Gold Incense

Upon applying Gold Incense, I IMMEDIATELY noted similarities between this perfume and By Kilian "Incense Oud." Initially, I was super-excited because to date, Incense Oud has been out of production for at least a couple of years. IMO, Gold Incense is VERY similar to Incense Oud, with perhaps a few minor exceptions. So, take a look at the notes profile for each fragrance: By Kilian Incense Oud: Top Notes: cardamom, pink pepper, Turkish rose, geranium, grapefruit Heart Notes: cedarwood, patchouli, Indian papyrus Base Notes: incense oil, incense absolute, sandalwood, oakmoss, cistus labdanum, musks Carolina Herrera Gold Incense: Top Notes: bergamot, cinnamon, Angelica seed, marigold Heart Notes: cedar, labdanum Base Notes incense, vanilla caviar, sandalwood So, yes Incense Oud may be somewhat more complex, more floral, dirtier, bolder and overall "fuller" than Gold Incense. However, Gold Incense is intoxicating in its own right. Gold incense is exotic with an initial, full blast of cinnamon & smooth (not fizzy) citrus. Within minutes, IG develops a beautiful smoky & slightly resinous incense note that seamlessly meshes with emerging sandalwood. While not as deeply resinous, or dirty as By Kilian Incense Oud, Gold Incense develops a beautiful dry-down with smooth incense, light vanilla, effortless florals and more sandalwood...I also detect amber. As incense fragrances go, Gold Incense is quite wearable because it doesn't approach the linear levels of "church incense" type fragrances, say Comme des Garcons Incense Series. Yes, the churchiness (think frankincense, myrrh, some woods & green) is present but any one of those notes blends well with other emerging notes. TBH, about 5-10 minutes in, the incense note is temporarily shrouded by emerging middle & base notes. I am not a fan of vanilla based fragrances and fortunately, Gold Incense never smells sickly, cloying or bakery sweet on my skin. In MANY incense forward perfumes I've tried, where balance of the smokiness and churchiness of the incense is attempted with sweet notes, the fragrance turns gourmand and cloying...sometimes to the point of nausea. Oftentimes, in an effort to smooth out deeply resinous notes, a perfumer washes out those notes with sweetness (or in some cases, florals...usually rose). Not so with this fragrance! Gold Incense is beautiful, it truly is. I definitely see this fragrance as unisex, yet it actually leans feminine IMHO. Longevity is pretty good at 6+ hours, silage is moderate. And I should be ecstatic that I can walk around smelling this spectacular-smile since Incense Oud is unfindable. But it seems after wearing Gold Incense for a few days, I may have moved beyond this type of fragrance. I still adore incense forward fragrances when they are blended well with other interesting notes. But at the price point of Carolina Herrera Gold Incense, I'm not yet ready to purchase a full bottle. For fans of Nasomatto Black Afgano, Tiziana Terenzi Gold Rose Oud, The Merchant of Venice Vinegia, Tom Ford Women's Oud Wood and to a lesser degree, Chanel Coromandel, Gold Incense is DEFINITELY worth a blind buy! This perfume is awesome.

This beautiful perfume was a nightmare to find but I finally found Arab seller on EBay who had several bottles of this collection I bought. Perfume held by customs for inspection but I still received it in less than a week. Packing sucked but perfumes are worth the hassle! This gold incense perfume is exotic with smoky incense and sandalwood. On my skin no citrus or other notes show up. This is a beautiful scent that smells expensive and not like a church incense. It leaves a nice scent trail and lingers on my skin fading nicely. This can be worn in heat as long as you don’t overspray otherwise you risk choking people with too much scent. This perfume has a deep rich smoky scent unlike any other perfumes I have with the same notes. This is worth blind buying.

This fragrance is all about the drydown, which is a beautiful incense-y, resin-y, animalic soft glow. The opening, to me, is medicinal and that bergamot note strikes me as a very synthetic fruity smell, almost like a bathroom cleaner smell. But it fades into something really beautiful and rich after about 30-40 minutes and that bergamot note disappears. While GI is lovely, it's not worth $300. I'm positive there's something as good as this, if not better, out there for $200 or less. If you really love this scent, be sure to do some poking around and sampling of other similar fragrances first.

Dad's perfume this time, took from him, didn't mind. But he really missed out. a nice, cinnamon, scent. literally smells like how the bottle looks, so damn good. As it dries down, the vanilla and sandalwood pop out, and it's rather soft, it's not overpowering, nor is it too weak. It's so incredibly expensive, but it is so worth it if you have the chance. 7/10, price steep, may not be for everyone, but very nice buy if you like it.

I love it. The marigold note is very appealing and one not often found in fragrances. And the combination of humble marigold combined with angelica underpinned by incense, vanilla, light spices, and woods is utterly satisfying. The bottle and overall presentation perfectly represents the soft luxury vibe of this perfume.

Prada Luna Rossa Black wanted to copy Gold Incense, but I can say it is not a successful dupe, only 50% vibes is similar, the dry down in Gold Incense is unbeatable, PLR Black dry down is weak and boring Gold Incense is 9.5/10

Really enjoyable incense. Smoothed by an almost cream lactose note feel. Small notes of cinaomon(?) offer a bit of sharpness to mix it up a bit, but it's very subtle.

Anticlimactic incense from a usually strong and distinctive line. Not bad AT ALL - rich and rounded, mellow-woody, nicely nuanced, with the cinnamon and labdanum dusty-dry and quirky - but not the same wham-bam, head-and-shoulders-above-the-rest mood or performance I got from the wildly charismatic Saffron Lazuli or Mystery Tobacco. Not even CLOSE to being a Sahara Noir replacement (my eternally frustrated quest...) either. This more than justifies its existence - it doesn't infuriate or even annoy ... but I just can't think it's worth the rambustious RRP or worth a trek round the world to source. Good and warm and classy, sure, and ripens to a genuinely lovely drydown, but it's just a little generic and vanilla (in every sense) to be a standout. Something close to the (even lovelier, but quieter) Givenchy Encens Divin - which I culled from my collection some time back for its lack of robustness. Lovable, conciliatory and upscale, but there's no real adventure to be had here. Unisex tending a little femme and will hang about for a very reasonable 6-8 hours, so it has legs and versatility. Not a solid-gold contender but worth a runner-up medal, maybe.

Dry wood, incense, musk and marigold. This is quite the heady scent. Not for the faint of heart. Reminds me of productions from beastly houses like Xerjoff and Tiziana Terenzi. Particularly Hailey from TT. With GI I don’t get different phases of notes, more like 52 pick-up. On me the strongest notes are labdanum, cedar, incense and musk. I wish these dry notes were better balanced w the vanilla and marigold. This frag is mainly dry incense and wood, my nose feels a bit singed after testing. Longevity and silage is moderate. Notes lean masculine. Best for cooler weather. This is my first for the CH confidential line. Like so far...

Have a 3 * official mini collection presentation box with platinum leather, bronze tonka and gold incense... "Spicy vanilla incense" someone wrote below and I concur with that. It's quite good, somewhat powdery woods with a light addition of an SDV style spicy vanilla and just a touch of smoke and sweetness. The Bronze Tonka and this share a woody base imho but this one is sweeter and doesn't have as thick a feel to it from the tonka. Angelica note shines and makes it feel high quality. Pretty good imho, but quite high price too for what you get so I'll stick with the mini.

Bought a bottle when I was in Vancouver a few years ago, my cousin likes unisex perfumes and he told me about this. It definitely smells natural and expensive, Vanilla-incense with some spice in the mix. Performance is nuclear-mode, 10 hrs easily on my skin. I'd recommend this for dates just go easy on the sprays. 8/10

Spicy vanilla incense, almost in a Gucci Intense Oud meets Nishane Ani type of way. Just got a bottle off fragrancenet for a decent price, and as I do like incense to begin with, this is a winner for me.

both universal perfumes and cosmetics and generic perfume oils have a dupe oil of this-i tried the one from generic oils-and it is beautiful...

Decent fragrance. Opens up a little smokey and resinous. Dry down is ambery, incense, woody with a green twist from the angelica.

Spicy amber with a sharp edge.

Sweet woody incense... The drydown of this blend is mesmerizing.. it goes very balanced sweet incensy with wood touches.. Cinnamon, sandalwood, incense, touches of vanilla, marigold, and labdanum. It is quite beautiful indeed, although i don't remember that i was impressed at first when i sprayed it on the plotter, but now after it dried down.... hmmm... soooo prettyyy. Edit (10th Aug 2024) Slight sweet cinnamon... Dunno if i can detect any incense! but it's more of a sweet smoky amber with doses of cinnamon, sandalwood, cedar, labdanum, and a touch of angelica. It's not a creation that i haven't witnessed before, but i guess i can categorize this along side with Tom Ford's "tobacco Vanille", & "Tabac Rouge" by Phaedon. It's nice after all.

I'm a bit disappointed with this one. I have 4 in my collection from this line and this is my least favorite. I was hoping for more incense, but, in the air, it just smells like very synthetic vanilla. All of her fragrances that I've tried from this line I've noticed has the same base. I'm not a fan of that part. I love Nightfall Patchouli's opening and mid, but, again, that same base. I don't think I need 4 fragrances with the same base so might be letting go of one. Edit: I let go of this one. It lacks the smokiness I crave.

I made the mistake and blind bought this because I love incense, resinous scents, vanilla, labdanum, cedar, sandalwood. I could go on. I thought this would be the perfect scent...nope! I got none of those notes. I got a nondescript sweet/slighty woody scent, maybe even heavy sandalwood. Then, immediately heavy labdanum - turned into the leathery kind. I wanted this to be incensy, vanilla, slightly resinous and maybe even green with the Angelica. Just crushed by this!

First I tried a sample and loved it then I placed an order for a full size bottle. As soon as it arrived I sprayed it I changed my mind. Trying to return it.

Really disappointed with this one - warning - it has a very prominent clawing synthetic amberwood base used in many regular, commercial designer releases, something I didn't expect in an exclusive line. It lingers for hours even after I tried scrubbing it off. Thank goodness it was only a sample and not a blind buy. This line is a hit or miss (mostly misses).