Oak

Oak is the wood used to age wine and spirits, and in perfume it suggests that same dry, woody character. It smells firm and a little smoky, with a faint vanilla warmth that recalls toasted barrels. It is a different thing from oakmoss, the lichen used in chypre perfumes. Perfumers treat oak as a structural base note: it adds depth and a dry, polished woodiness without the creaminess of sandalwood. It sits well with leather, vanilla, amber and tobacco, and it gives sweet compositions a darker, more grown-up finish.

Oak is a base note in most of this range, giving a dry, smoky woodiness that deepens leather, vanilla and amber.