Cardinal (2006)
by Heeley

A in your face straight up lemony Frankincense fragrance that is good for a one note ride.

The quality is good but for a actual wearable fragrance you need more than a one note accord. If they had a theme and based other notes around the frankincense leading to a olfactory smelling crescendo then this would be more interesting. It smells good in a churchy way but needs more character more notes.

3rd December, 2011.

Long ago polished wooden benches. The sweet yet mildly decadent smell of the dusty aging pews. The smell of robes belonging to someone who has spent enough time in a church to acquire the status of cardinal. Very authentic and accurate in its rendition.

22nd November, 2011.

As much as I love liturgic-frankincense fragrances and I never get tired of them, I still find Cardinal to be among the weakest in the genre. It clearly moves in the same direction of Avignon or Montale's Full Incense but it's nowhere close neither to the magnificence of the former nor to the strong lasting power of the latter. Overall smells fine but lasts nothing. Sort of Avignon Eau De Cologne.

18th October, 2011.

As an ex catholic school girl I can't not like this. But I'm also a big incense fan. It reminds me of the childlike anticipation of Easter and Christmas, smoky ceremonial frankincense that stuck to your clothes in church. Now more of a yogi,it reminds me of shops that have bells on the door and boxes of crystals. I can't pick much more than the dry, woody resin but I love it. It's sparkly at first then It sweetens a little on warming, a touch of amber maybe? The only thing that is a let down is the lasting power. But that first hour is so good I'd buy a bottle for those moments of memories.

5th October, 2011.

Incense, especially the dark, atmospheric kind, has been a rather new interest for me. Since falling in love with Chanel Coromandel, I have been so eager to find other well-done incense based fragrances.

Cardinal by Heeley has been suggested a few times as being true church incense. I'm not a big church-goer, however I do love the smell of a chapel full of smokey incense and mustiness.

Cardinal opens rather strongly and masculine, with a somewhat dirty earthiness coming to the fore. Pepper, patchouli and vetiver tend to stand out on my skin the most. The aldehydes provide a smoothness in texture and smell, which is both intriguing and a little strange.

I was a little disappointed that the incense didn't seem to feature so readily in the first hour or so. However the more the fragrance settled, the less green and earthy it was and the smokier it became.

I can understand how some see the sweetness here, however it's more of a dusty and resinous cedar chest smell to me, with that delightful incensey goodness.

This fragrance does however sit lightly on my skin, without making its strong presence known. I'm actually anosmic to this fragrance at times, which is woeful.

Cardinal tends to lean on the more masculine side of things, however a woman that enjoys wearing rich woodsy or primarily patchouli and vetiver based scents will enjoy this.

I can't say that this is my favourite incense fragrance, however it was extremely enjoyable, nonetheless.

24th September, 2011.

I read the blog Bois de Jasmin frequently. The writer seems to be very well-versed in perfumery. In one of her recent posts (June 1, 2011, to be exact), she described the smell of frankincense as a perfume note. Rather than try to paraphrase, and subsequently butcher, her description, I'll provide a quote:

"The smell of frankincense oil in its pure state is fascinating. At first, it is reminiscent of freshly ground black pepper, with a twist of lemon peel in the background. As the oil dries down, it reveals its dry woody character, which lies halfway between balsamic richness and flinty mineral crispness."

As I thought about it, that pretty much describes Cardinal. I'm not sure there's a whole lot more than frankincense going on here. Maybe just a touch of something a bit sweet to smooth it out, maybe just a tingle of vetiver in the very deep base to give it some oomph. However, for most of the life of the fragrance I smell something that could very easily be described using the words above from Bois de Jasmin. It's quite discreet, longevity is just okay. Still, it's captivating in a way, and even though it's simple, quiet, and not all that long lasting, I can't help but give it a thumbs-up. As for comparisons, it seems to me to be somewhere in between Avignon (though not as heavy/woody as the CdG), Messe de Minuit (though not as musty/dusty as MdM), and Passage d'Enfer (but not as floral as Pd'E).

2nd June, 2011.