commercial sandalwood?

Chanel Allure.

Maybe you can find Cuiron at a discount now... Another one which is heavy on the sandalwood (pure sandalwood to my nose) is Dorissima's Narziß, but is rather expensive. Try to sample it though: http://www.luckyscent.com/shop/detail.asp?itemid=26601

Adolfo Dominguez Sandalo

Egoiste - Chanel
Dune - Dior

The Art of Shaving Sandalwood is still my favorite. Available at Nordstroms and other fine stores near you.

There are other nice sandalwood based fragrances, but they tend to be more expensive, and less purely sandalwood.
I always recommend that folks go to the Art of Shaving website and request samples. They are usually pretty generous.

Good luck.
Slim

You might want to check here - http://www.basenotes.net/community/Y...m=1127843971/0

Tricorn from Caswell-Massey is great. They also have one called Sandalwood but I haven't tried that one.

Guerlain Samsara is prominently sandalwood based. Geo Trumper's is usually reasonably priced as well.

Sandalwood by Elizabeth Arden

yardley santal cheap and cherfull and great quality

laurent

My favorite sandalwood-based scents, in order of top to bottom

1. Sandalwood - Art of Shaving (My top-of-the list favorite. The best quality sandalwood; smooth as buttah! And the longest lasting to boot. It's just plain delicious.)
2. Sandalo - Lorenzo Villoresi (This one is a fragrance chameleon in the manner of Piper Nigrum only with sandalwood as the locus as opposed to pepper. Strong and long lasting.)
3. Sandalo by Etro (Smooth, strong and long lasting)
4. Santal Noble - Maître Parfumeur et Gantier (A greener version of the usual sandalwood. Unmistakable MPG accord)
5. Santal de Mysore - Serge Lutens (the weirdest of the lot. Not my favorite but fun every now and then. Very "SL&quot
6. Santal - Fragonard (sandalwood with a lemon top and tobacco bottom. It's OK but not long lasting on me.)
7. Santal - Floris (a solid, high quality sandalwood but a bit light on me. Disappears in an hour)
Sandalwood - Cologne by Geo F Trumper (nice but perhaps a bit too refined {"British?"}. Still I wear it sometimes, when I am trying to be a silly old git.)

I hesitate to add Santal Impérial - Creed to the above list. I own it. It's ok. It doesn't curl my toes. I holds no mystery. Creed's never do, at least not for me. I never hardly ever spritz it. I should sell it...

Griff

I concur on LV Sandalo and MPG Santal Noble as being great sandalwood-focused fragrances. I consider Santal Noble as one of the greatest fragrances ever made, but unfortunately it's not very versatile, IMHO.

Sandalwood + small budget = Grey Flannel by Geoffrey Beene.

I agree. The drydown is very "sandalwoody". You just have to get passed the initial floral note and sharp opening.

Here are some sandalwood colognes I know of;

Santal Noble (MPG) ; Sandalwood-flavored ambergris. Syrupy sweet amber with subtle yet noble sandalwood... For amber-lovers, IMO

Le Boise (Ginestet) ; Sandalwood + Frankinsence. Very holy smell, reminding you of Passage d'Enfer (L'Artisan) or Kyoto, but more sandalwood than frankinsence...

Tam Dao (Diptyque) ; Cedar + Exotic sandalwood. The sharp top by cedar with sensual sandalwood base. My favorites. Very unisex.

Bois de Santal (Keiko Mecheri) ; Keiko appears to have forgotten to out sandalwood in it, and all you can smell is white osmanthus blossoms.

Sandalo (Etro) : Sandalwood + Frankinsence + Myrrhe. Eau de Cologne concentration, therefore kind of ethereal. To my nose, the myrrh stinks like fungal infection between toes.

Magnetism (Escada) ; The top is grape-flavored cough syrup, but the base is sandalwood and, in combination with some aphrodisiac peppers, it has a very subtle, yet long-lasting sensual base.

VV :

Have to hit this ball again, because I mentioned it earlier, but I am extremely satisfied with Sonoma Scent Studio Sanctuary Pour Homme. Of course this is only for the straight-up santal lover, being as potent as tiger's breath. The drydown, which lasts until you do laundry or take a shower, is a resinous cocktail of frankincense, myrrh, and incense.

Best of all, it's like $17.00 for half an ounce. Can't go wrong, and you can also get a sample for a dollar or two.
http://www.sonomascentstudio.com

I also like Santal Noble, but occasionally that coffee note is bothersome and too sweet, like coconut, and a bit woozy to/on me.

MPG Santal Noble and Tam Dao are on the top of my list. Both are finely made sandalwood-based scents....classics!!! Floris Santal is also good, but a healthy bit of sweetness....good if you like that.

I'm looking fwd to sampling Creed Original Santal...hoping that my local Nieman's acquires it soon!

Cheers,
Jim

Crabtree & Evelyn has a GREAT sandalwood cologne. And...if you're on a budget, the original Curve is a great sandalwood/amber frag.

I tried some samples/decants of sandalwood-themed fragrances. These are my impressions (with my ordinary nose)

Santal (L'Artisan) : It smells great. But initially, the prominent note is pretty much fresh citrus. It almost reminded me of the lemon-ish sharpness of Eau d'Hadrien. I patiently waited for sandalwood, but the more I waited, the more note of what appeared to be vetiver came up (correct me if I wrong). I can detect sandalwood somewhere in its base, but I don't think it's the main ingredient of this fragrance. Nice scent, though.....

Santal Imperial (Creed) : Very creed-ish. There's sandalwood in its base. But the typical "creedish neroli" is dominant here. I would like to take it as "sandalwood-flavored neroli". Those who love Neroli Sauvage may like this one, though.

Sandalo (Lorenzo Villoresi) : Wow, it's beautiful. Sandalwood in its base is very prominent and exotic. But I just wonder what's in its top/middle. According to some info on the basenotes, it says rosewood. Is that what it is? Something adds richness and volume to sandalwood and it almost smells like cloves to my (again, not-professionally-trained) nose..... The drydown is beautiful sandalwood. I love it.

Santal Noble (MPG) : All the basenotes know this one already, but let me comment anyway. The top appears to be a passionate battle between coarse cedarwood (very lumbar-ish and cedar-chest-ish) and syrupy ambergris. Very strong initially, and then sandalwood starts to creep up little by little. The drydown is sandalwood-dominant with remnant of ambergris and cedarwood. Personally, this drydown is heavenly and what I can die for!

Tam Dao (Duptyque) : I actually used to think it was cedar, but one of the basenotes kindly corrected me on this. Sounds like it's cypress, not cedar. Anyway, very sharp woods come up. It's a bit cloying to my nose at this stage, but it eventually calms down. And the sandalwood gradually comes up. I don't know how they do this, but this sandalwood is just more beautiful than the ones used in any other fragrance. It's not aromatic beauty, but more like Buddhistic beauty. Very holy scent. Kind of spiritual experience which makes you want to meditate or something. The drydown is heavenly.

10 Corso Como : This one is very similar to Tam Dao in terms of the sandalwood part. But its top note is plum. It's kind of like the ripe plums you get in Femme (Rochas). Very ripe to the point that it smells like "mature femininity". The base is beautiful sandalwood. Some women may pull this off nicely. But I personally find it hard for me to wear it.....

Sandalo (Etro) :[ch12288]It's a great sandalwood fragrance. But just because it's of eau-de-cologne concentration, Â*the scent is somewhat thinner than other sandalwood fragrances. Probably, I should call it one of the standard sandalwood colognes, but just personally, I dislike the myrrhe used in it. It's just a personal preference and opinion but myrrhe, to me, smells a bit like tinea pedis (fungal infection between toes). Apologize to those who love this cologne, in advance....

Santal Blanc (Serge Lutens) : Is it benzoin? I have no idea, but it smells very sweet, creamy and milky to the point it feels "sticky". I can detect sandalwood in it, but is there musk as well? Something else feminine is much more dominant than sandalwood, which only ends up giving a powedery quality to it. It's Blanc, but not really Santal....

.... to be continued

VV

I haven't tried Santal/Sandalwood (Floris), Sandalwood (AoS), Santal (Fragonard) or Sandalwood (Trumpers) yet. I especially heard great things about Trumpers and am very curious to find out how good it is. Anyway, I will definitely continue my sandalwood "research" and keep everyone poseted.

VV

I expect to receive a bottle of Trumper's Sandalwood in two days.... I really hope it is indeed as good as all those exciting reviews. :

I received my Trumper's sample this past weekend, and I'm wearing Sandalwood today. At first I didn't like it. And then it toned down and I started to like it. And then I started to become wild about it (and wondered what I was thinking this morning, when I didn't like it). Very masculine and complex, and VERY long lasting.

I finally received sample packages from Trumper. Wow. They're very generous, aren't they? I open the vials with high expectations, expecially for the Sandalwood Cologne..... Well, I do not know the exact difference among various species of sandalwood. But my first impression was "very oriental!". It's different from the eucalyptus-y Sandalwood Cologne (The Art of Shaving), which smells very clean and medicinal. It's obviously not like Tam Dao (Diptyque), which starts out with sharp cypress and eventually changes into the core combination of sensual cumin and beautiful sandalwood (which makes you want to make love and meditate at the same time). Based on all the remarks on Trumper on this forum, I had been expecting Trumper sandalwood to be something straightforward and positively one-dimentional. Instead, I'm almost perplexed by the complexity of the scent, which smells like what eau-de-cologne versions of Coco (Chanel) and Mure et Musc (L'Artisan) would smell like. Again, some might say this is a different kind (species) of sandalwood, but it did not impress me much. To my nose, it's very far from the word "pure sandalwood"....

So far, I have tried Santal (L'Artisan), Santal Imperial (Creed) , Sandalo (Lorenzo Villoresi), Santal Noble (MPG) , Tam Dao (Duptyque), 10 Corso Como, Sandalo (Etro), and Santal Blanc (Serge Lutens). My next (and almost final) target is Sandalwood (Floris). I ordered a bottle severel days ago. As Sandalwood (one of the basenoters) kindly told me, Santal, on the other hand, was not impressive at all from a sandalwood standpoint. It's lavender woody (and very pleasantly masculine), but my nose failed to detect sandalwood anywhere in it. My expectation level for Sandalwood, instead, is "extremely high" at this point.

VV

The new Guerlain Vetiver has a strong sandalwood note, don't you guys think so?

Sandalwood is one my favorite notes and i own numerous (just click on my wardrobe) sandalwood based fragrances. I also own a small amount of Mysore sandalwood oil.

That being said,with the exception of SL's Santal Blanc,Trumpers Sandalwood is the most complex of all the sandalwoods i own. It has a very long dry down. But after the multiple layers in the top and middle notes,the base of TS has one of the purest Mysore S. notes ever i have ever smelled.

Jeff

Hi Jeff;

I think I know what you mean by the purest mysore sandalwood. Almost 4-5 hours after applying Trumper on my skin (sort of when I'd even forgotten applying it on my skin), I finally noticed this pure sandalwood note coming up from my wrist. It's truly beautiful as you said. But again, the top-middle note of this fragrance is so crowded that it just keeps reminding me of Coco (Chanel)..... Is there any fragrance which just has this beautiful mysore sandalwood, without this Coco note? Or might I just as well go for sandalwood oil? The followings are the sandalwoods I've tried so far. At this point, my favorite is Tam Dao. I just like the combination of cumin and sandalwood. Do you have any others you can recommend in terms of beautiful sandalwood? I would truly appreciate your advice, because I feel like I'm "stuck" and "lost" in my journey looking for ideal sandalwood, at this point. Thanks!

Santal (L'Artisan), Santal Imperial (Creed), Sandalo (Lorenzo Villoresi), Santal Noble (MPG), Tam Dao (Duptyque), 10 Corso Como, Sandalo (Etro), Sandalwood (Crabtree&Evelyn), Santal Blanc (Serge Lutens), Santal (Floris), Sandalwood (Floris), Sandalwood (Trumper) and Sandalwood (The Art of Shaving).

P.S. Â*Did you ever try an IUNX fragrance called L'Ether? I heard that this one had nice sandalwood also, though I've never tried.

Out of all the sandalwoods that i own.the one that smells the closest to Mysore oil is LV's. Especially after it drys down.

A couple more you may want to try (if you don't mind oils) are Madini's Santal Blanc and Attar Bazaar's Mysore Sandalwood oil. Both are amazing!!

I do have samples of the whole Iunx line and although L'Ether has sandalwood in the base,i personaly do not think of it as a 'sandalwood' fragrance. Its reminds me of a more woody Passage d'Enfer without the lilies.

Jeff

Hey Jeff;

Thanks for the great info!

I think Passage d'Enfer (and Ginestat Le Boise), to my nose, smell more like frankinsence/myrrhe than sandalwood (though they smell great). I was considering purchasing L'Ether blindly, but, thanks to your feedback, let me just hold at this pont then...

Madini's Santal Blanc? Attar Bazaar's Mysore Sandalwood oil? Wow. I've never heard of them....... I am looking at the website of Attar Bazaar now. Very interesting! What about other sandalwood products they have, like Arabian, Egyptian, and Tunisian sandalwood? Also, how do you use oil, by the way? Do you dilute with alcohol? I used to have sandalwood oil from Body Shop, but I just had no idea how to use it.

Thanks again!

I just put it on straight. But just remember, like parfums, oils stay closer to the skin (less sillage) but they last (most do) forever.

Just be aware Vibrant_Violet, if you happen to acquire pure sandalwood oil, you shouldn't apply the product directly to the skin as it is extremely irritant. You will have to dilute it in a carrier (like flaxseed oil, for instance) in a proportion of 2 % pure sandalwood oil and 98 % carrier agent.

There are several places in the net where you can find excellent, pure Mysore sandalwood oil.

Hi Sandalwood!

Thanks for the info! As I wrote above, I used to have s small bottle of Body Shop sandalwood oil before, but it was long time ago and I don't even remember what it smelled like...... Well. I have to confess I had a bad experience with patchouli oil. There was a time when I was crazy about patchouli, and one day I bought a small bottle of patchouli oil, expecting it might smell as wonderful as those patchouli notes from some fagrances I liked. To my chagrin, I found the direct smell from patchouli oil bottle almost repulsive! To my further chagrin, when I tried to apply it directly onto my wrist, I accidentally dropped the bottle onto the floor. None could enter my room next several weeks...... My point is I really didn't know how to play with oil. So you recommend 2% dilution with some medium? That sounds interesting. Generally speaking (i.e. not just for mysore sandalwood), which sandalwood oil (which brand, etc) would you recommend? I guess these hand-made sandalwood colognes smell more straightforward sandalwoody than even Tam Dao and Floris Sandalwood, but would they smell better, actually? Again, I have never played with sandalwood oil and am getting very curious. Can you share your experience with me, Sndalwood? Thanks.

VV

Hi Sandalwood;

Thanks for the info. Oil (even if diluted) lasts much longer than alcohol-based fragrance, doesn't it?

Let me ask you a very basic question. How many different kinds of sandalwood oils are there? Not in terms of different brands, but as for different spicies. When I checked the Attar Bazaar site, they have Arabian, Tunisian, Egyptian and Mysore sandalwood. Each has a brief description, but it does not really tell me the difference. When we say "sandalwood " as ingredients for fragrance, does it usually mean mysore sandalwood? Will you give me a small lecture about different sandalwood species?

Thanks.

VV

212 men smells almost totally like sandalwood to me

I was not aware that Sandalwood oil was an irritant, much less an extreme irritant. I don't believe that statement is correct. Perhaps you are the one person in the world to whom sandalwood oil is an irritant.

dcampen, are you sure you've been exposed to pure and undiluted sandalwood oil ? I have been and can tell you it really is irritant on the skin.

These names are "conceptualizations" and have little, if any, literal meaning. There is no sandalwood oil produced in Arabia, Tunisia or Egypt. There is sandalwood oil produced in East Indian which is sometimes called Mysore sandalwood oil but even here when the term is used in a fragrance description it is likely that it is being used conceptually and not literally.


This is from the EdenBotanicals web site:
The Sandalwood Tree: Sandalwood products are obtained from the sandalwood tree (Santalum album), which is a member of the Santalaceae family. It is known as white sandalwood, Mysore sandalwood, East Indian sandalwood, sandal, Chandan (Hindi), and tan xiang (Mandarin). The white sandalwood is an evergreen tree which grows to 50 feet. It naturally occurs in Eastern India in the states of Mysore, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnatika. It grows in a dry and rocky environment and reproduces by suckers and by seeds. The environmental conditions required by this tree are rather strict and not completely understood. Due to a combination of the environmental requirements and the necessity of living off a host plant, sandalwood is not easy to propagate. Even so it has been long cultivated in other Southeast Asian locations, including Indonesia which produces some good quality essential oil.


Sandalwood is a parasitic tree, which obtains nutrients from several other plant species. While there are other species of sandalwood, including red sandalwood, Australian sandalwood (S. spicaum) and New Caledonian sandalwood (S. austrocaledonicum), these are quite different than true Santalum album and have very different properties and fragrances. There is another tree that yields an essential oil which is sometimes called West Indian sandalwood or amyris (Amyris balsamifera). It is from Haiti and other islands in the West Indies and is not related to true sandalwood. It is however, sometimes used as a sandalwood substitute especially in products such as sandalwood soap, where using the true sandalwood would be too expensive.


http://www.edenbotanicals.com/about_sandal.html

So, the only true sandalwood oil comes from the tree Santalum album which grows in SE Asia, particularly East India. This oil is commonly called Mysore Sandalwood or East Indian Sandalwood.

The oil from the related Australian species, S. spicatum, is, in my opinion worthless as a sandalwood oil substitute. The oil from S. austrocaledonicum is similar to Indian sandalwood oil but has some burnt topnotes. The Amyris oil bears no resemblance to real Indian Sandalwood.

There is also a tree called red sandalwood and I have seen "red sandalwood oil" listed in fragrances but this is a pure conceptualization and has no literal meaning.

Yes, I am very certain. I have samples from a half dozen sources, some going back 30 years.



This is the first I have ever heard of this. I guess with all the people in the world there are bound to be some allergic to most anything. You must be one of the very rare few who is allergic to sandalwood oil.

I checked "The Encyclopedia of Essential Oils" by Julia Lawless and she lists sandalwood oil as being "non-toxic, non-irritant and non-sensitizing".

Hi Sandalwood and Dcampen;

Thanks for all the info. There's always something new I can learn every day!

VV