top 5 smelliest essential oils

Yes, folks! Not all essential oils smell heavenly, delicious and sweet. Some are so obnoxious it makes you wonder if someone had defecated at places in the house where it shouldn’t be.

So, here we go, the top 5 most foul, most objectionable, most disagreeable, most pungent, most obnoxious smelling essential oils of all time.

Nº 5 Angelica root

Angelica root essential oil opens with a strong, pungent, foul, animalic, faecal-like odour. Gradually, however, as the unpleasant top notes dissipate, it reveals a deep, masculine, semi-sweet, musky & woody undertone. I like to use it for making male fragrances due to its robust masculinity.

Nº 4 Costus root

A restricted essential oil under the IFA regulations, Costus root is foul-smelling and obnoxious at full strength. However, like all the other indolic essential oils, the diluted version is surprisingly aromatic and alluring if not intoxicating and sensuous.

Nº 3 Valerian root

This essential oil is not to be trifled with. Just a few drops spilled onto the floor will fill the entire house with a fecal-like odour that will ruin any appetite or jolt one out of a sleepy stupor. And it lasts for hours!

Nº 2 Seaweed

This is one nasty badass mofo of an essential oil. It takes a ratio of approximately 1:100 in order to mask it so you have a pretty good idea how potent its aroma is. Having said that, its aroma is truly one of its kind which, challenging as it may be, it holds a treasure trove of olfactory pleasures few can hold itself against.

Nº 1 Oud wood

The king of essential oils just as durians are in the fruit kingdom, this rare essential oil was only available to kings and emperors in ancient times due to its extreme rarity and difficulty of production. The healthy heartwood of an oud tree is near to being worthless but if it has been attacked by a rare fungal infection and rotting from within, producing an oleoresin from which the essential oil is derived, it becomes the most precious of all woods. Not all infected trees would decay in that manner. That’s why it is so rare and could fetch such a high price, USD 13k per pound, that oud wood is listed in the stock market. But what of its scent? Surely it must smell incredibly divine? At full strength, oud essential oil, plainly speaking, smells of decay. Its extremely pungent order travels far and lingers long and attacks your sense of smell in the most offensive manner imaginable. I kid you not. However, when highly diluted, it reveals a highly intoxicating, sophisticated and sensual aroma that is truly unparalleled. So if you think that something smelling like death would be useless, think again.

Does any of them contain properties considered therapeutic in aromatherapy? Most certainly. However, these are specialty essential oils that are best left to trained professionals to suggest for their proper usage. Besides, why would anyone want to pay a high price for something smelling so obnoxious while not knowing how to actually use it?