Incense

Nawab of Oudh Intensivo opens with cardamom and bergamot, a pairing that sets the Indo-Persian register immediately — cardamom warm and spiced-floral, bergamot lending the citrus brightness that grounds it in wearability.

**Ambre Narguilé** opens with the warmth of a hookah lounge rendered in perfume—honeyed tobacco smoke softened by rum and cinnamon, all wrapped in creamy vanilla.

A densely spiced oriental that opens with a sharp burst of star anise and coriander, cutting through the air before settling into a warm, resinous heart.

Casamorati's Bouquet Ideale opens with the dry heat of cinnamon and nutmeg—not the sugared warmth of a bakery, but spice oils concentrated and slightly sharp.

Babycat opens with an immediate jolt of black and pink pepper that feels sharp and almost confrontational, threading bright spice through a soft haze of frankincense.

Black Gemstone opens with a spark of bright lemon that quickly subsides, making way for the dense, resinous core of myrrh and frankincense.

The opening strikes with a heated rush of black pepper and ginger, sharpened by cinnamon's dry heat, while tobacco weaves through like smoke from a half-forgotten fire.

The fourth Middle Eastern-themed release in the Frédéric Malle Desert Gems series, The Moon by Julien Rasquinet operates in the register of nocturnal excess.

A compact saffron-rose oriental in aftershave format, Futuros takes the Eastern-inflected structure of spiced rose over incense resins and renders it without complication.

Patricia de Nicolaï opens New York Intense with aromatic-citrus brightness: lemon and bergamot provide lift, thyme adding its slightly medicinal herbal dimension.

The opening is immediate and commanding: birch tar's smoky rasp collides with saffron's leathery brightness, creating a tension between raw and refined.

The 2003 Gucci pour Homme opens with a vivid aromatic barrage — lavender, basil, and tarragon against bergamot and petitgrain, sharpened by a thread of ginger.

Roja Dove's Sweetie Aoud wastes no time: bergamot's citrus brightness opens and departs, leaving May Rose standing alone in the heart — a compositional choice that signals confidence in both the rose and what follows.

The opening lavender here is soft and almost powdery, more linen closet than field, quickly folding into the warmth below.

The flanker to Yves Saint Laurent's landmark oriental arrives trailing smoke and leather rather than spice-market exotica.

Green Cedar opens with a crisp brightness—neroli and rose weave together like sunlight through leaves, fresh but not sweet.

Psychedelic Love opens with a jolt of pink pepper and a myrrh-tinged sweetness that feels narcotic from the first spray.

Diptyque's Eau Duelle opens with a rush of pink pepper and a cardamom so green it almost bites.

Kyoto was designed as a meditation on Buddhist and Shinto spiritual practice, and Bertrand Duchaufour's dedication to incense as both structure and subject is complete.

Aurélien Guichard frames church incense in an entirely secular context: a single note of coffee rises from the opening — darkly bitter, warm, and roasted — before giving way to incense and Madagascar vanilla at the heart, the smoke and sweetness coiling around each other without resolution.

Mortal Skin earns its name.

Bois Mysterieux opens with neroli—bright and citrus-floral, more orange blossom than orange peel—a sunny declaration that quickly complicates itself.

The opening is tart and warm at once—green apple sharpened by saffron's metallic sting, with cardamom lending a resinous edge that keeps the fruit from sweetness.

M7 Oud Absolu opens with a sharp citrus brightness that quickly dissolves into something deeper and more resinous.

A bold interpretation of leather that refuses half-measures.

Orion opens with a sharp tropical brightness—pineapple and apple sheared against bergamot—that feels both sun-drenched and strangely austere.

Járnviðr opens with the mineral sharpness of cold stone and a faint resinous bite, like pine sap hardening on bare rock.

Lyric Woman opens with the controlled heat of ginger, cinnamon, and cardamom over bergamot — spice as atmosphere rather than aggression, a slow warm-up to what follows.

Cardinal opens with an assertive crack of black and pink pepper — a terse, almost military intro — before incense takes command entirely.

Black Phantom opens with a jolt of dark rum, sweet and spiritous, cut almost immediately by roasted coffee that keeps the sweetness from turning cloying.

Koh-Kong 2015 opens with a medicinal oud sharpness that borders on antiseptic—challenging at first, but quickly mellowed by a resinous amber warmth underneath.

Amber pour Homme opens with a bright clash—neroli and bergamot cut through by cardamom's dry warmth.

French Lover Bois d'Orage opens with galbanum that feels less green than grey—sharp and mineral, like stone after rainfall.

Decas opens with tuberose rendered in an unexpected register—neither creamy nor indolic, but slightly dry and dusted with tobacco leaf.

Eau Duelle opens with bright bourbon vanilla and a jolt of pink pepper, an immediate warmth that feels both comforting and alert.

Zefiro opens bright and fleeting—bergamot dissolves almost instantly into a rush of cinnamon and cardamom, their heat tempered by the coolness of iris.

Outremer's Lavande opens with a bright bergamot flash that quickly gives way to something far more complex than its name suggests.

The opening is immediately earthy and floral at once—orange blossom lifted and roughened by patchouli, creating an effect that's neither clean nor conventionally pretty.

Irisss announces itself with a crystalline burst of bergamot that quickly gives way to its true subject: a powdered, rooty iris that feels both antique and austere.

Epic Woman opens with spice before flower: cinnamon, cumin, and pink pepper form a warm, slightly aggressive entry that prepares you for the seriousness of what follows.

Vétiver Extraordinaire is exactly what its title claims: an intensified study of a single material, built around a concentration of 25% pure Haitian vetiver oil.

Bergamot opens briefly — barely enough to register before the patchouli-amber-labdanum heart asserts itself with full confidence.

An esprit de parfum concentration means this starts heavy.

Cinnamon, honey, and rose arrive together in the opening — warm and spiced, with bergamot and lemon providing a citrus lift that keeps the sweetness from cloying.

Opium announces itself as a cultural event as much as a fragrance.

Raspberry, cardamom, bergamot, and nutmeg open in a warm, spiced-fruity accord — the raspberry providing bright fruit alongside bergamot's citrus, nutmeg and cardamom adding immediate spiced depth.

The opening is crisp and pale: white grapefruit cut with the snap of black pepper, a citrus bite that feels clean rather than sharp.

The opening jolts awake with sharp black pepper and tart grapefruit, an energetic contrast that refuses to settle into pleasantness too quickly.

Acqua di Parma's 2012 oud offering arrives with surprising restraint.

Boudoir opens with a surprising brightness—neroli and bergamot cut through what could have been merely heavy florals—but within minutes the perfume settles into its true character: a smoky, spiced arrangement built around carnation and a resinous orange blossom that leans more narcotic than fresh.

Silky Woods is the headline fragrance of Goldfield & Banks' commitment to Australian botanicals — specifically agarwood sourced from Queensland, which the house claims is the first such use in commercial perfumery.

The opening is abrupt and mineral—a sharp, almost metallic citrus that recalls both bergamot and the iodine tang of seawater.

Gypsy Water opens with a brief citrus brightness—lemon and bergamot—that quickly gives way to something quieter and more compelling.

Calvin Klein Obsession arrived in 1985 as something dense and unapologetic — a perfume that refused to be quiet.

Bourbon Patchouli opens with a jolt of bitter orange peel and green jasmine that quickly gives way to something darker and more complex.

Squid opens on unexpected ground: frankincense and incense alongside pink pepper — warm, resinous, and lightly spiced.

Youth-Dew is dense where most fragrances negotiate: it doesn't ease into anything.

Star anise announces itself immediately—cool, licorice-sharp, cutting through the warm citrus in a way that feels both medicinal and edible.

Midnight in Paris opens with a bright citrus accord—lemon and bergamot—cut through by aromatic rosemary that immediately sets a cool, nocturnal tone.

Costa Azzurra opens with a sharp, mineral brightness—crushed cypress needles and sea spray meeting dry coastal scrub.

Aromatics Elixir opened in 1971 and has been misread ever since — filed under medicinal by those who encountered it wrong, and filed under masterpiece by those who stayed.

Ambre Gris opens with bergamot sharpened by pink pepper and cinnamon — warm spice wrapped in citrus, like mulled wine held near an open window.

The opening is a bright citrus flourish — bergamot, lemon, and orange in confident, sunlit combination, pineapple arriving in the heart to give the fruit register a tropical underpinning before jasmine pulls the composition toward something more formal.

Obsession for Men opens with a tense duality: lavender's aromatic brightness cut through by hot cinnamon and citrus oils that seem to evaporate almost instantly.

Terre d'Hermès Eau Intense Vétiver is Christine Nagel's 2018 recentering of the Hermès earth trilogy around a single ingredient.

Bitter Peach opens with a dusting of cardamom over bruised stone fruit—not the candy-sweet peach of summer, but something darker and slightly fermented.

The opening is unapologetically sweet and spiced, with plum and cinnamon colliding against powdery iris and violet.

Light Blue pour Homme is Alberto Morillas's 2007 masculine companion to the original, built around the same Mediterranean premise: Sicilian grapefruit, bergamot, and mandarin over juniper open with a clean, sun-bright citrus that's immediately recognisable.

The misnomer is the first thing to settle: there is no orange here.

Cheval d'Arabie opens with a feral greeting—raw civet shadowed by resinous olibanum and saffron's metallic warmth.

The One Luminous Night opens with a crisp burst of black pepper and bergamot that feels almost medicinal in its clarity, softened by green basil that keeps the opening from turning too sharp.

Opening with a jolt of licorice-sharp star anise softened by the tartness of black currant, this adaptation of YSL's famed Opium into masculine territory leans into both sweetness and spice without apology.

The opening declares itself immediately: plum-tinged spice erupting through jasmine and bergamot, sweet but never polite.

The opening announces itself with dark plum and anise, a pairing that feels both bruised and medicinal, like crushed fruit macerated in herbal liqueur.

The opening flares bright and resinous—bergamot cut with cinnamon bark, restrained enough to feel deliberate rather than gourmand.

A*Men Pure Malt Creation opens with an immediate sweetness that recalls malted barley and burnt caramel, as if walking into a distillery mid-production.

The opening unfolds with bright bergamot tempered immediately by resinous incense, a combination that feels less citrus-forward than contemplative.

Blonde Amber opens with a bracing warmth—ginger and pink pepper sharpened by citrus, rum lending sweetness without its usual boozy weight.

The opening of Mercedes-Benz Club Black is all bergamot clarity—a bright, sharp citrus that disappears quickly to reveal what lies beneath.

Mercedes Benz Club Black opens with a sharp burst of bergamot that quickly gives way to its central theme: incense laced with jasmine.

**Esencia pour Homme Eau de Parfum** arrives with the gravitas of polished wood and incense-darkened leather.

The opening flicker of pink pepper quickly subsides into a deeply resinous heart where guaiac wood dominates—darker and smokier than oud itself, with an almost medicinal intensity that feels carved from ancient timber rather than extracted.

Magie Noire opens with a sharp, green collision—galbanum cuts through the sweetness of raspberry and rose like a blade through velvet.

Magie Noire opens with a shock of green bitterness—galbanum slicing through rose and raspberry—before settling into something darker and stranger than its name suggests.

The opening arrives dense and almost sticky-sweet, with lavender pushed past its herbal limit by a thick wave of cardamom and black pepper.

A wisp of smoke curls through the opening—star anise and citrus suspended in something faintly charred, like incense just extinguished.

Intense Oud opens with theatrical contrast — pear and raspberry providing sweet fruit-forward brightness against frankincense, which arrives early as a resinous haze.

The opening strikes with a sharp citrus cut—lemon and bergamot made deliberate by leather and the green-medicinal bite of rosemary.

A-Men Pure Havane opens with an immediate tobacco presence—not the bright, leafy kind, but something denser and almost chewy, as if the leaves were steeped in molasses and left to darken.

The opening announces itself with a sharp curl of frankincense smoke, resinous and slightly medicinal, like incense still burning in an empty chapel.

The first spray brings a jolt of clarity—frankincense smoke threaded with green basil leaves, sharp and churchlike but also kitchen-fresh.

A thunderous opulence from one of the Gulf's most revered houses, Safari Extreme throws open a rose garden in full bloom: Bulgarian rose and jasmine at the core, ringed by tuberose, ylang-ylang, and violet, all lifted on saffron and raspberry-tinged bergamot before landing on a cathedral of dark oud, creamy sandalwood, leather, and clove.

Hérod opens with a thick, resinous cinnamon that feels closer to temple smoke than spice rack—sweet but not gourmand, dense without being cloying.

Myrrhe Impériale opens with the austere depth of genuine myrrh resin—not sweetened or softened, but presented almost as a medicinal tincture might smell in an old apothecary.

Mon Précieux Nectar opens with a bright citrus snap from petitgrain, green and slightly bitter, that quickly gives way to a lush floral core.

KL arrives in the grand oriental-floral tradition of early 1980s perfumery — loud, warm, and unapologetically layered.

Nuit d'Issey Noir Argent opens with a crisp, metallic bite—pink and black pepper dusted over cold grapefruit, like stepping into winter air sharpened by spice.

Oajan opens with a rush of cinnamon-dusted honey that borders on gourmand territory but never quite settles there.

Eau des Baux opens with a dry, resinous warmth—pink pepper's gentle bite softened by cardamom's green-woody sweetness.

Eau des Baux opens with a sharp, resinous bite—pink pepper and cardamom crackling over something darker beneath.

The opening rushes in with bergamot and ginger against a dry papyrus haze—aromatic but restrained, more boardroom than bazaar.

The opening rushes in with a sharp, almost medicinal lavender cut through by ginger's bite and cardamom's resinous warmth.

The opening barely whispers—a faint bergamot that vanishes almost before it registers, leaving you suspended in anticipation.

The opening delivers a sharp citrus burst tempered by pink pepper and mint—bracing without veering into cologne territory.

The almond note arrives first, not quite marzipan but close—a rounded sweetness that lavender and bergamot keep from turning gourmand.

La Yuqawam Homme opens with an unexpected collision of sweet raspberry and metallic saffron, cut through by herbal thyme that keeps the opening from tipping into confection.

The original Shalimar Eau de Cologne opens with a bracing citrus clarity—bergamot and lemon lifted by dry cedarwood—that quickly gives way to something more complex than its name suggests.

The 2009 flanker to Alien arrives denser and more honeyed than the original, its jasmine sambac sharpened by a resinous amber that borders on burnt sugar.

The opening is a swift hit of bergamot that feels more mineral than citrus, like sun-warmed stone rather than fruit.

Spiritueuse Double Vanille opens with resinous smoke—frankincense and incense swirl around bergamot and pink pepper, creating an ecclesiastical warmth rather than the expected pastry sweetness.

The 2023 reformulation deepens the original Acqua di Gio's marine transparency with a resinous backbone.

The opening announces itself with a surge of myrrh and patchouli, dark and resinous, bypassing the usual citrus fanfare entirely.

The opening is a flash of citrus brightness against resinous incense, a brief contrast that fades quickly into the heart.

Mousse Illuminee opens with the verdant shock of oakmoss and bergamot, crisp and slightly bitter, like walking into a forest just after rain.

Mitzah opens with a sharp burst of green cardamom that quickly warms into something darker and more resinous.

L'Air du Desert Marocain opens with a jolt of cumin that stops just short of body-note territory — it reads as warm skin in dry heat rather than sweat, a distinction that matters enormously.

Jubilation XXV Man opens with a ceremonial density—frankincense and labdanum meet blackberry's dark sweetness, creating an atmosphere that feels both religious and indulgent.

Coromandel opens with a whisper of neroli before surrendering almost immediately to a warm, resinous embrace.

The opening is bright and medicinal—lemon peel sharpened by green cardamom, both cutting through what lies beneath.

Khamrah opens warm and resinous from the first spray, cinnamon and nutmeg mingling with bergamot's sharp citrus edge.