of oud before and was surprised when doing a cheeky Google to learn that it's one of the most expensive perfume ingredients known to the human nose. Funnily enough, that's actually one of the first things that sprang to mind with Endless Oud – it smells expensive.

The floral notes of the orange blossom are heady and hypnotic (not powdery and sickening in the way lower budget floral scents tend to be) and the accompanying warm amber tones complement it perfectly, making it a sensual perfume. I'm envisioning wearing this on one of those unbearably hot days where scorching heat visibly rises from the pavement and all you can hear is the sound of clinking glasses and summer is in full swing.