Hello fellow sandalwood freaks! Remember to read the introduction here and the sandalwood primer here. Also, Part I of the sandalwood reviews (0-M) here.
Precious Woods (April Aromatics)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
Precious Woods is a contender for the best woody perfume on the market today. Although natural perfumes can sometimes be muddy, this one has impressive scope. The top notes are dark and oily, almost pungent, with a full helping of aromatic fir balsam, pine, and the lactic sourness of sandalwood. It ain’t pretty, but it is real. As lung-filling as walking through a forest densely knotted with fir and cedarwood trees, the opening almost recreates the effect of the topnotes of Norne by Slumberhouse – while they do not smell alike, there is the same general sense of notes crowding in on you too thickly.
Soon, though, the initial tension dissipates. Through the camphorous murk comes a wisp of incense smoke, weaving in and out, cutting the density, and paring back the oily balsams until you see the real subject matter of the scent standing there unobscured, namely the richest cedar in existence. For much of the mid-section of Precious Woods, there is an almost equal dance between cedar and incense.
It smells richly spiced, slightly smoky, and muscular. I am reminded, whenever I wear this, of the discipline it must take to direct attention to one material, without feathering off into extraneous detailing or piling just one more thing on. If you have ever worn a perfume and lamented the perfumer’s inability to ‘leave well enough alone’, then try Precious Woods to see what curation smells like.
The best part of the scent is the aromatic, creamy brown sandalwood that rises up from the base. It has the same spiced gingerbread sweetness and dairy-rich mouthfeel as in Neela Vermeire’s first three fragrances or vintage Bois des Îles (Chanel), other sandalwood-rich scents. Precious Woods is admittedly an expensive choice for when you want a woody perfume, but if you really, really want a woody perfume, go straight in at the top end with Precious Woods and you won’t regret it.
The oil is also remarkable, but quite different from the eau de parfum. It opens with an oud-like note, which is to say wood that is a little leathery and sour. There is also a plasticky nuance to this topnote, like wood varnish or the terpenic whoosh from a newly-opened can of latex paint. Right behind this accord is the gluey, peanutty rawness of freshly-split lumber, pointing to the presence of sandalwood. But there is also quite a lot of cedarwood, its damp armpitty nuance reminding us of why so many perceive cedar as smelling a bit funky.
All the basic building blocks of the eau de parfum are present and correct in the oil, but the difference is that, in the oil version, they are all there at once, rather than unfolding gradually. Crucially, an oud-like note replaces the coniferous balsam opening of the original. With the fecal, coffee-ish properties of cedarwood on full display, the Precious Woods perfume oil initially smells quite like The Body Shop Sandalwood oil designed with higher quality materials and a much bigger budget.
Soon, however, the Precious Woods oil segues into a long mid-section that is roughly similar to that of the eau de parfum. Thanks to the patchouli, cistus, and buddha wood, the dark aridity of the cedarwood is fleshed out and thickened by nuances of whiskey, amber, and woodsmoke. This gives the wood a slightly sweeter, more relaxed character.
In the oil, the general impression is that of a log of wood fluffing out in anticipation of its serving of double-cream sandalwood. Does this arrive? Actually, no – or at least not to the extent it does in the original eau de parfum. If you want a more sandalwood-focused experience, therefore, choose the eau de parfum. If you are looking for a rich, smoky cedarwood experience, then the oil version of Precious Woods is the better option. Both are insanely good.
Pure Sandal (Al Haramain)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
The name must be one of the cheekiest pieces of misdirection in the business, but though it is neither pure nor sandal, Al Haramain’s Pure Sandal is a pleasing little thing. It at least makes a valiant effort to recreate something of the sweet-and-sour aspects of a Mysore oil using synthetic sandalwood molecules, which is more than can be said for many other oils with sandalwood in the name.
The first clue to its synthetic construction lies in the booming sillage of the perfume when first applied to the skin. It immediately fills the room with a loud woodiness in a way that no pure sandalwood oil does. Rich and sour at first, the scent eventually develops a slightly sweet, powdery finish that nonetheless remains fresh. Men could easily wear this. Pure Sandal is a reasonably pleasant attempt at a sandalwood aroma, one that, if you are into layering, will do a creditable job of lending simple rose oils or attars a ‘sandalwoody’ boost.
Apart from the obvious tomfoolery over the name, this is not a bad option for those who want a sandalwood fix but who find themselves on a tight budget. Personally, I would just adjust the name to read Al Haramain ‘Pure Sandal’ rather than Al Haramain Pure Sandal because those inverted commas convey a more honest message.
Photo by Abby Savage on Unsplash
Royal Parvati (Ava Luxe)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
Royal Parvati is Jicky (Guerlain) as seen through an indie sandalwood haze. The resemblance to civet-laden Guerlain classics is helped along by (I suspect) either a dollop of black-brown ambergris, with its intimate, halitosis-like funk, or a synthetic civet material.
The lime-peel brightness in the opening recreates with eerie accuracy the famous ‘curdled cream’ topnote of both Jicky and Shalimar. In the case of Jicky and Shalimar, it is the meeting of lemon and vanillin that prompts this effect. In Royal Parvati, it is likely the cream of the sandalwood interacting with the silvery, high-toned topnotes of the Peru balsam or orris root. It never fails to amaze me that the complex note interactions that makes a Jicky or a Shalimar so distinctive can be arrived at – whether accidentally or otherwise – by smashing other materials with broadly similar effects into each other at high velocity.
Over time, the filthy ambergris or civet swells up even further, impregnating every fiber of the creamy woods. Royal Parvati eventually settles on the aroma of split logs in an Indian sandalwood forest – humid and milky – but with the crotchy funk of a hot woodsman who has marked his territory by rubbing his nether regions into the grain of the wood. The result is a deeply musky, civety wood scent that gives you all the naughty bits of an unneutered Guerlain without weighing you down in baby powder. In my humble opinion, Royal Parvati is one of the true standouts of indie oil perfumery.
Sandal 100k (FeelOud)
Type: essential oil
Sandal 100k is distilled from the buried roots of old Santalum album trees harvested and cleared from land in Indonesia. Completely forgotten about, the rootstock of these noble old trees lay in the ground until the locals figured out there was precious oil in them there roots! Sandal 100k was distilled by Russian Adam of FeelOud, one of those oud pioneers who upped and left a comfortable, suburban life in the West to spend their lives distilling precious oils in the humid, fly-ridden jungles of the Far East, simply for the love of real oud and sandalwood oils.
To make the oil, the roots of old trees – all aged at least between eighty and a hundred years – were dug up, cleaned off, and set out to dry. The roots were then broken down into small shards, and finally, pulped into a sawdust-type mixture which was placed in the distilling pot. Technically, S. album roots enjoy the same sandalwood bragging rights as heartwood from a one hundred year old s. album tree because it is both the right species (S. album) and the right age.
Sandal 100k smells bright, greenish, and terpene-rich at the offset, with all the nutty, savory sourness characteristic of Santalum album perched just behind it. The green rootiness dies back quickly, allowing the salty, buttery sides of the oil to emerge. For the first part of the ride, therefore, the oil lingers in the aromatic, fresh category of Santalum album, but as time goes on, it reveals a rich, sweet nuttiness that qualifies it as the perfect sandalwood for everyday use.
Sandal (Al Shareef Oudh)
Type: essential oil
Sandal is a blend of Indian sandalwood (Santalum album) and Australian sandalwood (Santalum spiccatum), cleverly mixed to ensure that one fills out the gaps in the other. The Australian sandalwood adds a rugged, hearty aromatic body that gives the soft, pale, creamy Indian sandalwood a backbone, and the milkiness of the Indian sandalwood tones down the blunt, piney greenness of the Aussie stuff. The idea is carried off to perfection. It is sweet, creamy, and incensey in the Mysore fashion, but also nicely outdoorsy and fresh. The two oils complement each other very well, and neither dominates.
If you like the musky, armpitty feel of the cedar-sandalwood blend in Tam Dao EdP by Diptyque or the brusque creaminess of Wonderwood by Comme des Garcons, then know that Sandal by Al Shareef Oudh shares a similar aroma profile. It is sweet, nutty, and aromatic, but also blandly creamy – a perfect balance of the rough and the smooth. Unlike the commercial Diptyque fragrance, however, Sandal’s central accord is durable, meaning that it hits its stride and stays there for the entire day. Doubtless Sandal would not satisfy a Mysore purist, but as an everyday sandalwood wear, it is a great option.
Sandalwood (Nemat)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
The Nemat version of sandalwood is famous for being a good, hippy-style representation of what sandalwood smells like. However, to my nose, it smells like amyris or another wood oil with some creamy sandalwood synthetics thrown in for volume. It smells good but generic. The creamy loudness of the sandalwood synthetics masks a certain varnishy, pinesol tone to the underlying wood. The best one can say about it is that it develops a rather attractive raisin-like sweetness in the drydown.
Photo by Austin Wilcox on Unsplash
Sandalwood Spirit (Abdul Samad Al Qurashi)
Type: mukhallat
ASAQ’s Sandalwood is a lush, tropical version of sandalwood, its generously humid wood fleshed out by notes of coconut milk and flaked coconut. The faintly gluey nuances up top are markers of authenticity, as is the oil’s quietness. However, it would not surprise me to learn there was a synthetic smoother or two in the mix here, helping to create the perfectly rounded impression of what smells like expensive European sunscreen.
Soft, milky, with coconut cream notes dissolved in a clean, white musk trail, Sandalwood Spirit wears more like a finished perfume than an essential oil. It is quite powdery in the drydown, and even features a hint of rose hidden within its folds. It will win over anybody who prefers discreet smells over loud or pungent ones, even if that means making a few concessions on the purity front.
Photo by Sam Hojati on Unsplash
Santal Carmin (Universal Perfumes & Cosmetics)
Type: dupe, concentrated perfume oil
Santal Carmin by Atelier Cologne is a wonderful and slightly odd sandalwood fragrance that smells more like hot milk, Petit Beurre biscuits, and the inside of a new car than actual sandalwood. Its creaminess is slightly generic, featuring a paint-by-numbers porridge accord that one often experiences in more gourmandy sandalwoods. But it has its attractions too, such as the flash of something citric up top to lift the scent into the air, and that guilty-pleasure nursery pudding facet in the drydown.
The dupe smells just as chemically-engineered as the original and follows the same basic blueprint with regards to texture, structure, and development. The sweet saffron-laced milk-and-biscuit accord kicks in a touch earlier in the original, while a very tart lime topnote extends the impression of freshness for far longer in the dupe. The original is more creamily suede, whereas the dupe is more creamily pleather. But these are minor differences. If you enjoy Santal Carmin but don’t fancy the price tag (and who does?), then this dupe is an excellent substitute.
Santal Mysore (Abdes Salaam Attar)
Type: tincture
This sample is a tincture, not a distillation, so there is a blast of perfumer’s alcohol to contend with at the start. This makes sense, as Dominique Dubrana makes all-natural, spray-based perfumes, and thus makes all his tinctures by hand too. Experiencing a material like Mysore sandalwood through the medium of a tincture rather than an oil allows one to glimpse facets of the material that might escape notice in a pure oil. It is almost as if the tincturing liquid stretches out the space between the molecules, allowing us to see them more clearly in isolation.
The Santal Mysore from La Via del Profumo reveals a surprisingly floral nuance to the sandalwood, a mélange of rose and gardenia over a salted butter and cream version of the famed wood. It is savory and nutty, with a texture close to cream cheese. It is beautiful but ephemeral. I find myself applying it over and over to rewind to the moment where that gardenia bomb detonates.
Photo by Maude Frédérique Lavoie on Unsplash
Santal 33 (Le Labo)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
Famously the signature scent of thousands of hipsters in certain areas of Manhattan, Santal 33 by Le Labo has become a bit of a design cliché – the olfactory equivalent of the Barcelona chair or the man bun. But just because everyone is wearing it doesn’t make it a bad fragrance. It is maybe even a darned good fragrance, as long as you are able to park your expectations at the door.
For one thing, despite the name, Santal 33 is really a leather-focused scent, with a salty, green cucumberish quality that is almost aquatic. It opens with a powerful blast of chemical violet, salt, leather, and that aqueous herbal element, making me think of vetivers like Fleur de Sel by Miller Harris. But focusing too closely on the individual elements is of little use here because the total effect is so forceful that you just have to give yourself over for the ride. Santal 33 is intensely masculine: full of raw oily leather, cedar, and balsam. It makes me think of a lifestyle concept store – one of those cavernous, white empty studio spaces where they place a tangle of parched white driftwood in one corner and a red pleather couch in the other.
Only much later on does the typical aroma of Australian sandalwood makes it presence known, with its light green aroma of dried coconut husks and freshly-hewn cedar logs. In general, this is a dry, woody-leathery scent with a green, sea frond aspect, rather than the lactonic sandalwood its name seems to suggest. It smells slightly of books, the raw, harsh chemical breeze of salt and Iso E Super whitewashing the scent until the grain of newly-printed paper appears.
The perfume oil of Santal 33 is, for me, infinitely preferable to the eau de parfum. It smells immediately of the scent’s most vital elements, namely that tough, violety leather and green coconut, but with all the petrochemical harshness removed. If you like Santal 33 but are nervous of its chemical-driven loudness, then allow me to beckon you over to the perfume oil corner. Good stuff.
Santal Royale (Ensar Oud)
Type: essential oil
Unlike Santal Sultan below, Santal Royale is a pure Mysore oil, distilled from vintage stock (thirty to forty years old) of red Mysore heartwood. Also, in contrast to Sultan, which has been aging in the bottle since 2005, Santal Royale is a relatively young oil, having been produced in 2013. It is a very interesting experiment, therefore, to compare the two oils, seeing as one comes from non-Mysore s. album but has been aged for almost fifteen years, while the other comes from a vintage Mysore stock of wood but is a relative ‘young pup’ in the bottle.
And aroma-wise, there is a difference. Whereas aging has rendered the Sultan smooth and buttery, Santal Royale still retains the lively sparkle of freshly-cut wood. This is especially apparent in the topnotes, which are fresh and silvery, with hints of menthol, crushed peanut shells, and rubber. Above all, it is bright, sandalwood floodlit from all sides, little veins of sap and salt sparkling like diamonds in the grain of the wood.
There is zero greenness, and no camphor or pine. There is a hint of mint at the start, but the cushioned mintiness of a menthol cigarette more than fresh herb. The main characteristic defining the heart is a very salty, bright blond wood note. On his website, Ensar mentions that it possesses notes that could remind people variously of ambergris or musk. It does not remind me of deer musk at all, but I can see where the ambergris comparison comes in, in that they share a sparkling minerality characteristic of white ambergris.
It is not as dark or as velvety as Santal Sultan, but with its bright, tenacious ‘salty peanut shell’ aroma, Santal Royale probably comes across to people as more sandalwood-ish at its core. In the drydown, a sugared thread of incense crystals dances in and out of the savory, nutty aroma. Texture-wise, it is far more robust and tenacious than Santal Sultan and might even be described as invigorating. It has a lively, movement-filled presence on the skin.
Santal Sultan (Ensar Oud)
Type: essential oil
Santal Sultan proves that santalum album grown outside of the Mysore region can be every bit as luscious as anything grown in Mysore itself, providing that care is taken with the quality of the wood and the distillation process. When I say quality, I mean oil distilled from properly mature s. album heartwood or roots – over a hundred years old for preference – and by careful distillation, I mean someone who knows how to supplement elements that might be missing to make up the traditional Mysore flavor profile.
Santal Sultan is an oil that meets all these criteria. It is made from a distillation of a hundred-year-old roots of santalum album trees in Aceh, a semi-autonomous Indonesian region located on the northernmost tip of Sumatra – which takes care of the age issue. Then, the robust reddish-brown depth missing from the pale rooty oil was added back via a co-distillation of the Aceh roots with red heartwood from wild Tanzanian sandalwood trees, which lends the oil a rich, almost incensey depth. Taken together, the two woods create a true Mysore aroma. Now that is alchemy.
Note-wise, Santal Sultan opens with a smoky, rooty smell that recalls a mixture of orris butter, green wood, burning rubber, and leathery oud oil. There is an almost vaporous, solvent-like quality to the topnotes that risks getting you high if you sniff too closely. This collection of aromas, which might be loosely categorized as antiseptic, gives the oil a medicinal austerity that remains lightly present throughout.
The oil settles quickly thereafter into a classic Mysore profile: buttery, salty, savory-sweet, with a faint backbone of reddish, aromatic wood dust and the sort of ambery warmth associated with labdanum. It is rich and smooth, like a piece of wholemeal toast slathered with a soft salted butter and a pinch of cassonade. There is also a noticeable vein of spice running through the oil – nutmeg pulsed lightly with black pepper. For all its buttery, spicy, incensey richness, however, this oil is also very soft. This is the oil I would buy for meditation and yoga, were I constitutionally suited to any of those sitting-still-for-long-periods activities.
If I were to point a beginner in the direction of one oil that demonstrated – reliably – all the classic characteristics of a Mysore sandalwood oil, then Santal Sultan would be it. In the absence of Mysore-grown oils that have been properly matured, this oil is probably the best example of a Mysore-type sandalwood oil on the market today.
Photo by Max Griss on Unsplash
Serenity Sandalwood Oudh (NAVA)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
Company description: Beautifully raw and aged Sandalwood from India and Egypt with Fossilized Sandalwood all blended into a deep, smokey Indian Oudh with hints of our originally named: Arabian Oudh and Egyptian Temple Oudh (from the original ICONS series).
Setting aside the fact that sandalwood does not grow in Egypt and that fossilized sandalwood is not a material used in perfumery, Serenity Sandalwood Oudh smells neither like real sandalwood nor the fantasy kind. Rather, it follows almost to a T the lines of the idea put forth in Alkemia’s Arabesque, i.e., a creamy, woodsy amber with a moreish crystalized sugar finish. More crème brulée than wood, in other words.
Don’t get me wrong – Serenity Sandalwood Oudh smells absolutely delicious, and for those specifically looking for a sparkly, sugary ‘white’ amber (creamy rather than resinous), this will not disappoint. But if you are looking for an authentic Indian sandalwood aroma or a glimpse of the famed, er, Egyptian sandalwood? Look elsewhere. This is a pretty ambery-woody affair with an effervescent, powdery finish. Not that there is anything wrong with that, of course. It just does not do what it says on the tin.
Sondos (Sandal Rose) (Al Rehab)
Type: concentrated perfume oil
I would be shocked to discover that Sondos (otherwise known as Sandal Rose) contained any real sandalwood or indeed, any real rose. Nonetheless, every time I smell this cheap little perfume oil, my nose is fooled into thinking it is smelling a light, delicate Indian sandalwood kissed by a bright rose.
The sandalwood note is remarkable for its fineness, by which I mean that it does not contain any of the brutish, terpenic sourness of Australian sandalwood. It just smells soft, slightly golden, clear, and sweet-nutty. This points to the use of a synthetic sandalwood molecule such as Javanol or Ebanol in the mix somewhere. But really, when the effect is as pleasurable as this, who cares if the sandalwood is real or not? At this price, I certainly don’t.
The rose note has been well chosen too. Fresh but gently rounded, with nary a hint of harsh lemon or hotel soap, it exists purely to add an innocent flush to the cheeks of the sandalwood.
But be sure to inhale quickly, for this is an experience that lasts scarcely ten minutes before disappearing completely. A delight for rose and sandalwood lovers, you will forgive its short duration in exchange for its unassuming prettiness and shockingly low price.
Wild Mysore Sandalwood Sample (via Sultan Pasha)
Type: essential oil
This sample was provided to me as part of a larger sampler that included Sultan Pasha attars as well as samples of certain raw materials, such as oud and sandalwood. It is a vintage, wild Mysore sandalwood oil (exact age unknown), and, during my research, served as a reliable baseline for how Mysore should smell. The aroma profile of this sample is gentle, blond, with an olfactory range stretching from raw wood and lightly toasted peanut shells to a warm, dry-creamy aromatic aroma with some sourish, lactonic notes. It is the quietest of all the sandalwood oil samples I own. However, its shyness and delicacy are part of its charm.
About Me: A two-time Jasmine Award winner for excellence in perfume journalism, I write a blog (this one!) and have authored many guides, articles, and interviews for Basenotes. (My day-to-day work is in the scientific research for development world). Thanks to the generosity of friends and acquaintances in the perfume business, I have been privileged enough to smell the raw materials that go into perfumes and learn about the role they play in both Western and Eastern perfumery. Artisans have sent vials of the most precious materials on earth such as ambergris, deer musk, and oud. But I have also spent thousands of my own money, buying oud oils directly from artisans and tons of dodgy (and possibly illegal) stuff on eBay. In the reviews sections, I will always tell you where my sample came from and whether I paid for it or not.
Source of samples: I purchased samples from Ava Luxe, NAVA, Universal Perfumes & Cosmetics, Abdes Salaam Attar, Al Rehab, Nemat, Al Haramain, Sultan Pasha Attars, and Le Labo. The samples from Ensar Oud, FeelOud, Al Shareef Oudh, Abdul Samad Al Qurashi, and April Aromatics were sent to me free of charge either by the brands or a distributor.
Note on monetization: My blog is not monetized. But if you’d like to support my work or show appreciation for any of the content I put out, you can always buy me a coffee using the little buymeacoffee button. Thank you!
Cover Image: Custom-designed by Jim Morgan.
