New Perfume Reviews Amouage Rose Incense and Overture Woman- Farewell Christopher, Hello Renaud

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As a scientist I am always looking for patterns. Perfume is not exempt from that. As I start this series of reviews, I begin with the last perfume by the previous creative director at Amouage, Christopher Chong called Rose Incense. I also look at one of the first original perfumes be the new creative director Renaud Salmon. He chose to do Overture Woman which is the female counterpart to one of the other final creations by Mr. Chong.

Christopher Chong

Rose Incense was an exclusive until this past summer. Which is why it is only widely available now. Mr. Chong again used one of the grand inspirations for the perfume. This time it was the movie “Citizen Kane”. He asked perfumer Bruno Jovanovic to collaborate. It is his first perfume for the brand.

Bruno Jovanovic

Rose Incense is probably the most simply formulated perfume of Mr. Chong’s time at the brand. Instead of the entire movie it almost seems like it is trying to capture that moment when the dying Charles Kane utters “Rosebud”. Translated to a perfume it means what the name on the label promises a lush rose coated in resins.

It begins with that rose which is the Damask variety. This variety exists to be paired with incense because of its strength. Early on elemi provides a citrus-tinted woody opening. The incense begins to appear soon after. At first it is a lighter version which allows the rose to have the lead. As we get to the heart it flips as the incense is now in charge with the rose in support. Myrrh adds to the frankincense along with a thread of leather in between the floral and incense. It is completed with a rich sandalwood.

Rose Incense has 14-16 hour longevity and average sillage.

Rose Incense is not the best example of Mr. Chong’s tenure. It acts as a farewell as he leaves the stage. Perhaps it is meant to be his own enigmatic perfumed “Rosebud”.

Renaud Salmon

A stage as grand as Amouage abhors a vacuum. It is now time to say hello to M. Salmon. For his first act he chose to design Overture Woman. When he began his Amouage career with a flanker I urged him to lean into his new position. Not that he could have told me at the time he was doing exactly that with Overture Woman. Mr Chong’s masculine version was a boozy resinous affair which was typical of his style. M. Renaud’s feminine version also contains a boozy component the apple brandy known as Calvados on top of a spicy rose and leather. Working with perfumer Annick Menardo they create something beautiful.

Annick Menardo

Overture Woman begins with the Calvados paired with saffron. It is a fascinating opening where the alcoholic apple is given a little extra bite with cinnamon. The saffron provides a slightly leathery glow as if from the pit of the stomach after a sip of the real thing. Leather itself arrives as it adds its presence with a refined version of the accord. Myrrh and frankincense come forward to give a resinous finish to this.

Overture Woman has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.

M. Salmon and Mme Menardo have made a very Amouage type of perfume without being the like Mr. Chong’s aesthetic. In Overture Woman there is a crisp enunciation of the phases but once they come together it feels like the beginning of a new aesthetic at Amouage.

I’ll delve deeper into that over the next two days as I review the four perfumes in the Renaissance Collection.

Disclosure: This review is based on samples provided by Amouage.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Giorgio Armani My Way- This Week’s Grilled Cheese

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Long time readers know I have a grilled cheese category of fragrance. What that means is it is as simple as that venerable sandwich but satisfying anyway. These aren’t perfumes which surprise in any way, but they are better than most of their peers on the department store shelves. The latest addition to this category is Giorgio Armani My Way.

Carlos Benaim

Giorgio Armani mass market releases are as hit or miss as any other brands. What puts a perfume on my figurative plate is finding some energy in the routine. For My Way perfumers Carlos Benaim and Bruno Jovanovic collaborate for a simple white flower fragrance.

Bruno Jovanovic

My Way is aimed right at the younger perfume demographic which means transparent. The perfumers make sure that the white flowers here, orange blossom and tuberose, never get too rambunctious. It also benefits from a classic high-low top and base accord around them.

What caught my attention when I tried this the first time was the bergamot. So often it is just an amuse bouche of an ingredient. Here it is given a lot more to do. It provides the typical sparkle that it is known for. The other part is it adds a citrus harmony to the orange blossom which I found nice. The tuberose when given this level of opacity can sometimes remind one of bubble gum. That bergamot also helps keep that from happening. Vanilla adds warmth in the base which helps give some expansion to the florals. Cedar is the final piece of My Way with a clean woody framing of it all.

My Way has 8-10 hour longevity and average sillage.

You’ve smelled many perfumes similar to My Way. You might even own a couple. My Way is worth giving a look because it does those things you enjoyed before with just that little bit more which makes it slightly better.

Disclosure: This review is based on a sample provided by Ulta.

-Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review L’Homme Rochas- Cologne Nouveau 2020

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All good perfumers are versatile creators. The ones I tend to like best can make any style of perfume. That doesn’t mean they may have one or two styles where they seem to have a greater affinity towards them. For perfumer Bruno Jovanovic he has become one of the best producers of what I call Cologne Nouveau. That is a modern interpretation of the venerable cologne formula. M. Jovanovic seems to truly enjoy finding new life in the style that was created over 200 years ago. L’Homme Rochas is the latest by him. For this version he uses newer pieces of the palette to find a new path to the simple classic.

Bruno Jovanovic

L’Homme Rochas is the first masculine release for this brand since 2007’s Desir de Rochas Homme. Considering that my favorite vintage masculines are Rochas releases it is high time they tried to be as influential as they used to be. It seems like M. Jovanovic is trying to find that path within the current transparent trend.

Cologne opens with citrus. Usually lemon. M. Jovanovic finds the modern compromise in blood orange. The source of blood orange used in perfume finds a middle ground between the tartness of lemon and the juiciness of orange. It is then supported by two other ingredients to accentuate both of those facets. Cardamom provides its herbal lemony breeze just as pineapple provides a juicy sweetness. The balance M. Jovanovic finds in this top accord is delightful. The heart of a cologne is floral and herb. Here it is geranium and basil where they together provide a green tinted veil to observe the citrus top accord through. In another contemporary touch M. Jovanovic uses the gin character of juniper to make a dry martini out of all of it. To give this some depth M. Jovanovic turns to an Oriental inspired base accord of tonka bean and patchouli. It tethers all the above to an earthbound hay colored patchouli.

L’Homme Rochas has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.

While it has been unusually warm for January, when I tested this, I think it is going to be especially good when things warm up. This is going to be at its best when the mercury is popping. I can add L’Homme Rochas to the other Cologne Nouveau creations I wear during that time of year.

Disclosure: this review is based on a sample provided by Rochas.

–Mark Behnke

Under the Radar Thirdman Eau Contraire (Eau Nomade)- Midsummer Refresher

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It should not come as a surprise that a blog named Colognoisseur has an affection for cologne. As I began writing about perfume there was a concurrent re-interpretation of the lowly cologne. Over the last ten years the style has been given new life by many brands and many talented creative teams. One of the earliest brands to re-imagine cologne was Thirdman.

When Thirdman came onto the scene in 2012 they wanted to create a sense of mystery to go along with their colognes. Creative director Jean-Christophe le Greves centers the campaign around the first three releases with the query; “Who is the Thirdman?” I along with many others lauded the first three releases and wondered who the perfumer was. Thankfully M. le Greves gave up that secret with the release of the fourth Thirdman perfume Eau Nomade. The perfumer behind it all was Bruno Jovanovic. Before we get too much further, I must clear up the confusion on the name. When it was released in 2013 it was called Eau Nomade. Some years later it was changed to Eau Contraire which is how you will find it available now. With either name on the bottle it is the same cologne inside.

Bruno Jovanovich

The Thirdman aesthetic was to stick to the classic citrus and spice cologne recipe but to use higher quality ingredients. For Eau Contraire the choice was blood orange and cardamom. There are a couple of other ingredients, but this is a cologne primarily about those two. It provides a cologne of the desert much as its original name portended.

It opens with lemon providing the sun high in the sky. This sets the stage for a high concentration of cardamom to take its place. There is a clever shift of actual citrus fruit to the lemon-tinged spice in the early moments. Blood orange comes next. In most fragrances the blood orange can get lost. When it is the featured player it gives it the opportunity to show off its richer facets. It creates a fantastic harmonic with the cardamom. In the base a set of white musks create a more expansive accord over the final development.

Eau Contraire has 6-8 hour longevity and average sillage.

Eau Contraire has become my midsummer Mad Dogs and Englishmen cologne. I keep a small decant in the refrigerator as a fragrant refresher. I’m not sure why M. le Greves hasn’t followed up with a new perfume in over four years. Because of that it is easy to understand why Thirdman Eau Contraire is Under the Radar.

Disclosure: This review is based on a bottle I purchased.

–Mark Behnke

Dead Letter Office: Lagerfeld for H&M Liquid Karl- Gourmand by Karl

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Upon the death of Karl Lagerfeld earlier this week I began considering what was a fitting tribute to him and his impact on perfume. I spent a few days reminding myself of the perfumes he released under his own name. If there was something which surprised me was, outside of a few, there was a lack of a recognizable aesthetic. All the perfume releases under the Karl Lagerfeld brand tended to veer from one trend to the other without necessarily being the one at the leading edge but the fast follower. Which is why many of them are in the Dead Letter Office. In looking back I found one which best sums up the iconoclastic designer; Lagerfeld for H&M Liquid Karl.

 

Karl Lagerfeld

In 2004 clothing store H&M wanted to start collaborating with the biggest fashion designers in the world on affordable couture. They thought, if successful, this could become a regular event. For their first collaboration they went right to the top convincing Karl Lagerfeld to kick this concept off. Mr. Lagerfeld wanted a full-service collection, including a fragrance. He had founded his own perfume brand in 1978 making it an easy extension for the H&M collaboration.

Pascal Gaurin

The perfume was called Lagerfeld for H&M Liquid Karl. He worked with a team of three perfumers; Pascal Gaurin, Bruno Jovanovic, and Sandrine Malin. What they produced is one of the best of the early gourmand perfumes because it went in such a different direction.

Bruno Jovanovic

Liquid Karl starts with the smell of baking bread. The perfumers build that doughy sweet scent of every bakery. In the early moments there are hints of some of the other bakery spices. This opening shows where gourmand perfumes will go. Then as cocoa and frangipani add to the bread the entire effect goes from savory to sweet. From bread to bread pudding; sort of. Maybe bread to chocolate pudding is closer to accurate. The base is a set of clean woods given depth from oakmoss.

Liquid Karl has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.

When the collection was released in November of 2004 it sold out immediately. This is an occurrence which happens yearly as H&M has partnered with another high-end fashion brand every year since on an anticipated capsule collection. Many of them contain a perfume because of Mr. Lagerfeld’s inclusion of one at the beginning.

Liquid Karl is not well-known because it was produced in limited quantities as part of the H&M collaboration. This is in the Dead Letter Office because it was a limited edition not through business reasons. You can find bottles frequently on the online auction sites.

I chose Liquid Karl as a way of honoring the vision of Mr. Lagerfeld because of any perfume he made it displayed his sense of the coming trend. His fashion set the trends. His perfumes not as much. Looking back on that fragrance portfolio Liquid Karl was another case of Mr. Lagerfeld charting the course which others would eventually follow.

Disclosure: This review is based on a bottle I purchased.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Masque Milano Times Square- One Dollah, One Dollah, One Dollah

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The evolution of big cities is a fascinating thing to observe. There is no more compelling history than the transformation of Times Square from one of the worst neighborhoods in New York City to the place where the most selfies on the planet are taken. I started visiting New York City regularly in the late 1980’s. Thankfully I am a big guy and so I was able to walk fearlessly through the porn theatres, drug dealers, and peep shows with their barkers calling out, “girls, girls, girls, one dollah, one dollah, one dollah”. No bigger lie was being told than that one. By the time I started working in the NYC Metro Area in 1994 the current Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, in association with Disney began an aggressive campaign to evict all the gritty qualities to provide a family-friendly heart of Manhattan. Over twenty years later you have to know where to look to see the few holdovers from the dangerous times.

Riccardo Tedeschi (l.) and Alessandro Brun

The creative directors for Masque Milano, Alessandro Brun and Riccardo Tedeschi, have decided to revive that last gasp of “Times Scare” circa 1993 in their newest release Times Square. They chose perfumer Bruno Jovanovic to collaborate with on this project. Each perfume in the Masque Milano line is part of their fragrant drama and carry an act and scene number. Times Square is the fourth and final scene of Act 1. This is a bold dynamic fragrance where the team captures the garishness of Times Square just before the scrub brushes arrive.

Photo by Gregoire Alessandrini

When I walked into Times Square for the first time the neon was what dazzled me. It was a bit like visual overload. It carried my eyes to the bright colors and motion. The opening moment of Times Square is much like that. It is so strong I suspect that, like many tourists who made the trip to the edge of the area, a lot will run away. If you have the desire to step into the intensity you will find cheap lipstick, blowsy florals, steam, leather, and rubber all coming together to form a decadent beauty.

Bruno Jovanovic

Times Square opens with a resounding pop of violet, iris, and hazelnut. M. Jovanovic captures the gritty nature with intensity. I loved it because it captures that “girls, girls girls” quality. That really comes out as the iris sorts itself into a lipstick accord to go with tuberose providing the over-perfumed aura of the hip-cocked streetwalker sizing you up. Osmanthus and styrax provide the leather and latex of the BDSM shop as you pick up your pace before you instead follow a desire to step inside. As you cross the street steam billows up from the manhole covers as the barkers call from behind you, “one dollah, one dollah, one dollah”. You reach the safety of your hotel room as the sandalwood provides a soothing island for your jangled psyche.

Times Square has 10-12 hour longevity and above average sillage.

I have congratulated Sigs. Brun and Tedeschi, in the past, for their ability to follow their vision while finding perfumers to realize it. Times Square might be the best example of this. It is the most artistic perfume in the Masque Milano collection. It sets out to capture the grainy 9mm film world of Times Square in 1993 and succeeds. It is an unsettling fragrance as that place and time were if you traveled through it. Wearing it for a whole day I spent more time with the fragrance than I ever did in the actual location. With the fragrance, I discovered that given time garish neon, over-perfumed hookers, and leather and latex carry an odd kind of beauty. This is a perfume one should try; some will run away but others will find the same things I did. So “girls, girls, girls, one dollah, one dollah, one dollah, Masque Milano Times Square ovah heah!”

Disclosure: This review was based on a sample provided by Masque Milano.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle Monsieur- Patchy Patchouli

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Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle can be attributed to bringing the perfumers out from behind the curtain. Not only did it expose them to the light of day it shone a spotlight on all of the ones who have their name listed on a bottle. It is an exclusive club for which the perfumers are given a lot of latitude in designing their creations. That latitude can result in perfumes which can be very polarizing. There have been a few of the more recent releases which have not grabbed me right away. Over time I return to them and, usually with someone who really likes them, get a second chance to find something I had previously missed. I’ve had my sample of the most recent release, Monsieur, for a few weeks. It is another one which is not drawing me in, yet I believe there might be more here than I might be giving it credit for.

brunojovanovic

Bruno Jovanovic

Monsieur is the twenty-fourth release from the brand and it is the second composed by perfumer Bruno Jovanovic. Monsieur is meant to be a companion to 2010’s Portrait of a Lady, composed by Dominique Roipion. Portrait of a Lady is one of those previous releases I was speaking about as I’ve spent the last five years running hot and cold in my emotions about it. Portrait of a Lady is a bone dry version of rose and patchouli. It is that very aridness which makes it difficult for me to wholeheartedly love it. I admire the construction but it seems standoffish. Monsieur goes the other way with an overdose of a molecular distillation of patchouli. By going almost to the other extreme I am having the same difficulty in embracing it although Monsieur is more like someone who is standing too close while my back is against a wall.

Monsieur opens with the juicy citrus of tangerine lightly combined with rum. The rum is not truly boozy as it is contrast for the citrus. Then the patchouli lands with a huge presence. According to the press materials the patchouli is over 50 % of the oil. If this was straight patchouli this would have been that dirty hippie smell so commonly associated with patchouli. The fraction M. Jovanovic chose is that child of the 60’s given some refinement. This fraction has a much reduced earthy quality while I found the herbal and spicy facets to be more pronounced. The fraction also sometimes has a bit of a leathery quality which I kept noticing from time to time. It never persists and it might just be my imagination but every time I started wearing and sniffing Monsieur I would have a moment where I encountered a very transparent leather. M. Jovanovic takes the patchouli fraction and frames it with a very clean cedar. After a long time, amber and vanilla provide a cozy sweet warmth.

Monsieur has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.

If Portrait of a Lady is so mannered that it leaves me wanting more; Monsieur gives me too much making me want to push it away. The overdose of the patchouli fraction does this no favors. I wonder if instead of overdose; a balance was sought if I would have liked Monsieur better. What is here is going to appeal to those who wanted something different than Portrait of a Lady. It is also going to appeal to those who really love patchouli. I am not either of those people.

Disclosure: this review was based on a sample I purchased.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Atelier Cologne Collection Orient Poivre Electrique- The Return of Bruno

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I have mentioned how I believe Atelier Cologne has done one of the best jobs at building a brand of any of their contemporaries. I have also believed a key part of that was the use of only two perfumers on nearly all of the previous thirty releases. Perfumers Jerome Epinette and Ralf Schwieger have provided the olfactory DNA which has define Atelier Cologne. Particularly over the last year I began to wonder if there was room for a new collaborator who could also add a different genetic makeup to this brand.

brunojovanovic

Bruno Jovanovic

When I received my five press samples of Collection Orient I have become so used to the styles of M. Epinette and Hr. Schwieger that I felt like four out of the five felt like M. Epinette’s work. When I sent off the e-mail to Atelier Cologne to get confirmation I asked if the fifth perfume, Poivre Electrique, was maybe a new perfumer. When I received my response I was delighted to find out it was Bruno Jovanovic.

sylvie-christophe-427x552

Sylvie Ganter-Cervasel and Christophe Cervasel

M. Jovanovic was the one perfumer outside of Atelier Cologne who I admired for also working on modernizing the cologne architecture. In 2012-2013 he made five fragrances which showed his version of contemporary cologne. The three releases he did for Thirdman, A Lab on Fire Almost Transparent Blue, and Dries van Noten for Frederic Malle. If there was a signature to his style of cologne it came in the more transparent use of woody notes in the base accord. The five fragrances I named above sit in the same space as all of my Atelier Cologne bottles because that is where I feel the future of cologne exists. I don’t know the story behind M. Jovanovic being brought in to the Atelier Cologne Perfume fold. I can say that I am delighted that creative directors Sylvie Ganter-Cervasel and Christophe Cervasel reached out to him.

poivre electrique montage

For M. Jovanovic’s first brief he was tasked with using black pepper as a keynote in Poivre Electrique. Black pepper has been a fantastic note in perfume when used correctly. It has been an overbearing presence when used inappropriately. There are more examples of the latter. M. Jovanovic I believe recognized this. He uses black pepper as the replacement for the traditional herbal component of the cologne top accord. It is a beautiful beginning to what turns in to a spectacular new cologne.

Poivre Electrique opens with the black pepper front and center. It holds all of my initial attention until bitter orange eventually adds in the citrus piece of the cologne design. M. Jovanovic keeps this pepper set at a steady burn without crossing over into searing. The pepper continues as the heart notes begin to become more apparent. Rose and incense make up the duet along with pimento carrying on with the fading pepper in adjacent to it. In a set of perfumes dubbed as from the Orient this is the one phase where I felt like I was in a Pasha’s Palace. Myrrh warms the incense. Then M. Jovanovic provides his signature as sandalwood and cedar provide the translucent woody veil over the heart accord.

Poivre Electrique has 16-18 hour longevity and average sillage.

Poivre Electrique is my favorite of the new Collection Orient. I admire much of the risk taking evident in the other four releases but Poivre Electrique combines that adventurousness with a set of incredibly pleasing accords. I suppose it could just be that The Return of Bruno to making new cologne in a place where it feels like he should always have been, being a match made in Heaven.

Disclosure; This review is based on a press sample provided by Atelier Cologne.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Oscar de la Renta Extraordinary- Per Fumus Populi

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Every few months I take a field trip to the mall to do a little research. My method is to find a chair or bench right by where the perfume counter is at in a department store. My local malls offer me multiple opportunities to observe every major chain. What I am looking for is to see what happens when consumers walking through the fragrance department do with the sprayed strip the line representative hands to them. The great majority of them end up in a garbage can as they walk away from the store. Every so often I see the women, or men, tuck the strip away. That always piques my interest. It means that at least on a first impression level the fragrance has made the consumer want to give it a sniff later. Very often these are perfumes that those who like independent and niche perfumes would shun as derivative. When I see a perfume making an impression I want to give it a try and see if I can understand what makes it interesting to the more casual perfume wearer. On my last foray into consumerism the perfume that was not getting thrown into the garbage can was Oscar de la Renta Extraordinary.

brunojovanovic

Bruno Jovanovic

Extraordinary was composed by perfumers Bruno Jovanovic and Pascal Gaurin. What is in the bottle is a very straightforward floral oriental. There is truly nothing new to anyone who has lots of fragrances in their collection. It is a simple floral progression into a sweet woody base. Where I think this might be getting a second look by those walking through the fragrance department is the perfumers added a couple of interesting grace notes while also going very sweet in the base for a traditional spring/summer perfume.

pascal_gaurin

Pascal Gaurin

Extraordinary opens primarily with neroli but there are a couple of interesting underpinnings which keep it from being just neroli. The perfumers use cherry blossom and passionfruit flower to provide subtle fruity facets without really turning it into a fruity floral. I think this is a very smart way of differentiating yourself in the consumer marketplace. Especially in the top notes; as neroli will be easily recognized but those faint fruity qualities? Those are just making the neroli interesting. The heart is a very straight forward peony and rose floral. This is definitely nothing that isn’t in a thousand floral perfumes. The base is where the perfumers decide to also take a slightly different tack. There is a mix of long lasting ambrox and woody synthetics. What is interesting is there is a very healthy dose of vanillin which makes the foundation of Extraordinary almost edge into gourmand territory.

Extraordinary has 6-8 hour longevity and average sillage.

The most surprising thing about Extraordinary is a lack of staying power. With all of the synthetics in the base I expected to have it with me well into the evening if not into the next morning. I don’t have a good explanation for this but I think that might keep Extraordinary from being a runaway hit. Because in the department store world longevity is equated with quality. If it does become a hit I think that the perfumers had a small amount of courage to push some less commercial inspirations into Extraordinary may be the reason it stands out in the glass forest on the department store counter.

Disclosure: This review was based on a carded sample I received at the department store.

–Mark Behnke

My Favorite Things: Sandalwood

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For this installment of My Favorite Things I’m going to name my five favorite sandalwood perfumes. Sandalwood as a fragrance note is one of the more frequently used ingredients especially as a base note. Most of the sandalwood you encounter in these fragrances is synthetic. There original source of real sandalwood oil in the mid-20th century was from Mysore in India. It was sadly over harvested and is now protected. This caused perfumers to work with both synthetics and alternative sources of sandalwood from Australia and New Caledonia. Nothing has adequately replaced real Mysore sandalwood but the five fragrances below are special sandalwood perfumes on their own basis.

bois des iles

Chanel Bois des Iles– When Ernest Beaux originally created Bois des Iles in 1926 I am reasonably certain it was full of Mysore sandalwood. When Jacques Polge brought it back for the Exclusif line it is said there isn’t a drop of sandalwood at all in the reformulation. I’ve smelled vintage and the Exclusif side by side and accounting for age M. Polge has pulled off one of the great olfactory illusions, ever.

Diptyque Tam Dao– Perfumers Daniele Moliere and Fabrice Pellegrin create a sandalwood fragrance in three acts. Act one is sandalwood and rosewood which is liltingly fragile. The second act adds clean cedar to make the sandalwood equally delineated. Act three takes ambergris as a foundation to accentuate the sweet qualities of sandalwood. For many people this is the gateway to loving sandalwood as a fragrance.

Dries-van-noten-frederic-malle-3

Dries van Noten par Frederic Malle– Frederic Malle claimed in the press materials that this is the same species of sandalwood as Mysore but grown in a sustainable way. I have my doubts but perfumer Bruno Jovanovic keeps it simple using saffron, jasmine, and vanilla to frame the sandalwood gorgeously. Who cares where it came from?

Sonoma Scent Studio Cocoa Sandalwood– Perfumer Laurie Erickson wanted to make an all-natural perfume for her line and Cocoa Sandalwood was the first in this series. She takes New Caledonian Sandalwood and wraps it in spices and dusts it with arid cocoa powder. When people tell me natural perfume can’t have depth and richness I hand them my bottle of this to end that conversation.

Xerjoff Richwood– When I want my sandalwood straight with no chaser this is the one I reach for. Perfumer Jacques Flori uses real Mysore sandalwood at the heart and cassis, rose, and patchouli are present. Those three notes really just serve to draw out the complexity of the real thing. I think it is the single best sandalwood fragrance I own.

These are a few of my favorite sandalwoods but there are a couple I would have included if they weren’t discontinued; Crabtree & Evelyn Sandalwood and Amouage Sandal Attar. If you love sandalwood both of these are worth the effort of seeking them out through online sources.

–Mark Behnke