Sandalo (1989)
by Etro

The pickins are mighty slim in the Santal Forest these days, and it seems fruitless to debate which ones smell most like the real Mysore deal since the answer is probably d) none of the above. Etro's Santal (or at least my decant from a recent vintage) has absolutely no plot, but sure smells good which is more than one can say about Original Santal, the Floris, Lutens and Micheri sandalwoods, which IMO falsly trumpet the word "Mysore" in their names or notes. That being said, the Floris pales in the presence of Sandalwoods that actually contain a healthy slug of Mysore--Creed's Bois De Santal, which costs about 5 times as much, smells about 31.4 times better and as such will get my full bottle money if I can ever find it. I give this a thumbs up only because I always give frags that smell good a thumbs up regardless of their high artistry or lack thereof.

This is a wonderful fragrance. Just received my bottle and I was quite impressed. I was not at all looking to buy, however, after taking a sniff of this stuff I had to buy. The drydown is that of powdery and sandlewood; (very similar to Sandlewood by The Art of Shaving) very soft, yet, masculine. You have got to try this for youself. This is a very long lasting fragrance....all day. My wife loved this! This fragrance is very mild, not at all aggressive , however, it does give its 75 cents though.

A well-executed sandalwood scent with a slight smoky character.

I find that you need to spray this which reminds me a lot of B*Men; if you spray it too close to the skin, it smells of burnt rubber and caramel. The sandalwood remains un"damaged" but still smells great even after a close spray. Beautiful sandawood and patchouli fragrance by the way but my skin just doesn't seem to like it. Turns a bit sour (not burnt rubber). Lasts a little over 3 hours for me. Overall, not bad, smooth and hit-or-miss on my skin.

A true and honest rendition of sandalwood, which gradually evolves into a more ambery drydown. Longevity is good although the sillage is a little shy. It is a quite linear fragrance though, which is a little surprising from Etro. If it wasn't for the sublime 'Santal Noble' by MPG this would be at the top of my sandalwood fragrances list.

Kaern

Sandalwood--deep, oily, and ethereal. I used to think this was close to a pure sandalwood fragrance, but I have done alot of experimentation with resins, and I am able to identify their presence now. Although there are a minimum of supporting notes, this also qualifies, in my mind, as an incense fragrance. There is a good deal of myrrh as well as amber in here. Sandalwood is the star of the show, but the myrrh is apparent all the way through the drydown. The combination of notes is good--it mimics physical warmth. Sandalo has been described as "dry" but I find also find it sweet. It smells like HEAT. This fragrance is dynamic. Although it is linear, the sandalwood is three-dimensional, moving off the skin like waves of rising air.