Esencia

The smell of opening a wooden spice box that's been sitting on the shelf for years.

Incense for sure. It’s a lot like Incense Avignon to my nose, though also with something similar to a nice dry desert pine. The notes list ambroxan, so that may be what I’m sensing chemical-wise, but so far it’s not an overpowering amount. It’s mostly a pleasant, tranquil, airy incense. Would be a good yoga or meditation fragrance.

A desert-dry feeling is my first impression. It's overall quite dry (from all the dry spices). Be prepared for something quite spicy-woody-borderline-incensy. It certainly has its own style. If you would blind test me, I would be able to say this is Atelier Vesper without hesitation. Perfectly genderless. The cumin, and the nutmeg overpowers everything for me. Too dry for my preference. It has an 'incensy' feeling to it, but I'm not sure that's really incense, or just something that happens in-between all these spices? If you expect an incense like Avignon you will surely be disappointed. This is something else entirely. It has a lot of focus on the spices, and the woody base, and tertiary, it is vaguely incense. It has a cold freshness beneath it all, I guess it's coming from the iris and the bergamot. The overall composition is quite good, it's just not my style. Ideal to use in your tatami-room, in your large Japanese wooden house, while you are meditating in solitude.

There is a red tone to Esencia which I absolutely adore: it layers the spice and incense, making it something else than a "church-smell". Easy to wear, I prefer it in the autumn, not by the sea. I've gone through two bottles and they sadly end quickly due to the big splash. The first bottle I owned had been sitting for a year and I found that more complex than the next one, which I ordered directly from the shop.