Fleur de Santal (200)
by Sinfonia di Note

Skip the fleur. I don’t find anything floral here. Fleur de Santal is a noble effort to recreate the scent of sandlewood oil. I appreciate the attempt to give a breather to this overharvested beauty, but good intentions don’t necessarily lead to success.

I suspect a number of components were used to make this formula, each one ideally lending a specific quality to recreate the penetrating lushness of sandlewood. I could be entirely wrong on the actual ingredients, but here’s how it seems to me. Cedar for the feel of moist wood. Lactones and musks for a milky quality and rounded sweetness. Benzoin and vanilla to flesh it out and give some boozy voluptuousness. (Patchouli? I can’t quite tell.) Unfortunately these various elements lend more than the one attitude they were called upon for and the focus gets lost. Overall, FdS leans too heavily on the gentle creaminess and comes off as simply sweet rather than rich.

15th April, 2011.

This is my favorite from Sinfonia di Note, at least of the 6 or so I have tried. It's very similar to Musc Ravageur, which I wasn't expecting at all. The main difference to me is that it opens with a cinnamon/spice blast. This is actually nice, not overwhelming at all. It then glides into a rich and creamy phase. I get vanilla and a hint of sandlewood. Then the musk comes in. Its a slightly more dirty musk than MR, but in the same vein. Very well done!

25th January, 2010.