De Los Santos

Wow, I really like this. Quite modern and minimal, but very unique. Almost bitter herbal notes and a hint of tangy fruit on the opening, giving me a surprisingly boozy blast for the starters. Settles to an eerie ambroxan construction with earthy, herbal, salty, musky and woody sides playing games with your nose, appearing and disappearing. Also a beautiful interplay of warm notes (silky musks, lightweight woods/resins and very understated powderiness) and that gentle nose cooling sensation from the sage. The bitterness does not completely disappear but just adjusts to a pleasant level, giving me some tea vibes, although tea is not listed as a note. Uplifting and meditative. Nearly angelic in an androgynous way. Celestial teatime in a bottle. Honestly, the lifeline of this scent is one of the most unusual I have ever experienced. The fruit is barely there in the opening. And the herbal dominated phase lasts for hours on my skin. But on the ultimate dry-down, the mirabelle plum makes a glorious reappearance, presented with very understated woods and that silky musk. Such a beautiful take on fruity note. The only comparison that comes to my mind is Six Scents Ohne Titel, it also marries well lasting plum notes to an extremely smooth musk base with similar modern-minimal style, but it has animalic notes with distinct leatheriness and feels edgy-artsy, De Los Santos is angelic androgynous all the way to the end. Lightweight, but very, very long-lasting. Excellent daytime choice, had to get my own bottle...

De Los Santos is air and earth colliding—weightless yet grounded, the last wisp of incense curling into a desert sky. It opens in a burst of herbal crispness, sage crackling under the heat, lifted by a sharp, almost mentholic brightness. Not fresh in a watery sense, but fresh like a breeze sweeping over dry, sunlit stone. The Mirabelle plum is not juicy, not lush, in fact more like a fond memory of fruit, fleeting sweetness tucked beneath the dust and resin. The smoke wisping about here is not your usual kind—one of little thickness or density, more the kind that lingers in fabric long after the embers have died. Frankincense hums in the backdrop, its devoted whispers softened by an airy, mineralic, ambery touch—probably the work of Ambroxan stretching the scent like light through sheer prune-tinted fabric. Guaiacol creeps in to add a dry, almost charred, yet graceful woodiness, as if that palo santo accord had been burned down to its last ember, now sitting regal and tranquil. Musk here is diffused instead of pristine or skin-like, interweaving its charming windswept quality into the evocative composition of smooth resins. Warmth drifting in and out like an ember glowing beneath ashes, a sacred haze than a thick burn. This is a scent like a quiet offering, a scent of remembrance and renewal. Not loud, not indulgent, just present. Smoke curling into sunlight. Earth warmed by something unseen. The kind of fragrance that lingers like a whisper, understated. Yet so deeply felt.

De Los Santos is a clean and simple aromatic, herbal, white musk that’s great for an everyday reach. It’s not a showstopping super unique or ground breaking fragrance but it’s beautiful in its blend. It smells like a light, airy more transparent version of Bond no 9’s Governors Island with an herbal dryness, a touch of citrus brightness and a tiny, tiny dash of sweetness. I mainly get a natural smelling very prominent clean white musk with a DRY herbal fresh sage, a *touch* of a citrus nuance and a little bit of a sweet ambery note all blended around and in support of the musk accord. De Los Santos isn’t a projection beast as it sits relatively close to skin but it does last a very long time. It won’t fill or be detected across any rooms but it’s a lovely intimate cuddling type of fragrance. Its definitely unisex but leans a little more on the masculine side of the spectrum but ever so slightly. If you’re a fan of musky fragrances this is a great option. Smells really clean and natural, unlike those harsh synthetic musk fragrances from JHAG or Escentric molecules. It’s unique as a musk with the herbal aromatic and citrus touches (which Ive never smelled in any other compositions) but still is very much a musky ‘second skin’ like fragrance. It’s long lasting with a soft projection so it really won’t offend anyone. It’s a very good fragrance and definitely does not deserve all the negative reviews IMO. To each their own I guess.

There are fragrances that announce themselves. And then there are those that arrive like a memory you didn’t realize you missed. De Los Santos belongs to the latter. It opens with a quiet brightness sage, clean and herbaceous, as if crushed between warm fingers under an open sky. There’s something ceremonial in it. Not too sharp. Not green in the ordinary sense. It’s softened, almost spiritual, like smoke rising from something intentional. Then comes the plum. Not overly sweet, not indulgent. A restrained fruit note dark, velvety, and fleeting. It lingers just long enough to suggest warmth beneath the surface, a subtle contrast to the dryness of the opening. As it settles, the heart reveals itself in layers of orris and cistus. Powdered, but not cosmetic. Earthy, but not heavy. The orris gives it that cool, almost aloof elegance, while the cistus brings a resinous depth ambered, slightly leathery, like sun-warmed stone. And then, the base. Palo santo and musk. The palo santo doesn’t shout. It hums. Dry wood, faintly smoky, with a sacred stillness to it. Paired with musk, it becomes intimate close to the skin, almost indistinguishable from it. Not a trail, but a presence. You don’t wear this fragrance to be noticed. You wear it because it feels like something that has always belonged to you.

Smoked sage, varnished wood, eucalyptus mist, dry menthol, green tea. Imagine if Aesop branched into the occult. My favourite scent of all time to date. Full stop. Instant aromatherapy. No matter the time of year or my mood, I keep coming back to DLS. It's aromatic, green, boreal, vespertine. Airy enough to feel clean, but without treading into soapy spa tincture, and herbal enough to have a bite of earthiness, without feeling mulchy. A sage stick, without the acridity of smoke. It's a true unisex scent with admirable longevity for a Byredo; I spray it on my travel scarf before long-haul flights and it will last the whole slog through to the return flight. I promise I'm not a shill, but I own two large bottles and several of its candle formulation (Sweet Grass), and live in low-grade anxiety that one day they'll retire it and I'll need to empty my savings to secure a larger stockpile. Since meeting De Los Santos, I compare every scent that's followed to it. Mental Snapshot: You're a herbology professor in haute couture. You frequent places like old Catholic churches, which have been converted into a steam saunas, or teahouses in a modern art galleries. You can guess strangers' star signs to 89% accuracy. tl;dr: modern witchy teahouse 🐍🍵