Messe de Minuit by Etro
I know it's quite creepy, but after smelling Comme des Garcons 2 MAN for the first time, I realized how much I liked the church smell when I was young...
The top-heart notes on this are wonderful, however, since I don't particularly love its drydown, anyone know any similar scent?
We want a niche forum.
Messe de Minuit by Etro
I love CDG2 man too. There are many churchy incenses (eg Avignon and Zagorsk), but I cannot think of anything with the candle-wax.
My other Italian catholic-church-memory perfume is Hindu Kush by La via del profumo, which obtains the effect not via candle-wax, but via a sort of camphoraceous floor-wax, like a well kept church. (Unfortunately, it is not very durable on me, so it wouldn't solve your cdg2 duration problem anyway)
cacio
Full Incense by Montale
Around Midnight by Marc Buxton is a re-worked version of Avignon to my nose. It's less harsh, but still has that churchy incense vibe. It smells like cold air on a crisp night with frankincense burning. There's no candle note to it, but there's a really nice dose of chamomile that is relaxing and cool - it might give you a similar vibe to candles and incense. At the same time, I'm sorry to say I haven't smelled anything that smells exactly like a church with candles and incense burning.
The closest thing I can think of after Around Midnight would have to be Cologne pour le Soir by Maison Francis Kurdkjian. It has a churchy vibe (frankincense in the base) and there's a huge dose of soft benzoin in it, that reminds me of wax sometimes.
Good luck and don't forget to post back once you've tried some of the recs here.
Sales thread here
Heeleys Cardinal is all about that church vibe.
I second the suggestion of Montale Full Incense
That "waxy" smell from the aldehydes is one of the characteristics that makes CdG2 Man so unique. I agree with the others that Etro's Messe de Minuit is a close relative; the combo of its bright orange top note and the lurking honey note, combined with the frankincense, bring to mind CdG 2 Man's burning candle vibe. But MdM is less brutal, and has a "dampness" that's not present in CdG2, it's also a bit more complicated than the amazingly simple 2Man.
Definitely Full Incense
Gucci Pour Homme I
No.88
Le Labo vetiver 46 has a church vibe to me.
+1 for Gucci Pour Homme 1. Also, Tommy Bahama original (brown bottle) kind of has that same vibe as well.
Heeley Cardinal and Cdg Avignon are practically the same frag...what you could do is get the Avignon candle and use the wax as solid perfume, that I think would do the trick...Avignon brings me back to Easter mass but it's so wearable
Current Top 5:
Tabac, Cardinal, Brookes Brothers, Musc Kublai Khan, Andron
"When you become comfortable with uncertainty. infinite possibilities open up in your life"
-- Eckhart Tolle
Right now I think that I have all the fragrances that I want.
We want a niche forum.
Right now I think that I have all the fragrances that I want.
Vintage MdM. Screw those a**holes at Etro for ruining every single fragrance. Also Curiosities candle by Diptyque. It is a candle however LOL
I haven't tried most of the other fragrances that are dominating this thread so, I can't compare but when I fell hard for Bond No 9's Silver Factory a few year's back, it was largely due to the very prominant incense note(s), which to my nose is super churchy - and IMO, can easily be worn with or without Catholic guilt.![]()
Amouage Honour Man - more waxy than CdG2 Man. Kind of a stony/woody austere incense.
***For sale:
Iris Pallida 50ml
Ungaro I 75ml
and more! - http://www.basenotes.net/threads/301...n-Man-and-more
Excellent thread. Especially because in Orthodox church where I come from, the candle-wax/incence factor is even stronger![]()