The Monday Mail is our not-so-regular feature where readers help other readers find the perfect fragrance. Today's subject: Alissa. When Alissa was young, her grandmother gave her some cute perfume samples and started her on the road to collecting, first for the bottles, later, as she grew older, for the juice.
She needs help today on a very specific quest. On a trip to China with her boyfriend, they visited several temples. Inside the temples, there was incense burning. She loved the smell, and after doing some research she thinks the incense was probably sandalwood. Alissa wants to find a perfume that will smell like the incense from those temples. She is willing to spend up to €250 euro, but she'd like that price to fetch her a large bottle (150-200 ml).
Here is what we know about Alissa:
She's in her 20s, and lives in the Netherlands.
She is currently a physics student who wants to become a teacher.
She loves cats, metal music, playing guitar and video games.
Alissa loves woody notes (and incense obviously). She also likes iris, white florals, and powdery notes. Aldehydes don't scare her. Perfumes she likes include Love, Chloe; Lolita Lempicka Le Premier Parfum; Dior Hypnotic Poison; Armani Acqua di Gioia; Chanel No. 19 and No. 19 Poudre; Chanel Chance Eau Tendre and The Body Shop White Musk.
Alissa doesn't usually like unisex fragrances or leather. She also dislikes notes of rose, patchouli, and chocolatey/cacao/syrupy things. Perfumes she doesn't care for include Thierry Mugler Angel, Narciso Rodriguez For Her, Chloe Eau de Parfum, L de Lolita Lempicka, Aquolina Pink Sugar and Lancome La Vie est Belle.
Her is what Alissa has tried so far:
Yves Saint Laurent Opium: incensey, but not (sandal)woody enough.
Prada Infusion d'Iris: lovely incense note, but also without sandalwood, and no longevity or sillage.
Estee Lauder Sensuous: plenty of sandalwood, lacking a bit in the incense, and she didn't care for the honey note either.
Annick Goutal Encens Flamboyant: the closest she has found so far, but again no strong sandalwood note, and it was nicer on paper than on her skin.
Estee Lauder Cinnabar: too much cinnamon/spice and she didn't like it at all.
Chanel Coromandel: too sweet, not woody enough.
What say you?
Note: top image is pink post [cropped] by jenny downing at flickr; some rights reserved.
I would try L’Artisan’s Dzongkha. This one is a personal favorite of mine, with iris, dry incense. It imparts a very cool feeling, and smells quite like the given back story, inspired by the Dzongs of Bhutan.
Even better, at least in the US, bottles can be gotten from discounters for 40% of the retail price!
Good luck!
I second that, and I am another sandalwood lover. I don’t want to sway Alissa’s opinion so will say no more.
10 Corso Como is the first thing to come to mind and maybe DSH Perfumes Ashram (can’t remember if that one has woody aspects)
I second 10 Corso Como!
I’m not a huge incense fan, but one incense fragrance really impressed me and that was the Armani Privée Bois d’Encens. It even gets 4 stars in The Guide in spite of it’s aspirational pricing. Obvious choices are of course the Comme des Garçons incenses. I remember them as quite dry though.
I second trying out Cdg, especially Kyoto.
Have you ever tried Samsara?
Or Shalimar?
Shalimar is not floral and Samsara has a nice sandlewood
I love Holland! Wish I could eat a bossche bollen right now
I’d second the Comme des Garcons incenses (specifically Kyoto or Zagorsk), and I’d also suggest L’Artisan Timbuktu.
Seconding Timbuktu!
Thirding!
Worth trying if you can find them:
Donna Karan Black Cashmere
Comme des Garcons Eau de Parfum or Comme des Garcons Avignon
Diptyque Tam Dao
Cheap, but possibly hard to find outside the US: Demeter Holy Smoke
I second Dzongkha, one of my favorites at this point in time. Also good to try is YSL’s Nu (but maybe it is lacking in sandalwood), and maybe SL Santal Majascule or Santal Blanc (maybe lacking in incense but plenty sandalwood)?
Some sandalwoood-heavy fragrances a I can think of:
Sonoma Scent Studio Champagne deBois: sandalwood heavy, with white florals.
Elizabeth and James Nirvana Black
Tom Ford Santal Blush
Serge Lutens Santal de Mysore
Diptyque Tam Dao
Seconding SSS Champagne de Bois. Sandalwood up the wazoo!
<3 Champagne de Bois especially for someone friendly with aldehydes! And potentially a light incense fragrance to layer on this could work…
And I think all of her fragrances layer well. The little box that holds all my SSS samples and decants smells divine!
No incens but aldehydes and lots of lovely sandelwood, how about Chanel Bois des Iles?
I second Robin and Elisa P above me on several they said:
Diptyque Tam Dao
Sonoma Scent Studio Champagne de Bois
Donna Karan Black Cashmere is a beauty
Others I’d rec:
YSL Nu (edp) discontinued but I hear the re-released version is good
Parfum d’Empire Wazamba (insanely amazing incense)
Etro Sandalo (nice smooth sandalwood)
Serge Lutens Santal Blanc (Paris only now)
Sonoma Scent Studio Incense Pure
L’Artisan Safran Troublant
L’Artisan Passage d’Enfer is a great incense scent, and I echo the recommendations for the CdG incense line!
Hermesssence Santal Massoia is a simple sandalwood that could work for layering in the event you find an incense you love and want to boost the sandalwood element.
I think of Tauer L’air du desert marocain as something of an incense fragrance though I don’t know that the notes list it as such.
Related to the Timbuktu idea above, I find Amouage’s Jubilation XXV to be an upscale version of that and maybe in your price range especially if you have access to discounters (right now 100ml is going for $162–USD–on FragranceNet.)
On the other end of the price spectrum, I’ve only smelled it once, but I recall liking Pacifica’s Tibetan Mountain Temple (and if you go for the layering idea, you could add their Sandalwood and still wrap up the whole thing for super cheap.) Meanwhile I notice that Robin’s Incense Fragrances for Winter list compares the Pacifica to Donna Karan Black Cashmere–truth be told I can’t totally remember what the DK smells like but I’m sure it’s worth a try, given the popularity. And for that matter, the other items mentioned on Robin’s lists!
https://nstperfume.com/2014/07/30/5-perfumes-incense-fragrances-for-summer/
https://nstperfume.com/2014/10/09/5-perfumes-incense-fragrances-for-fall/
https://nstperfume.com/2015/01/22/5-perfumes-incense-fragrances-for-winter/
https://nstperfume.com/2015/04/24/5-perfumes-incense-fragrances-for-spring/
Oh! Also Lush Breath of God is sandalwood and incense, no?
(Meanwhile apologies Robin for obliging you to moderate my comment, I forgot that adding too many links would do that!)
It’s kind of hilarious though that it even flags comments with lots of links to this site!!
Haha yes it’s a VERY principled policy on links! 🙂
A good excuse to put on Breath of God as SOTE–my updated rec is now that it could work especially if you like your perfumes, 1, fairly lightweight, and 2, kinda weird (definitely a virtue, in my eyes 🙂 )
What a great idea to layer Pacifica Tibetan Mountain Temple with their Sandalwood! I love TMT and was having a hard time thinking of any sandalwood + incense scents.
I haven’t smelled this in ages, but it came to mind now: Sombre Negra from YOSH. Maybe someone who has smelled it more recently can give it the thumbs up or down?
Also I imagine there’s at least one from La Via del Profumo that would be worth Alissa’s testing, but I don’t know them well enough to say which. Maybe this will jog a more knowledgable person’s memory….
Trayee is a gorgeous incense sandalwood perfume, really out of this world. I also adore Santal Carmin. Both are worth a try.
Alissa sounds like she and I share the same interests!
Some recommendations:
Diptyque Tam Dao
10 Corso Como ( I don’t think she will mind the slight sweetness from the whisper of raspberry in it because it is just a miniscule amount)
Czech and Speake Frankincense and Myrrh
CdG Avignon
Satellite Paparaschda (excuse the misspelling). It does have a chili pepper note but it is not overpowering.
If she doesn’t mind incense smelling like chai tea, she can try Pacifica Mtn Temple.
I have a couple suggestions.
* Mojave Ghost
* Micallef Note Vanillee
Best of luck!!
try Comme des Garcons Wonderoud