En Sens de Bois (2005)
by Miller Harris

Cedar. Pencil shavings. Old wooden pencil boxes. Very dry but not all that severe as the wood is warm/smoky. I'd prefer it as a room fragrance.

1st November, 2010.

The opening is quite masculine and projects very little as most MH frags do. I didn't particularly like the opening it seemed somewhat rotten and a mix of vetiver and incense that reminded me of Grey Flannel. Though within 5 minutes it tones down significantly and reminds me of an extremely toned down Grey Vetiver minus the citrus.

Ten minutes in and it becomes more floral.. dark floral though. It kind of switches back and forth from floral notes, to patchouli to vetiver but all with a woodsy base at this point. It's hard to detect what's going on because it's such a skin scent and nothing really projects. I tend to blow hot air from my mouth on the areas of my arm where I sprayed to get a little bit of projection and life out of it. "Life" I say.. En Sens de Bois, is pretty much lifeless.. but not terrible. It does have a decent aroma, but that's not enough for me. Boring.

13rd April, 2010.

En Sens de Bois is a very cool and moody incense fragrance. It is a fascinating scent because the mood created is quite mysterious and thought provoking but also very solitary. This is an incense of cold isolation and a solitary struggle through the dark night of the soul. It sounds grim, but the fragrance is very cold but there is a purity about it that is intriguing.

What gives these notes of En Sens de Bois its cold earthiness? Very prominent are cedar, vetiver, patchouli, iris, and carrot. The carrot seed oil and iris are particularly noticeable with an icy coolness that lands on a patchouli and cedar chilled vetiver base. The cedar adds to the woodiness of carrot which is quite noticeable. I think this incense is built primarily around iris with carrot seed oil as an accent. Although amber, santal and ambrette seed are mentioned as notes, they are completely dominated by the colder, damp, grey and wood notes.

I give this one thumbs up because I do like it. However, this is not a fragrance that many people will want to wear on a regular basis. It is just too severe.

I like this incense quite a bit but find I can only wear it on rare days when introspection and solitary purity are my challenge.

17th November, 2009.

The title is a pun in French. Literally, it means “in a sensation of woods” but it sounds like “incense of woods.” The scent lives up to its name: it is a lovely woody-incense fragrance. It starts with a very good dusky-green note, which to me suggests that there is some galbanum and possibly clary sage at work. The scent takes on a haunting quality: it seems both airy and powerful at the same time. It is quite dry, with no prominent floral or sweet notes. The woods develop beautifully in the dry-down, and the patchouli is restrained. The incense notes are subtle but enjoyable. The scent sits close to the skin and has a comfortable, comforting feel, just as the blurb says.

21st August, 2009.