Birthday gifts for him

A birthday gift for a man has a low bar and a high one. The low bar is a bottle he will use. The high bar is a bottle he would not have found himself. Oud clears the second. Among the most costly raw materials in perfumery, the resin that forms inside the Aquilaria tree over years is the centre of every ZOUSZ composition, and it is made here, in England, in batches of one thousand, so it is not on every shelf and not in every bathroom.

Deep, woody and reserved. Cardamom and black pepper open it, oud, sandalwood, cedarwood, patchouli and vetiver form its heart, and vanilla, tonka bean, musks and amber settle it. Held at twenty-five percent in a 75ml bottle blown by hand and embossed with the house mark. It stays close: noticed at close range, present across a room, never loud. £125 on its own; £175 as the Black Oud Collection with the beard oil, balm and shampoo that carry the same composition.

A fortieth, a fiftieth, a sixtieth wants an object, not a voucher, and one that will still be in use when the next birthday comes round. The Black Oud Collection is four pieces in a hand-assembled gift box, one of one thousand, and it arrives ready to hand over, nothing to wrap. For the man who has everything, the fact that not everyone can have this one is the point.

Gold Oud: warm, sweet and open, with raspberry and lemon zest over oud, cedarwood and soft musk. Smoother and deeper, worn as often by women as by men, and the easier of the two to like on first meeting. The Gold Oud Eau de Parfum, £150.

A beard oil, used every morning for roughly twelve weeks, in its box and sleeve. Black Oud or Gold Oud, 30ml. Leaves in the couture gift box with any order over £160, or with the box added for £7 in the cart.

Every ZOUSZ product is made in England. The bottle is blown by hand. The packaging is assembled by hand in England. When this batch is gone, the next is months away.