Mysore Sandalwood: Profumo.it & Montale

I haven't smelled the Profumo but I do have the montale. The montale is to my nose is warm, creamy and nutty. The nuttty part might have to do with the fact that it is in an oil (jojoba I suspect) not alcohol base. My experience with sandalwood is limited so I'm not qualified to say if it is real sandalwood, what kind or how much if it but I would say compared to the stuff I've smelled at ashrams it's authentic. pm me if you like and I'll send you a small sample of the montale so you can smell for yourself and then hopefully share your thoughts with us.

Futami has described Montale for you so I will try to provide info for the 'other side'.

Profumo.it 's take on Mysore is VEERRRYY similar to Tam Dao. So similar in fact - to my nose - that they are almost indistinguishable. The 'detail' of the nuances are what tells the tale here. IF those subtle details are important to you then they MAY be a big deal.

They both start with an almost identical citrusy note with Tam Dao's being about 50% stronger.

The flip side of the beginning is Profumo it has a more pronounced sandalwood note with that particular accord being + - 2x strength comparatively.

About 10 minutes in - the two seem to even out & catch up to each other. Tam Dao's sandalwood becomes a little smoother or creamier if you will - while Profumo is just a slight touch sharper. At this point these two are equally 'nutty' but the Profumo seems as if it is losing the sandalwood.

Shortly after - about 5 min - they begin to part ways. While the Profumo 'seemed' to be losing its sandalwood note I now realize that it was just shifting gears so to speak because the sandalwood just comes roaring back to life while Tam Dao shifts into a more linear gear and stays there by becoming more creamy and oddly enough has a really tiny hint of amber for me. At this same point the Profumo settles into a truly woody sandalwood and finishes up in that same vein with that 'tone' approximately 25% greater than Tam Dao.

Hope that helps.

Amusingly, my girlfriend got a gift bag from a boutique in Southampton for her birthday from a friend, filled with all sorts of creams and products. And three 2mL samples of Diptyque fragrances. I id dnot care for the other two at all, I believe Philosykos and L'hombre? But Tam Dao is delicious sandalwood topped with cedar to my nose, with a hint of amber in the base. Very comforting to wear.

With profumo.it at least you know your getting the real deal.With Montale they say it's double distilled Mysore sandlewood and your not sure what else is added. I have both and prefer The Montale because of way superior lasting power. It may not be as pure as profumo.it, but I still enjoy the Montale more.

Wearing a tiny dab of the Mysore Sandalood parfum from the Montale Confidential Collections tonight. Wow!

I'm not a sandalwood purist, by any means. I love very simple (Sandalwood by Casswell & Massey) and synthetic/woody (Sandalwood by Art of Shaving and Tam Dao by Diptyque) sandalwood fragrances simply because...they smell good. Not because I think they resemble pure Mysore sandalwood, which I'd never smelled myself - up to today. But now that I'm able to smell the real deal, as it were, so many other facets of sandalwood click into place. Kind of like drinking a red wine that's been aged in oak barrels for years, and then one day smelling the real, cut, oak barrels. It makes the final evaluation all the more educated and satisfying.

Thanks to a generous Basenoter I have a tiny bit and sampling it tonight I am just smitten. Wonderful stuff. I hate wearing oils (preferring alcohol based fragrances) which is why I don't wear many aoud oils. But from just one sampling of this, I could see me making an exception.

I was generous with application - holding the open vial up against my arm and tilting it to make a small drop of oil about 5-6 times, that I smoothed along my arms. Doing this left them heavily scented. Not major sillage (of course, this is an oil) but in my own personal space I can smell it very clearly. If I had applied more on my pulse points, maybe even behind my ears, I'd probably smell it even more clearly. The scent smells much better from far away, it's the combination of the air around me mixed with the sandalwood that produces that tension between sharp resins and creamy texture. Magical, really.

Anyone else own / wear the Montale parfum and wish to share more about it?

Mike - I've been waiting to hear more on the Montale Mysore Sandalwood - thanks SO much for posting your thoughts. As a sandalwood fan I'm so pleased to hear this one is a winner. Is the price per ml even higher than the profumo.it sandalwood?

Yeah that was an epic review Mike. You sure got a way with words.

Thanks guys.

I believe the price for the Montale is 500 Euros/100 ml, 300 Euros/50 ml and 90 Euros for 10 ml (roll on).

Ouch.

Profumo.it's prices are a little more affordable: 90 Euros for 50 ml and 32.5 Euros for 16 ml.

Profumo.it sellls a dillution of mysore sandalwood oil. It is just sandalwood oil in alcohol, the citrus notes (and others) you may smell are aspects of that complex and beautiful natural oil. It is quite dilute; he uses stock he laid down fifteen years ago or more and it is irreplaceable. He has stated that genuine mysore oil is harder to find than good oud oil now. There are many fake and adulterated oils on the market (and have been for many years - there is a story from decades ago of JP Guerlain going to a production facility of a reputable producer in India and finding barrels of a synthetic "round the back").
I have not smelled the montale. It is possible that through connections in the area he has found a source (and the price he is selling it at would be appropriate) though it is much more likely that this is a mixture of oils and synthetics. Which is not to say that it doesn't smell fantastic.

Profumo is about the only person I would trust to tell the truth about what he is selling.

My advice would be - if you are looking for a sandalwood perfume go elsewhere, there are many which use good australian sandalwood and sandalwoods from other parts of the world as well as good smelling synthetics. Some of these natural sandalwoods are produced sustainably too. Profumo says that he uses Australian wood in his compositions (other than one or two) now as the mysore is too rare to use not-pure. Australian also gives a bigger woody heart note with less oil. Tam Dao and sandalwoods with that big pencil note tend to be australian wood, cedar and synthetics. The Creeds use australian wood.

If however, you would like to educate your nose and smell the real mysore oil as a reference and experience what it is like to wear the real thing, buy a small bottle of profumo's dillution and one of his australian. It will not give you big sillage as it is quite dilluted. It will last a long time as sandalwood does.

I used to wear Mysore Sandalwood Oil in the early 70s - nice stuff imported from India. In the 80s I discovered Crabtree & Evelyn Original Mysore EDT which I used and loved for a while till it was reformulated and became sweeter and cloying. I didn't know at the time that this was due to the dwindling supply of real Mysore, which has affected the whole industry.

I started looking around a year ago for a good Sandalwood and have MPG Santal Noble, Villoresi Sandalo and also Etro Sandalo. These are nice blends but didn't really do it for me - something missing - and the search went on. Tam Dao is nice but a long way from the sandalwood I know and remember, didn't warrant buying IMO, and a few others I have come across are not even close.

I got in touch with profumo.it and ordered the 50 ml Mysore 'straight up' with alcohol and M. Dubrano was kind enough to include a vial of the pure Mysore Oil and also a vial of the Australian Sandalwood Oil so I could compare them in the raw. I was intrigued to have this opportunity because it seems pretty well everyone relies on the Oz version these days. The Mysore is the Sandalwood of my late teens and early 20s - the Australian just seems a bit off by comparison, understandably useful in a blended scent but on its own a bit lacklustre. It seems a shame that a lot of people now will probably have not ever actually experienced real Mysore Sandalwood . . . I'm grateful to have the 50 ml because it seems this will soon be impossible to find, but I still enjoy the MPG as a work that includes sandalwood as its main calling card. Haven't tried the Montale so sorry I can't compare. scentsitivity, but thought I'd drop this in - altho h.d pretty well covered the main thrust of it all already