The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Toni Cabal launched Oud & Berries in 2020, a composition that treats the Laotian oud the way a pastry chef treats salt, as a quiet structural element beneath the sweetness rather than the headline. The fruit comes first. Raspberry and forest berries, vivid and almost confectionery, set up a top that feels more like a plated dessert than a traditional oud opening. The contrast is the point. Cabal's background in the fragrance industry shows in how density and lift negotiate throughout the scent: heavy materials held in suspension by bright, volatile top notes that refuse to behave like a classic oriental. There's a sense of architectural thinking here, materials weighed against each other so the sweet, resinous, and creamy registers all coexist without one bulldozing the others.
What makes the structure work is the Bulgarian rose and saffron at the heart, both materials with enough body to survive the fruit's noise without disappearing into it. Mysore sandalwood in the base does the heavy lifting on the woody side, giving the Laotian oud a creamy platform to sit on rather than letting it go medicinal or smoky on its own. Chocolate arrives late and quiet, less confection than a dusting of cocoa across the drydown.
The evolution
The opening belongs to the berries. Raspberry comes through tart and almost jammy, forest fruits layering in darker, sweeter tones, like a handful of mixed ripe fruit folded together. The saffron lifts through the fruit with a dry, leathery heat that keeps things from going candied. As the scent settles, Bulgarian rose takes over the center, powdery and slightly honeyed, the saffron still flickering underneath. The oud arrives not as smoke but as a low, resinous hum that shifts the whole composition from fruity to ambery without a clean break. Through the middle stretch, chocolate and Mysore sandalwood build the base into something closer to dark cocoa than berry. The fruit never fully leaves, it just recedes into the wood, a sweetness you catch on the wrist rather than across the room.
Cultural impact
Oud & Berries approaches oud from a gourmand angle, opening with raspberry and forest berries before the wood has a chance to take the lead. The result is a composition that reads as a modern fruity oriental, accessible to wearers curious about oud but wary of compositions that lean dense or smoky. The berry-on-top structure makes the scent feel playful at first, then increasingly contemplative as the woods and resins take over. It suits someone who enjoys the idea of oud but prefers their fragrances to start bright and sweet before settling into something darker and more grounding.
