In late July, I picked 5 great incense fragrances for summer wear. Now that we've got a decent chill in the air here on the East Coast, it's time for the fall version. As always, do add your own picks in the comments!
L'Artisan Parfumeur Timbuktu ~ A number of people mentioned Timbuktu in the comments to my summer incense post, and I know some people feel Timbuktu really blooms in the heat. Some other people (including me) find Timbuktu a bit much in hot and humid weather. Whatever season you prefer, it's a distinctive fragrance that smells as much like dirt and old paper and spices (with a touch of sour mango) as it does like incense. If you've never tried it, do. Even if you hate it, I don't think you'll be bored. If you almost like it but it doesn't work for you, you could try the brand's Dzongkha, which I think of as another meditation on the same "travel via incense" theme.
Comme des Garçons Black ~ It is not, to my mind, cold enough yet for the brand's high church incense entry, Avignon, but Black's mix of incense and birch tar, decorated with spices and licorice, is just right on a chilly fall evening. If it's just too much for you, try the Black Play that I included on my summer list, or for more spicy incense options, try the earlier Comme des Garçons scents Jaisalmer (from the Incense series) or Comme des Garçons 2 Man.
Sonoma Scent Studio Incense Pure ~ I had a hard time choosing between Incense Pure and Tauer Incense Extrême, both of which are bracing, outdoorsy incense scents with traces of woodsmoke. Either one wears perfectly in crisp fall weather; the Sonoma Scent Studio gets the edge here because it reminds me of what fall smells like in northern New Mexico, and I do miss New Mexico.
Bond no. 9 Andy Warhol Silver Factory ~ the Bond no. 9 brand is no longer the perfumista's darling that it once was, and Andy Warhol Silver Factory is no longer called Andy Warhol Silver Factory — now it's just "Silver" and it comes in a relatively plain silver star bottle. Either way, I still love this bold woody incense with an odd, almost discordant metallic opening and a cushy-smooth dry down.
Aedes de Venustas Oeillet Bengale ~ I said when I reviewed it that it probably wasn't a summer fragrance, but it's just right for October and would probably carry you through the winter as well (and I think I'd say the same of their new Copal Azur, although I haven't spent that much time with it yet). Oeillet Bengale is dense and spicy, and has just enough of a powdery slash almost-sweet floral heart to make it a very different sort of incense than all the others listed here, but it's not so floral (or so focused on carnation) to make it feminine — anybody could wear it. I think of it as the fall alternative to Etro Shaal Nur, which will certainly make my spring list.
Do share your picks!
Note: top image is Barritas de Incienso - Incense sticks [cropped] by Guillermo Viciano at flickr; some rights reserved.
I like Exultat by Maria Candida Gentile. It is a cheerful incense fragrance. It works well in October in SoCal (which could be not very representative, sorry …)
My vote goes to Dzongkha over Timbuktu (I smell fruit in Timbuktu)
I have yet to try Exultant, but it’s on my list!
Funny that in July I suggested Exultat as a summer incense fragrance. But I live in a colder climate, so my summer is probably like your October, Morgana.
Nice! Who knows, but maybe, after these multiple suggestions (across seasons), Robin will be motivated to try it 🙂
Really, it was on my list already! Just need to snag a sample.
Do try it, I don’t like incense scents but I like this. It’s the best.
Exultat is wonderful, and I think Sideris would do well in fall, too. Time to get both those out!
starting to want to buy exultat
There is nothing else like it. And Indiescents has those great little 15-ml bottles now.
I bought Exultat and Sideris when Bendel’s was clearing out its perfume dept. They’re both so gorgeous
These season based lists are always weird for me since it is still in the mid-80s during the day, so my picks may still be lighter than those farther north. I would add the following to the fall incense shelf: Armani Prive Bois d’Encens, Strange Invisible Perfumes Fire and Cream, Olivier Durbano Rock Crystal, Gucci pour Homme, and SL Fille en Aiguilles.
I know, we’re not weather-appropriate for everyone, sorry! So glad you brought up Fire & Cream though, it’s such a great scent and I always forget about it.
My favorite incense fragrance has always been L’Artisan’s Passage d’Enfer.
I love that one too 🙂
I gave my husband Timbuktu, and he loves it and uses it day in and out. I think it work in all seasons, at least here in our Scandinavian climate. My incense favourite it Parfumerie Generale 19, Louanges Profanes. Lili, incense, neroli. I wear it right now, and I find it very beautiful and well composed.
*lily*
I can imagine — your summers are probably not as oppressively humid as ours!
Love Oeillet Bengale, got go get some more of it.
For this time of the year I find SL Encens et Lavande to work nicely, or La Fumee from Miller Harris.
I am hoping Aedes will eventually do mixed travel spray refills 🙂
+1
I’ll be wearing Timbuktu for sure this fall. Wish I had some dzongkha left! Who thought I could ever drain a bottle?
I also love Black and in fact just sprayed a tester strip of it last time I was in my local niche boutique. As one of the great bargains out there, I’ll probably break down and get a bottle before January.
I’d probably also add Lubin’s Le Vetiver, which is a beautiful and dry incense. Like the pale blue of a clear morning sky in the woods, when the wind is cold and there isn’t a building in sight. I cannot believe I didn’t buy it when luckyscent had it on discount. 🙁
Dzongkha is so pretty! And I forget to wear it, I don’t know why.
Interesting about the Lubin. I don’t remember loving it, but maybe I was expecting a good vetiver instead of a good incense!
Dzongkha is very elegant, I think. Not in a flashy way, but it is very poised, and yet also comfortable. Must be the iris!
I haven’t smelled the Lubin in a long time, but I remember it being better sprayed. It isn’t super long lasting either way, but it’s one of my favorite incenses.
I actually might not like straight vetivers, as Malle’s leaves me cold and Vetiver Tonka, though lovely, isn’t really my speed. Can’t think of any other straight up ones I’ve tried….
That might be it…might have only smelled the Lubin from a sample vial.
When I tried Escentric Molecules Molecule 03, I realized that vetiveryle acetate tends to read as incense to me, to some extent.
Oh, interesting! Will have to see if I can find my sample.
I love Dzongkha, but to me it’s a summer fragrance- the feel of cool stone underfoot and serene silence.
It’s so interesting how many of us have strong (yet differing!) feelings about seasonal appropriateness!
Of the ones listed that I have smelled my favorite is CdG’s Black. I find it the most comfortable CdG scent – less severe and stylistic than some of the others… I have several other CdGs but they are less easy to wear. I am a little surprised because I don’t think Avignon needs really cold weather, I think it can also be cooling in the heat. I still need to try Black in warmer weather!
Something that confuses me in discussions of incense perfumes is that many materials can be used as incense but also have a scent when not being burned. Quarzazate, for instance, has the feeling of ‘fire’ to me, but seems primarily to be a melange of spices. Do spices plus a smokey note mean that you have an incense perfume? Also, frankincense has a smell without being burned, so is a frankincense perfume necessarily an incense fragrance.
Sorry if I’v asked this question before – I may have, and then forgotten the answer!
I don’t think there are any strict rules about what constitutes an incense perfume — usually they have frankincense, but not always, and sometimes they smell smoky and sometimes they don’t.
But frankincense as a raw perfume material is more “airy” than churchy — closer to Ouarzazate than Avignon. Ouarzazate to me smells like “clear” incense, as do the Sonoma Scent Studio & Tauer listed above (the Tauer has a very heavy concentration of frankincense). But I’ve also only smelled a couple kinds of frankincense essential oil, and I’m sure they vary too.
Not sure that answered your question, sorry…
Think it did, thank you!
But could you say more about ‘clear incense’ (even if it is your term). Do you mean incense materials that are not smokey?
I’v had samples of the SSS and Tauer in the past but unfortunately do not have any on hand…
Also, realising I’m a bit muddled between the smell or note of burning frankincense, the smell or note of raw frankincense and frankincense as a material actually used in the scent… 😮
I suppose I mean incense that has not been made dark or warm or churchy, which is pretty much how incense is usually used in fragrance. Incense that smells like it might when fresh, as opposed to murky. It has a very definite meaning in my head, LOL…
You can buy tiny samples of raw materials from places like Eden Botanicals & others, it’s actually very helpful for stuff like this! But it’s also another rabbit hole 😉
This reminds me I need to get at least a decant of CdG Black. I really liked it when I first tried it but couldn’t imagine wearing it, say, to work, but I can see it as a perfect fall evening scent.
And I’m already getting a lot of wear out of Silver Factory and Oeillet Bengale this season.
And my decant of Silver Factory is nearly gone, I’ve been trying to decide if I will replace it. The new bottle design is not even slightly tempting to me even if I wanted that many mls…
I know, the old bottle was great. Do you know if it was reformulated when they changed the name?
I really don’t know. They don’t even advertise it as the same scent (I assume because their license w/ Andy Warhol Foundation is over).
Yes it has been reformulated, but I have not smelled the reformulated version so I can’t comment on how they compare.
Thanks!
Passage d’Enfer, Avignon, DSH Cathedral, Norma Kamali Incense, Encens Mystic (Crazylibellule). I did not know Silver Factory has incense! Must reexamine.
I do wish the Norma Kamali line had not disappeared — I was just thinking about that yesterday and wishing I had small bottles of the Incense and the Jasmine.
Strong incense isn’t one of my fav things b/c it reminds me too much of Catholic church, but over time that is beginning to wane a bit. I do like Timbuktu very much, but I actually love it most in the dead of winter. There is something so warm and sunny about it that it cheers me up. Like the equivalent of super bright sunlight through a window on a zero degree day. I see you also mention Shaal Nur above, which is probably my most fav incense that I own (also my gateway vetiver fragrance w/ no 19), and I think it can be worn all year round. Amouage Memoir Woman is the top of my incense list.
Totally agree Shaal Nur can be worn all year, and I wear many “summer” fragrances in winter anyway, for exactly the same reason you like Timbuktu in the cold — it’s cheering!
Tauer L’Air du Desert Marocain is my favorite incense by far.
I’d also like to cover myself with Aftelier Ancient Resins oil and bake in a sauna (if I had my own sauna).
I love that oil!
I like Avignon layered with Lady Stetson cologne( 1spray A, 10-15sprays of LS) it’s sortof like a incense amped Chanel #22.
Interesting!
(10-15 sprays!)
I just received Ulrich Lang’s Aperture in my monthly Olfactif (perfume noob here). It’s a lovely, pensive wisp of an incense fragrance. I find it really meditative, with a slight air of melancholy, if that makes sense, Really, just very muted and pretty.
Sounds lovely!
I love Bond 9 🙂
Some people do! I think they’ve lost much of their following in the perfumista community.
You’ve already listed my very favorite incense – SSS Incense Pure – but that one can wear me sometimes. I do keep a vial of it on my desk just to sniff. Laurie used a very high quality frankincense in it and I find it very calming while I work.
My other favorite is Guerlain’s Bois d’Armenie. I find it a little more sheer than the SSS frag and perfect for these in-between Fall days.
Oh, I waffled between the Guerlain and the Bond! I can never make up my mind about Bois d’Armenie. Still hoping Francis Kurkdjian will do one some day.
I was just discussing incense fragrances with a buddy & I realized that I don’t wear as many incense prominent scents now, as I used to. No reason. Just tastes.
I only have one full bottle: Serge Noire by Serge Lutens. This is such a special fragrance to me & I have this little ritual that I wear SN when I meditate, so for me it’s hard to wear it any other time except then.
Other scents that I have decants of, that feature incense prominently, are: Black Cashmere by DKNY (noone ever mentions this one anymore); Jubilation XXV by Amouage (I swear I get a compliment EVERY time I wear this); Sahara Noir by Tom Ford (blue cheese-y incense); The Afternoon of the Faun by ELDO and the last drops of my bottle of Zagorsk by Comme des Garcons.
You mentioned two that will be on my winter list, but I won’t say which two!
My winter incense perfumes would be Armani Prive Bois de encens, L’artisan passage d enfer, CDG Avignon, Amouage jubilation XXV (love this big time) and probably a few more that I dont remember right now!!