Struggling with Incense!

[mrdt]

For some strange reason, when ever I try a frag with some type of smoky incense that note overtakes the entire frag.

Completely not working:
Jubilation XXV, Divine's Lhomme Sage, & Mechant Loup.

Somewhat likable:
Tauer's L'air du desert Marocain, Le labo Rose 31

Can actually pull off:
Dzongka

It seems most of the members here swear by some of these but I can't for the life of me understand why they don't agree with me.

I was wearing Jubilation XXV and I know it's a bit smokey but someone (a female) actually told me that it is something a member of another race would wear.

What a shame. Hopefully when the extreme cold weather hits Western New York the tide on these will change.

[mikeperez23]

Maybe you just don't like incense. No big deal. There's a ton of other prominent notes out there, why don't you just look elsewhere and maybe later on your nose will warm to incense scents then?

[Desert]

I have the same thing. I sniffed a couple of frags with incense in it and I didn't like it. For example, i tried to like Tauers Desert Marocain so bad, but it didn;t work out. Same thing with pepper, it's not bad but I don't want it on my skin

[The Duke]

One of my favorites is Comme des Garcons Avignon layered with L'Artisan Passage D'Enfer. On their own Avignon can be a bit dry, and Passage can be a bit floral; but together they are amazing.

[Candy]

I know what you mean. I love the smell of sandalwood (very incence-y) but whenever it's in a fragrance, it just completely takes over, so I avoid it (fragrance-wise, I like it in candles)

Just out of curiosity, what exactly did your friend say about wearing a fragrance from another race. I'm not trying to start a fight, I'm honestly curious. I've never heard anything like that before.

[Bigsly]

Don't feel that you need to apologize for not liking a particular note or accord. It's like being sad because you prefer a room painted tan rather than light green. Just keep sampling and coming back to frags that you think have something to offer, but you don't like yet. This has worked out very well for me. However, some frags I didn't think I would ever like and got rid of, mostly the ones with strong lavender notes. Other notes I've come to like, even though I didn't like them initially.

[inscentiable]

I have the same problem, mrdt, and sometimes I feel like it's the bane of my existence! I so very much want to enjoy frags with incense in them during cold weather, but after maybe an hour any incense blooms so much on my skin that I'm gagging and trying to get it off. It overwhelms to the point of near-losing-it nausea.

I adore Olivier Durbano Amethyst for the first bit - grapey, smokey, a bit piney, very lovely. But it, too, goes the way of everything else and I'm in an incense haze before long

[Strollyourlobster]

About the race thing. I know what this person is saying, I think. Unfamiliar smells strike people as powerfully alien or even transgressive. If you take up perfume partly as a form of travel in time and place and between traditions, then you're going to strike certain less cosmopolitan people this way. They'll live.
If you're still interested in incense, there are lots of other ways to come at it. Have you tried a white smoke incense like Comme des Garcons 2 Man or Lorenzo Villoresi Lui? Those are much lighter, an incense vibe that you might almost describe as clean. And then there are raw resins the frankincense in C&S #88 or Domenico Caraceni. These come across as buoyant, nearly sweet, not at all smoky or grimy.

[bokaba]

YSL Kouros if you dare...

[ChickenFreak]

I dislike a majority of incense fragrances, but I like a few (Kyoto, Serge Noire, Dzongkha) very much. L'Air du Desert Marocain was a scrubber on me, was was Incense Rose.

The only pattern that I can see so far is that I dislike incense with florals. Maybe you also have a note or note category that just doesn't mesh with incense for you?

[nwatts88]

For some strange reason, when ever I try a frag with some type of smoky incense that note overtakes the entire frag.

Completely not working:
Jubilation XXV, Divine's Lhomme Sage, & Mechant Loup.

Somewhat likable:
Tauer's L'air du desert Marocain, Le labo Rose 31

Can actually pull off:
Dzongka

It seems most of the members here swear by some of these but I can't for the life of me understand why they don't agree with me.

I was wearing Jubilation XXV and I know it's a bit smokey but someone (a female) actually told me that it is something a member of another race would wear.

What a shame. Hopefully when the extreme cold weather hits Western New York the tide on these will change.

Olivier Durbano's Turquoise might work for you. It has a very light, clean incense note that lingers in the background. Try the new Nasomatto Black Afgano, a very sweet almost gourmand incense and rich woods, looking at your wardrobe I can imagine you'd like it. Eau d'Italie Sienne L'Hiver is (in my head anyway) a close relative to Dzongkha (both from the same guy)–they both have the same incense and iris notes, but Sienne has a sweet, creamy gourmand heart, whereas Dzongkha is much colder with its stark stony woods. If you're into vetiver I'd recommend Le Labo Vetiver 46, a blend of woods, incense and vetiver, with a few warm flashes of rich cloves and vanilla. It's not really one of my favourite vetivers, but its subdued incense is quite nice, rounded off and softened by light gourmand touches.

And yeah, whoever said that to you about Jubilation XXV is a bit clueless.

[ohhmygod]

Gucci Envy ? This incense is easy to wear I like L'air better though.

[odysseusm]

I like dry, resinous scents and actually seek out incense-oriented scents of that type. For example, Profumum's Olibanum which is centered on frankincense, is wonderful. Comme des Garcon's Incense line, especially Zagorsk and Kyoto, are very translucent, dry scents.
Some incense scents can be very heavy, sweet, "gothic".
May I draw attention to the Coneheads social group, here on Basenotes? There are threads there discussing incense and resin.
Cheers, ody

[warlandsboy]

I would say take a break from the incense, and then go back to it later once you've gotten to smell more scents. I've come back to scents I initially hated, but then after trying more I ended up loving them when I came back.

[SillageMonger]

Although there are many, many fragrances out there with a prominent incense note with which I am unfamiliar, I have always found Signature for Men by S.T. Dupont to have used incense quite tastefully. Nemo by Cacharel also makes very good use of the incense note. While many would disagree, the ultimate drydown of the original Kouros has an incense note to die for. Absolutely wonderful! Good luck!

[rogalal]

I would say take a break from the incense, and then go back to it later once you've gotten to smell more scents. I've come back to scents I initially hated, but then after trying more I ended up loving them when I came back.

I'll second this. Early on, when I first started trying the weirder niche scents after years of designer scents, I tried a bunch of well-reviewed incense scents (Timbuktu, Passage d'Enfer, LADDM, etc) and mostly found them confusing and kind of gross. After sampling hundreds and hundreds of fragrances and learning more about the more unusual notes and how notes that aren't often paired together smell when mixed, I can now "get" and appreciate incense frags in a way that I couldn't before. I think I just had to grow into them. To some degree, I think they're the caviar of perfumes. If you try caviar without knowing it, it's nasty. Once you've trained your palate, you appreciate the nuances.

And to this day I still don't "get" many classics. Or musks. Or floral chypres. It's a learning curve, I guess. And I'm still way at the bottom.

[L'Aventurier]

I was wearing Jubilation XXV and I know it's a bit smokey but someone (a female) actually told me that it is something a member of another race would wear.

Well now, if you were that "other race" and you were wearing Jubilation XXV, it just wouldn't be so exotic smelling now would it? That would almost defeat the purpose IMO.

I think it's best to wear things that you wouldn't expect someone like yourself to wear. Fragrance is just another amazing way to break from boring molds we are put into by society.

[LittleMissWrite]

I struggle with Tauer's Incense Extreme but can just manage L'air du Desert Marocain - if I apply lightly it doesn't give me a headache. However, I love Bond No 9 Andy Warhol Silver Factory so maybe I just find Tauer's fragrances a bit too heavy for me.

[tott]

Shalimar and Chanel No 22 both have wonderful incensey drydowns that are distinctive but not overwhelming.

[PorkFat]

I was wearing Jubilation XXV and I know it's a bit smokey but someone (a female) actually told me that it is something a member of another race would wear.

What does this even mean? And why is it a bad thing that you smell like "a member of another race"?

[chipper]

try Dia might like it

[ECaruthers]

mrdt,

First, I'm happy to hear there's another Basenoter in Western NY. I've been feeling pretty isolated. Welcome.

Second, If you're not related to the girl making racial comments you could just avoid her company.

Third, How about frankencense? You could buy a bottle of the EO at Wegmanns. If you like it, you can look for that note in the BN fragrance directory.