Oud Zarian
Eau de Parfum, Creed (2025)

When I first sprayed this, I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t as bad as I expected. But I kept wondering where the oud was. Even into the drydown, I can’t really find it. What stands out most is the licorice, which runs through the entire fragrance. It’s a note I think is still underappreciated, so I like that it’s given some focus here. There’s a blend of spices sitting behind it, though I’m not sure the myrrh and frankincense are clearly expressed. There’s also a touch of rose, but it doesn’t play a major role.

To me, the spices actually detract from the licorice. If they had leaned more into the licorice, toned down the spice, and brought out higher-quality myrrh, frankincense, and other resins, this could have been a much more interesting release. As it stands, the tonka and sandalwood feel a bit flat—not harsh, just lacking the depth you’d expect.

Performance is strong, but it works against the fragrance. It feels a bit overdosed—likely with ebanol as Varanis suggests—and while the sillage is fine, up close it can come across as slightly suffocating, with too much tonka and artificial sweetness and spice. I personally don’t mind the combination of incense, dry spice, and licorice, but here it doesn’t quite meet the standard I’d expect from Creed, especially at this price point. If a run-of-the-mill designer house released this, I would give it a thumbs up. Creed, not so much. But that's coming from someone who would never buy Creed.

I do enjoy the licorice note, but I wish it had been paired differently, or simply pushed further as the main focus. Honestly, something like “Licorice Spice” would’ve been a more fitting direction. I can also see why some people enjoy it and I do have to give credit for making it mass appealing but I don't think I'm their target audience. This is strictly a cold-weather scent. I’d also say it’s unisex, just go easy on the sprays.

This new, high-priced fragrance from Creed certainly represents an opulent, luxurious and balsamic-resinous interpretation (with high-quality raw materials) of the infamous rose note (in this case, Damask rose) combined with frankincense, amber resins and sandalwood. The formula is partially reminiscent of fantastic previous creations on the theme, such as Massimiliano Torti's wonderful Spin Rose (a spicy-floral creation - unknown the date of introduction on the market - which maximizes the aromatic spicy note by reducing the woods and incense, eliminating the oudh note and adding fruity notes of blackcurrant) and that of Malle Portrait of a Lady (2010, blackcurrant, Turkish rose, precious woods, resins and spices) or Teo Cabanel Oha (2005, rose, woody notes, resins and a richer floral bouquet). Compared to the fragrances just mentioned, Oud Zarian develops in addition a rich and opulent oudh-note with nuances of suede, aromatic spices and a licorice note that is especially perceptible in the central phase of evolution. The name Zarian means "golden" in Persian. The fragrance is inspired by the Middle Eastern oud tradition and the culture of sacred incense, ceremonies, palaces, ancient Eastern rituals. Launched in 2025 as a unisex Eau de Parfum, Creed Oud Zarian belongs to the flori-oriental woody family, rich on woody, ambery and spicy ingredients. It opens with a rich, resinous blast of frankincense, ginger, bergamot and warm spices, bold and almost syrupy, with a prominent liquorice spark. The heart reveals a radiant and fleshy rose centifolia, royal and ephemeral, which softens the initial spicy resinous richness and adds a dewy, floral counterpoint. The dry down is where the fragrance truly shines, unveiling a deep, majestic, soft, creamy-soapy (almost volatile a la Heeley Agarwoud 2012 with its rose, oud, benzoin, amber and incense) base of 80 year aged oud from the Bangladesh's forests, rounded out by sandalwood, patchouli, visceral myrrh and tonka bean. The aged oud is unusually smooth and refined, no animalic edge, just velvety, resinous depth. Myrrh in particular is along the way richer and richer (joined with tonka beans and creamy sandalwood), really opulent, spicy, creamy and velvety. This warmly carnal (though not properly animalic) resinous presence (plus a gradually emerging note of creamy sandalwood, resins and fleshy rose) represents the real olfactory focus of this really exotic fragrance. Trying to figure out an imaginary scenario I'd see a Persian marble palace at sunset with its minarets, the velvety silks embellishing the interior spaces, silver braziers slowly burn myrrh and woody resins in the still air filled with oriental scents, burning resins and spices, and flowerpots filled with hypnotically scented ornamental roses. Oud Zarian is all about quiet, assertive, unobtrusive opulence. Longevity is really impressive, with the scent evolving and remaining perceptible on skin for 12/15 hours or more on my skin. A dense, opulent, ritual/ceremonial, "eastern-western" fragrance, best suited to cold weather and evening galá-events.

Oud Zarian by Creed (2025) is very much not a good perfume in my opinion. Bear in mind I said "in my opinion", so if you feel differently, keep your head screwed on because I'm not attacking you via your taste in perfume; I don't even have a Reddit account for crying out loud. My thing is this stuff smells mostly like an overdose of ebanol, which is another thing used to replace sandalwood that has this darker stark woody timbre (pun intended), and is alleged to be a favorite material of Serge Lutens. Any real oud is suffocated underneath all that ebanol, and the rest is a real mess of smoky incense notes, dry spice, and licorice that all come across like the smell of an electrical fire. Yeah, this is going to be one of those reviews, so buckle in white knuckle tight.

The opening is the absolute worst, where I swear I actually coughed when I first sniffed it off a test strip. Worn this way without touching skin, the smell really stays in that opening and reminds me of the unfortunate exposure to fentanyl pill smoking I've had taking the King Country Metro buses home from work, which is likewise a mixture of burning foil and plastic straw in most cases. On skin things do fairly soften up a bit more, as the skin breaks down and eats the harsher notes to allow patchouli, tonka, and some of the other things to balance it out. However, I am again reminded less of oud and more of a smoky rubbery tobacco accord that Comme des Garçons have definitely done better over the years; this is an evil perversion of that style.

Performance is absolutely eternal - much to my chagrin - and I had to spend considerable time scrubbing, while the pocket my paper sample sat in made sure my smartphone (placed into the pocket hours after the sample was removed) still somehow smelled like Oud Zarian; this is quite possibly the first fragrance to ever come back and haunt me after I was done with it. My question to Creed, or their Kering overlords, is where are they hiding the promised may rose? I was expecting something more-closely resembling a rose oud as we tend to know them, but the centifolia rose absolute seems to have somehow been omitted or dosed so low as to not even count. There are many ouds you can spend a ton of money on, and I hope this isn't one. Thumbs down

Cecile Zarokian of course!
This is a mix between Amouage Royal Tobacco and Amouage Outlands. Guess who made all three of them? Easy, Cecile Zarokian!
This beautiful woman, rightly so, did her own advertising and justice on her instagram and her social networks. Bravo to her! If Creed is not able to publish its own perfumers with whom it collaborates...
And Creed didn't even bother to officially declare her the perfumer createur of this fragranc, Anyway, what a disgrace of house it has become, Creed...
The perfume is superb, an excellent creation in which the balsamic resins of myrrh and olibanum prevail, accompanied by licorice. The base is full of amberwoods as we have been used to for several years, but nothing that will scratch the sinuses.
For me it's an alright fragrance way, way, overpriced!

Recently had the pleasure of sampling and wearing Oud Zarian. Although a beautiful fragrance (once you get past the opening...), I find it quite reminiscent of MFK's Oud Satin Mood. There's a prominent licorice-like note (despite it not being listed) in the opening, which gives way to a sweet, ambery, and rosy center that is enjoyable. (Not a POAL rose, or Mancera rose...).

The real test is in the drydown. Once it settles, you're left with a rich, rosy sweetness that’s smooth, balanced, and quite lovely.
Now, as much as I enjoy this scent and want it because it is a new Creed :😊 I’m not entirely sure that I need it in my collection, especially with it being so close to Oud Satin Mood, for which I own. If the goal were simply to add another Creed to the wardrobe for novelty’s sake, maybe, however, spending $400–$500+ on something that gives me the same satisfaction with what I already own doesn’t feel justified.

~Performance: 8.5/10
This fragrance performs well overall. I notice a scent bubble that lasts throughout the day, especially during a full workday.

~Longevity: 8/10
It holds up nicely, giving me around 8 hours of wear before fading.

~Sillage: 8/10
There’s a solid sillage, but not overpowering (that's if you don't over spray).

~Projection: 7/10
Heavy projection, the scent definitely lingers and remains present within close proximity.

~Overall: 8/10
I really enjoyed this fragrance, a real pleasure to wear!

P.S. I got my hands on a bottle! :)

Less oud and more ginger biscuit. Perhaps in the Lignum Vitae by Beaufort mould. Not bad but sort of like the ginger nut equivalent of a soliflore. Solibiscuit?