Santal Blond

Коли я тільки спробувала свої перші аромати від Atelier Materi, вони здавалися мені холодними, відчуженими, суворими. Але в міру того, як я вивчала парфуми цього бренду, робила нові відкриття, читала інтерв'ю засновниці Веронік Ле Біан і про її натхнення видами рідної Бретані, я відчувала, що ця «холодність» насправді відвертість, це почуття і думки, заховані у флакони. Я бачила перед собою пейзажі Бретані, вони здавалися суворими, але щирими. Скелі, що звисають над морем, виявилися твердою опорою. Темне, бурхливе море в своїй глибині віддавало спокоєм. Холодний вітер, що обдував обличчя, не намагався заморозити мене, він зробив мої думки ясними і наповнив груди свіжістю. А сонце на горизонті м'яко зігрівало мене і відкидало на м'які хвилі свої промені, які здавалися золотою тіарою на темному, шовковистому волоссі. Все це викликало в мені почуття душевного спокою, нарешті в голові перестав дзижчати рій думок і настала цілюща тиша. Santal Blond став моїм улюбленим ароматом Atelier Materi. Він діє на мене заспокійливо, медитативно. Всі ноти створюють гармонійну композицію, в якій немає нічого зайвого і яка огортає мене як м'яка, прохолодна вода. Перші хвилини я відчуваю пряність і пікантність кардамону і бергамоту, але вони не надто зелені і не надто яскраві. Вони звучать, як м'яка, ніжна, трохи волога зелень в похмурий день, яку колише вітер. Далі я чую м'яку, світлу деревину сандалу, ця нота викликає відразу подвійне відчуття: тверда, світла кора і м'яка, ароматна деревина. Я не відчуваю яскраво вираженого аромату жасмину, але можливо він підкреслює світлі відтінки сандалу і допомагає створити відчуття заземленості. Аромат залишається зі мною ще 3-4 години, але стає більш інтимним, як друга шкіра: сандал став ще м'якшим, більш вершковим, боби тонка дають легку, ледь помітну чуттєву солодкість. Ще я вловлюю щось бальзамічне і заспокійливе, можливо це хінокі? Я ношу цей аромат із задоволенням, він комфортний і затишний, як м'яка пухова ковдра, прохолодна зовні, але тепла всередині. Він дарує почуття спокою і безпеки, він щирий, чесний і сповнений любові.

I pick up all the listed notes, with the initial spray being bergamot and cardamom before into a sweet combination of a Hinoki, Jasmine and sandalwood scent. I can see slight similarity to Wonderwood and Samsara, but Santal Blond stays closer and feels more complex and modern in a good way. An interesting aspect I pick up with the mix of notes is that this feels slightly foodie. I’m thinking the tonka note and cardamom are tricking my nose into thinking I smelling some spice cake in a bakery. No one else is mentioning this so it could just be my chemistry. Immediately after sampling Santal Blond I ordered the Discovery Set direct from Atelier Materi. Of course, as a collector I wish that the company sold their creations in smaller sizes (30 or 50 ml) because it will need to knock my socks off for me to buy a 100 ml at retail price of $260, the only downside I can think of at the moment.

Clean, bright, luminescent sandalwood. I mean this as the greatest compliment when I say that it’s a basic sandalwood scent; as in the perfumers let the sandalwood shine in its natural glory and every other note supports it. The santal here isn’t pickled or dry, but it’s bright, lightly spiced and has a natural sweetness and creaminess. From start to finish, it feels very natural, nothing synthetic or overly powerful. That said, it does leave a delightful scent trail for the first few hours. It feels more Spring/Summer than Fall/Winter and being a cleaner type of wood, it’s a bit more versatile and office safe than others of this type.

I love this scent so much, it’s not about smell, it’s about the feeling I have wearing it. Put this on with your favourite suede jacket and high knee boots - you’ll feel sexy, rebellious, one of a kind

Beautiful sandalwood with a bright citrus opening. Dry and airy but doesn't project much or last very long. Perfect for times you just want to smell good but not make a splash.

Natural sandalwood, using pure natural fragrances... Nutty notes on me. Very happy to have bought this unique beauty. Not unique per se but very natural smelling.

This perfume is exquisite, an excellent sandalwood, but after 3 hours it’s gone... and it’s super expensive for how long it lasts.

THIS! It smells like luxury. To me it is soft and can be worn during the day. I love scents like this. It lasts all day as well.

santal 33 with the pickle patched out

Perfectly likeable sandalwood in that happy medium spot on the spectrum from greener, masculine, more-herbal 'white' kinds (SL Santal Blanc, Tam Dao, even Santal 33 etc) at one end to sweeter, creamier, coconut-adjacent, more-femme blends (Santal Basmati etc) at the other. OK yes fine. Smells lovely - as you would expect, or indeed demand, from the generally really impressive Atelier Materi and its stiff pricing. BUT - it does lack originality, has no spicing, and very little distinctive about it. Gentle and creamy texture, for sure; powdery sweet softness, check; overwhelming beauty, perhaps not so much. Somehow I feel bad to demur from its friendly, cuddly aura, it's like being mean to a pretty-but-dumb labrador puppy but ... I had hoped for more. Definitely superfluous if you've walked many miles on the platonic-sandalwood hunt already. Made me think of Crivelli's Santal Volcanique a little - induces the same strange mix of real enjoyment combined with a bit of FOMO ("?where's the rest of it and when's it going to show up?") and disappointment with how a very witty, sophisticated brand doesn't quite live up to the hype or fill the bill. Really nice, but not spectacular. Amiable, soothing company, but it lacks real character.

I found this a likable sandalwood, a happy middleground piece between all out, Santal 33 trendy fuckery and sweet, creamy, musky, synth sandalwood goodness. It's basically a very pleasant, lightly spiced sandalwood open, reminiscent of the niche game becoming what the designer was 25 years ago. There's even some masculine trope from that period about it in the opening, bergamot and cardamom and such? It must be a thing with sandalwood accords and bases where they invoke that papyrus or nutty quality, this just about gets away with it. I like the brand, this is ok, I'm not overly keen, but it's okay. I put 'like' because I kinda do. Update 01/12/23 I wore this yesterday and feel my original apprasial still holds water, I sort of like the fact it has that offness of modern hipster Sandalwood (minus the horrors) because otherwise it might be giving me a bit too much of what I want. However, it's still oddly cloying and the sandalwood accord has lashings of what I perceieve as Javanol, a material I often praise but in reality is very tenacious and fatigues me massively. Still not a bad wear though and inkeeping with what is all in all a quality brand, not exactly setting the world alight creatively but still decent.

ok, the initial blast is full on cardamom + sandalwood. i'm writing this as i'm wearing the fragrance, and my initial thought was that this is a hybrid of gris charnel x akro awake x xerjoff zefiro. i think cardamom can be done VERY DIFFERENTLY in each fragrance, but overall there are certain types of cardamom seen in perfumery. this one resembles the likes of gris charnel up top but after a short period, that green cardamom blast fades into a creamy, masculine-leaning, kind of blue sandalwood (idk why but it kinda reminds me of shaving cream). when the sandalwood overtakes, it's like i can't anymore distinctly pick out the spice to be cardamom, it's rather like a well-rounded combo of warm spices that go sweet. It's not sharp, i don't wanna overuse the word "well-blended" but the individual elements of this are so perfectly bound, i can't think of a better word. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys ineke jaipur, bdk gris charnel, akro awake, and xerjoff zefiro, though it may be too redundant imo. it's not mind-blowing un, but it's quite good.

I bought a sample set from Atelier Materi and chose to include this fragrance in my set. I agree with most of the reviews here. This is perfectly inoffensive but it lacks a certain vitality, despite the cardamom. I think this is the lack of a real base note grounding the fragrance. This is crying out for something deep and round. The hinoki is pretty shy here, not robust enough for that job. I've never smelled the "pickle juice" note in sandalwood before, but I certainly do not get that at all here. The sandalwood is rather powdery and light - someone said it's like sawdust, and I agree it's like the air in a woodshop. It's about half as creamy as I would like; perhaps a vetiver or musk note would have helped fill it out a bit. It does indeed lean quite soapy, almost a little chemical-like, like a hint of varnish long since aired out of the woodworking studio. No bergamot in sight. I was hoping this scent would be a good use of my 10% coupon with Atelier Materi for a travel size, but I think I will pick another fragrance for that. 7/10.

This is extremely smooth, warm, and creamy. It very much reminds me of a Dunhill designer fragrance. For the first hour or two, it has a thick, honey-like quality. This combines with the sandalwood and a white floral note (I took it to be iris at first) to create a very safe, pleasant fragrance. It sits very firmly in the unisex category as it is neither masculine nor particularly feminine. There's nothing too complex about it either. This has great projection for about two hours, but then it quickly recedes into a skin scent. After about four hours, it's basically gone. This is a good fragrance albeit slightly generic.

Interesting so last year during a trip to Japan I sprayed Bois D'Ambrette and Santal Blond each on my arms. One was brighter and reminds me of Concrete by CDG, and the other one was dry and woodier. Based on desriptions I did expect the latter to be Santal Blond. So now, I got me some samples and guess what, the brighter scents was actually Santal Blond?? I wouldn't call this blond as in white/pale/light to be honest. It's bright and colorful of a scent. It's dusty, and far from a lot of sandalwoods I've smelled. Warm, cheerful, and a tad sweet/fruity somewhere!

Splendid peppery opening, energizing tonic with imperial bergamot and cardamom. Then it calms down in a relaxing and meditative sandalwood blended harmoniously with hinoki and jasmine. On my skin it accentuates the citrus side. I don't get any kind of sweetness from this. Bright, dry, tonic, morning, elegant and of quality. Recommended for an adult audience. Male trend? Likely. Forward I get a pinstripe shade that I don't mind at all, quite the contrary .. . ..I love it. Well done!

I LOVE the smell of this straight out of my sample and for about the first 5 minutes on my skin - it's perfect. (The cardamom is amaaaazing!) Unfortunately, the sandalwood dries down and gives off that dreaded slight dill smell and eventually melds in with the base notes, giving me a basic bar soap scent. Super upsetting that it doesn't seem to mesh with my skin because I am in love with the opening! If this works with your chemistry, consider me jealous. :)

This is a good, but not outstanding, sandalwood scent. It’s done in more of a soft/floral style, compared to the screechy/spicy style, which I like. The citrus and jasmine blend nicely so it’s quite unisex and wearable. I see this is as best for the office or a lunch date. But with so many sandalwood scents of the market at the moment, this one just doesn’t excite me. The longevity also isn’t brilliant.

The lightest and friendliest woody fragrance ever. Powdery, fruity, floral. The notes say jasmine but I smell something purple, heliotrope maybe? I like this but it doesn’t really *pop* for me. However, I could see this being one of those stealth fragrances that ends up being worn a lot from someone’s collection because it will work in so many scenarios. Decent sillage and longevity of about 6 hours.

I tried this on at a perfume shop and my goodness, it was love at first sniff. I felt like I was sniffing a really delicious chai at first with the cardamom, and the dry down was really lovely and a sandalwood I could only get by buying sandalwood soap in India. I think about the initial spray at least twice a day and it is still lingering on my jacket sleeve over a month later.