Perfumes in the context of Scent

Essential oils are concentrated, hydrophobic liquids containing volatile (readily evaporate) chemical compounds extracted from plant material. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetheroleum, or simply as the oil of the plant from which they were extracted, such as oil of clove. An essential oil is essential in the sense that the oil contains the fragrance or essence of the plant. The term "essential" used here does not indicate that it is nutritionally required in the diet, as with essential amino acid or essential fatty acid.

Essential oils are most commonly extracted by steam distillation. Other processes include expression, solvent extraction, sfumatura, and cold pressing. They are used in perfumes, cosmetics, soaps, air fresheners and other products, for flavoring food and drink, and for adding scents to household cleaning products.

Agarwood, aloeswood, eaglewood, gharuwood, commonly referred to as oud or oudh (from Arabic: عود, romanized: ʿūd, pronounced [ʕuːd]), is a fragrant, dark and resinous wood used in incense, perfume, and small hand carvings.

It forms in the heartwood of Aquilaria trees after they become infected with a type of Phaeoacremonium mold, P. parasitica. The tree defensively secretes a resin to combat the fungal infestation. Prior to becoming infected, the heartwood mostly lacks scent, and is relatively light and pale in colouration. However, as the infection advances and the tree produces its fragrant resin as a final option of defense, the heartwood becomes very dense, dark, and saturated with resin. This product is harvested, and most famously referred to in cosmetics under the scent names of oud, oodh or aguru; however, it is also called aloes (not to be confused with the succulent plant genus Aloe), agar (this name, as well, is not to be confused with the edible, algae-derived thickening agent agar agar), as well as gaharu or jinko. With thousands of years of known use, and valued across Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and Chinese cultures, oud is prized in Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures for its distinctive fragrance, utilized in colognes, incense and perfumes.