Norma Kamali Incense
by Norma Kamali

This is quite, quite amazing. On first dabbing on (I swapped for a very little of this, so want to make it last) it smells *hot*, like burning or hot ashes. It is almost slightly unpleasant for the first few minutes. BUT it dries down and cools down a bit and after 20 minutes or so, a beautiful incense (frankincense) smell wafts from my skin.

When I put my nose to my wrist, the hot smell is still there and it is one of those perfumes that you don't want to be sniffing up close. But the wafting power is fantastic. Norma Kamali's Incense is just what I want an incense scent to be. Its a shame that it doesn't appear to be available in the UK.

22nd June, 2011.

Spiritual frankincense exhaling from the burning basins placed inside the japanese temples. Relaxing and haunting at once. Unlike the deliciously cold and impersonal Black Tourmaline, this one owns also an hint of warmth that, overcoming the yet present cool-aromatic woodsy feel, links the fragrance to the element of fire. A pharmaceutical spicy starting, pushed up by cloves and cinnamon, preludes to a dry smoky explosion of incense sweetened and tamed in its acridness by an infusion of myrrh and labdanum in order to impress a touch of smoothness in the middle of the  drought. Norma Kamali Incense, the endless enigma of burning incense coming from the hell in the middle of the earth.

17th April, 2011.

When I first sprayed this on, I was put off by the smell. It didn’t really smell like incense, so I think that’s the main reason why I found it aversive. After a half hour or so, I realized that the scent was a lot like the smell of the old fir wood in an early 1900s craftsman house where I used to live. That wood had a strong odor like nothing else I’ve ever smelled, especially on a hot day when the sun had been shining in. It also smells like sherry, especially close up. I despise the taste of sherry, so that’s probably another reason why I disliked the scent at first. Once I realized that the scent was like old, decaying fir wood in a well-lived-in house, marinated in sherry and topped with just a tiny dab of frankincense, I kind of liked it. This image is much more appealing than labdanum-gone-bad. The scent is completely linear, has plenty of sillage (maybe not such a good thing in this case), and is very long-lasting. Bottom line: I think I'm going to enjoy my decant of this odd perfume.

7th March, 2010.

I absolutely adore this scent and find it unspeakably beautiful. Even so, I recognize that it has a certain acrid quality - especially prominent in the opening - that even I find a little challenging. In contrast to other reviewers, I do not smell "burning", but I can see why people might say that. I don't find it spicy or animalic either. The most prominent note to my nose is labdanum, present in huge amounts (and oddly not mentioned by others here). I don't doubt the copal, but I don't know that scent in isolation, so I'm unqualified to comment on it. Incense is perhaps the most tenacious scent in my collection, and possibly also the strongest. I'm not quite sure how to put this into words, but it is a little EVIL - a perfume for malicious spirits. However, the late late late drydown (say 24h. or so after application) is one of the most sublime scents I have ever smelled. This juxtaposition of heaven and hell may be what inspires my sincere LOVE for this fragrance.

10th December, 2008.

I love dry fragrances, but this is too dry even for me, or perhaps dry in the wrong way: harsh and sour. Spices like cinnamon and clove do that to me, and I'd say this is a spice scent rather than an incense scent. Sure, I can feel the incense too, but it doesn't really remind me of a church or temple like some other incense scents do. It's more like smelling a sack of woodchips with cloves mixed in. Only, that would smell good, but on my skin scents like that turn sour, like the woodchips and cloves were wet.

20th June, 2007.

Exceedingly powerful. This is a BURNING incense. Any more than 3 squirts will have people more than 100 feet away asking if something is on fire. Haunting. Used with the right amount of application this is a very nice blend.

21st May, 2007.