Blue Santal

Absolutely phenomenal for me. My first-ever blind buy was CdG Artek Standard, another wood-focused fragrance from the house. I was (and still sort of am) a bit iffy on it; while I'd hoped for a strong and unpretentious wood scent, I got more of a dry citrus and rusted metal followed by a very, very gentle wood/tea. This, on the other hand, is exactly what I was trying to get with that initial bottle. One of the main reasons I initially ordered a decant of this was because one of the other reviews on here mentioned it smelling like the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Growing up, my aunt had a cabin that she and her husband built in the 80s up there that she would let my family use, often right in late summer when you were dreaming of fall but not quite there yet (also the time of year I am writing this review). One of my favorite parts of going up there was the smell; the massive pine trees made the air incredibly fresh, but the cabin itself smelled of well-loved and ancient wood (with a small fresh/earthy touch, not quite mildew or dust but more like a clean set of spare sheets that have been sitting in a wood closet for 6 months). CdG Blue Santal smells EXACTLY like this cabin, or at least my memory of this cabin. It is an overwhelming wood with a hint of fresh sweetness and slight earthiness; it is very much recognizable as a cologne/perfume (unlike some of CdG's other offerings) but it is amazingly inviting and comforting to me. I appreciate the general lack of citrus that a lot of woodier fragrances have, but I do recognize the freshness or "blue" people have mentioned in the reviews. I do not get much of the pepper note save for immediately after spraying it. Performance is far better than any other CdG I have tried (though Amazingreen is almost able to compete with it); despite my skin usually swallowing CdG's products pretty quickly, this stuff lasts all day and can still be found as I go to bed. I feel like I'm probably a bad judge of unisex vs. masc/fem, but I would compare it to a flannel. It's definitely not overtly feminine and is maybe traditionally a masculine look, but I can't imagine a flannel feeling out of place on anyone who is already interested in buying a flannel. Despite the coziness it evokes, I don't think it'd have trouble in most seasons (though it might not quite be fresh enough for spring). This review is way overly sentimental and might not mean anything to anyone, but I am elated that I have finally found something that I have always wanted to find in fragrances. It feels completely in line with my personality and the aura I want to project. I wore it for the first time yesterday and bought a full bottle today.

Blue Santal immediately reminded me of Wonderoud by Comme des Garçons, blended with the cool incense character of Blue Encens from the same brand. There’s that familiar Comme des Garçons signature: woody depth paired with a slightly smoky, mineral incense tone. But Blue Santal feels like a more restrained, lighter interpretation of that idea. In many ways it comes across as a stripped-down version of Blue Encens. The composition feels cleaner and more transparent, focusing more directly on the sandalwood note while letting the incense sit quietly in the background rather than dominate. Even visually, the bottle hints at this idea. The blue “stain” on the bottle only covers about one sixth of the front surface, almost like a subtle brushstroke rather than a full block of color. It mirrors the fragrance itself: present, noticeable, but intentionally minimal. On skin, the scent opens with a cool, slightly metallic incense impression that quickly blends into smooth sandalwood. The wood feels polished and modern rather than creamy or milky. Compared to Wonderoud, which is dense and resinous, Blue Santal feels much more airy and contemporary. The drydown is calm and understated: soft sandalwood, a touch of dry spice, and a lingering smoky transparency that keeps it from becoming too warm or heavy. Overall, Blue Santal is a quiet, minimalist woody incense fragrance. If Wonderoud is deep and dramatic and Blue Encens is sharper and more atmospheric, Blue Santal sits comfortably in between—cleaner, simpler, and easier to wear while still carrying that unmistakable Comme des Garçons character.

Sharp green/piney/incensy/peppery opening, that shortly after dries down into a linear dry but still creamy cedar-y sandalwood note, still supported by a (soft) blackpepper note. That's pretty much it. It's basically Wonderoud with a strong incensy/peppery opening, and the drydown a bit dryer, and with blackpepper still presnet (but toned down compared to the opening). And I guess the same reasoning would apply to Wonderwood, given the strong similarties that it shares with WO (that I 've read on reviews). Not really a surprise, since CdG uses Pashminol (a substitute of sandalwood) generously in most of its woody compositions. Like WO, it's a very simple, linear, synthetic smelling, but very addictive fragrance (the magic of pashminol, probably...). I don't get the cold/blue feeling, tbh. It's just (a tiny bit) drier than the drydwon of WO, but they are very similar. Like WO - again - the projection is on the soft side on my skin, an issue if I had to pay full retail for that. No remorse for me, since I wanted a backup bottle of WO, and this is going to be it (with a twist). But who already owns WW or WO and doesn't want a backup bottle clearly don't need Blue Santal, given the strong redundancy (aside of the early opening, that is: just the first 10min). In a nutshell: recommended if you can get with a good discount, assuming you don't already own Wonderoud or Wonderwood. At full retail price, there are better options around, imho, but for the $40 I've spent on a large bottle, it's a love for me! Fall days, 20+

I've trialed this 'blue' collection extensively now and I held off from reviewing them in the autumn until I got my second set of samples to reserve judgement. I have to say I love them! Blue Santal is a knockout! It's a super fresh but very spicy, peppery opening. The freshness is being supplied by a definite juniper note in there and it combines with the pine to lift a scent that could be too peppery and spicy for some...but do be assured it dries down very softly to a beautiful clean skin scent. The sandalwood is more to the woody/spicy end of the santal spectrum than the sweet creamy end, although that is still there and develops more as it dries down and the pepper moves into the background. I honestly used to love sandalwood but recently I've gone off it a bit, maybe it's due to a lack of interesting combinations of notes to accompany it who knows? Anyway this has restored my faith as it truly has that alpine fresh coolness with a warming familiar woodiness and it is WOODY...Blue Santal is awesome!!! I'm wearing it today and I feel that I smell great. These Comme des garcons have excellent longevity too I got about 8-10 hours yesterday from Blue encens(okay with a very liberal application but still!) and this looks to be performing just as well.

My favourite of the CdG Blue series and definitely one of my favourite sandalwood scents. This is mainly due to how different it is. For the most part we find sandalwood blended with some citrus, petitgrain, some other woods, some vetiver. or maybe some cacao or vanilla. They often tend to steer towards the warmer side of the spectrum. Blue Santal ditches that idea and gives you a very sharp, pointy Australian sandalwood, not at all the creamy variety, which with the spicy pepper note, would still be a somewhat comfortably warm presence, until the juniper and pine are taken into account. This juxtaposition freezes the whole concoction and an almost camphorous accord is borne into the fray. It is quite linear, projects well and has very tenacious staying power, especially on clothes. Being that the smell is fairly linear, a bit on one's clothes actually doesn't hurt either! If you wear this very clever sandalwood, I can guarantee you'll stand out in a crowd and also in a crowd of sandalwood wearers! It's a freezing, camphorous, angular, shimmering take on the genre which pretty much stands alone among its peers. I love it and wear it regularly, in any weather and for most occasions. Not for everyone, but definitely for me. Love it!

This reminds me of Hinoki more than Wonderwood. Maybe it's the juniper and pine. To my nose the santal doesn't come across as strong or as dominant as I had expected, and my first impression is of a woody mélange - a composite accord reminiscent of juniper, cedar and sandalwood with a hint of "green" pine. I confess that I do like it - received a full bottle today and am allowing myself the luxury of really savouring the fragrance, whereas when I first tried it I was on a rush, yet couldn't stop sniffing my arm all afternoon. Woody, woodsy and fresh is my first impression of this (if that makes sense). Usually I can't stand pine in any form, since it always makes me think of disinfectant. But in this wonderful fragrance, the pine forms an integral part of the symphony that is Blue Santal, and the cumulative effect of the wood notes is to create a woodsy accord that serves as a tribute to Sandalwood, in the same way that Wonderwood is a tribute to Agarwood/Aloeswood/Oudh. On my skin the longevity and sillage are slightly greater than Wonderwood, and thus far I have worn this in both formal and casual contexts - I believe it works well in either. I am fond of Blue Santal, and may soon grow to love it.

This is interesting and beautiful. Not enough sillage or longevity for my liking. The sandalwood is very dry, crisp, clean, and short. Not creamy or enveloping like some sandalwood scents. It is fresh and would be very nice on a man, but its not too masculine for a woman. Smells 'cold'. I can clearly detects sandalwood, pine, juniper, and some salty fresh aquatic. The description from the web above is perfect. There is definitely an interesting contradiction between the traditional warmth of sandalwood vs. the crisp cool freshness this scent evokes. I think it is versatile and 'safe' enough that it could be worn in any season at any time of day, yet it is different and interesting at the same time. I really like this but I want more projection and longevity. Too soon it sadly disappears into oblivion, like PLAY GREEN.

A cross between CdG Wonderwood and Blackpepper. Like others in the pebble bottle collection, Blue Santal also shouts CdG DNA, and it is great. I love CdG fragrances especially on how they prove aroma molecules can create unique olfactory experiences. The sandalwood molecules (Javanol, Pashminol) are long lasting, playing with your olfactory senses, coming and going. Some people might feel like longevity is poor but assuming one is not 100% anosmic to these molecules, the only way to find out is to spray it on a scarf or a paper strip and leave it in a room that is not visited often in the house. Then go in next day and see. Another way is to give a break from these frags, and then smell it again after a week or so. IG: @talkaboutscents

to my nose this smells like the birth child of Wonderwood & Montana Graphite (both of which I own) not 100% but in its character. This is a beautiful calming almost powdery sandalwood with a touch of unfortunate sharpness I wish they had left out. It annoys my nose the same way ambroxan does. Does it have ambrette seeds in it? ewww. sharp synthetic. No need for it. It has nothing to do with the word "blue". I still have yet to decide if I'm going to keep it or return. I think it's slightly overpriced but still a nice signature scent if you don't mind the juniper berries lingering around. And no, not the type of juniper you can smell in a gin and tonic. Much sharper. I'll see if I can tone it down with Graphite or add an iris note.

2nd review (original somewhere below): Wonderoud, Wonderwood, Blue Santal are all brothers, with Floriental being their sister, each different enough to have in the collection. Blue Santal is carrying the same Javanol/Pashminol X Cashmeran = creamy diffusive sandalwood accord a la Molecule 04, topped with CdG signature black pepper and incense notes. The main difference happens on the very top, you get yet again the same cypress pine terpenic effect as in Wonderwood (lacking in Wonderoud) but dosed up with juniper berry with its strong, stinging, peppery, balsamic fir needle smell. Nobody does peppery sandalwood incense better than CdG, and Blue Santal is no exception. Top fragrance at a reasonable price for what you get.

Blue Santal has an interesting cold feel over a bed of soapy, non-creamy sandalwoodness. Juniper freshens the whole thing up. When I breathe it in, I feel like I'm in a snowy forest where the wind has died down and pure, evergreen air surrounds me. A little too poetic, perhaps, but I enjoy the atmosphere the scent evokes. One of my favorite sandalwood scents without being a traditional sandalwood fragrance and with a more blunt edge than I associate with some other CdG fragrances. Projection is somewhat close, though it's not a skin scent, and longevity is moderate.

I've tried all of the fragrances in the Blue line by CdG. All are nice, and one or more will likely appeal to you. This one is my favorite, followed by Cedrat and then Encens. Santal has a very pleasing, unique, sharp, spicy, woody scent. Longevity and sillage are acceptable. If it wasn't so expensive and I didn't already have so many colognes, I'd buy it.

This is THE fragrance for me. The second one I ever bought or sampled. It will last forever on your clothing, and has really decent longevity on the skin too. Despite that, the name is a bit wrong. Very green santal, not blue. One of the better Santal/Sandalwood fragrances I have. This has and always will be one of my favorites.

My favorite perfume, suitable for all seasons, with the smell of cleanliness and pine, wonderful يةك لة خوشترين بونةكانم ,لةكةل بلاوبوونةوةي هةست بة بوني سنةوبةر و بيبةري رةش دةكةيت بةلام بيزار ناكا بو هةمووو كاتيك كونجاوة

I love it! On some days this smells blue and marine to me, on others green and herbal. It's strange but I like it either way! I get the Juniper nice and clear. Masculine and bitter in a very good way.

Omg I'm in love with it, so aromatic and well-balanced., Something in it smells like mushrooms to me but in a good way.

a pine,citrus smell. the worse one of the 3 blue but good perfume.it remembers PINO SILVESTRE more citruses.

This is an absolute top men's fragrance, luxurious, rich smelling.

This is one of my favourites from CdG (and I really do love this house!) Together with Copper (which I don't have) this is one of the more interesting, or edgy (if you will) releases in the more widely available pebblestone bottles. This really smells like a forest. I smell pine, juniper, sandalwood, and exactly like others have mentioned, even mushrooms. Maybe that is just some aspect of the sandalwood, but I really do smell something fungusy, but sweeter, so yeah, like mushrooms really. The woods and pine is how a forest smells when it's hot, but there's some kind of cold, fresh aspect to it as well. Maybe it's the pineneedle/juniper combo. Someone here wrote it smells like a snow covered forest, and I can see that. It's fresh, it's sweet, it's aromatic, it's even vaguely dank or fungusy, but in a good way. My girlfriend loves it too, she said: "Don't take this the wrong way, but it kind of smells like a moldy basement, a cellar, a moist dungeon with old, wooden objects, but I mean this in the best possible way." And I totally get what she's saying! What's interesting is that I really do smell a lot of sandalwood. Now people are saying CdG uses a lot of synthetics (which is fine with me, but that's beside the point), so I see some assumptions here that the sandalwood is javanol or pashminol. Now I know one thing for sure and that is that I am 100% anosmic to javanol. This I know because I've tried Molecule 04, and I smell absolutely nothing whatsoever (and I can smell Iso-E Super and ambroxan just fine). So either this is mostly or purely pashminol (which I haven't had the opportunity to smell as a single note, so I have no idea), and apparently I can smell pashminol as opposed to javanol, or this is some other synthetic sandalwood I'm unaware of, or maybe it's even actually genuine Australian sandalwood, as they seem to be claiming. (I haven't actually checked a CdG source for this, just going by the description on Fragrantica.) Performance and longevity are average, but pretty good when sprayed on the hair. I love, love, love this fragrance. Though I'm somehow thinking this is more of a spring/fall fragrance, I'm actually curious what this will be like on a hot day! Yeah, gonna try that.

An *Humanized* version of Odeur 53? Well, sort of... The main theme here comes directly from those clean yet austere woody fragrances such as Gucci Rush For Men, Tam Dao and Wonderwood but Blue Santal brings to the table a bunch of juxtapositions that most of the above fragrances lack. The overall vibe is made of the same clean-metallic-woody-incense combo of Odeur 53 but it's sort of tamed, more human and less abstract. A thick synth sandalwood base a-la Wonderwood serves to add some extra body giving birth, at the same time, to a warm juxtaposition with the metallic incense while peppery nuances recall the austerity of Gucci Rush For Men. This is basically the bone structure of Blue Santal but the fragrance has something more to offer...the CDG's twist. The above scenario is successfully enriched by a pine-juniper combo which is absolutely awesome. It strikes with a freezing effect and a plethora of micro-facets generated by the interaction of these two elements with the rest of the composition. They go go from turpentine undertones (originally extracted from pinewood) to gunpowder via immense landscapes, dark-green elements, snow-covered forests and, at the same time, summer-ish spices, gin, frozen glasses and sparkling skies... I would rank this at the same level of Blue Encens and despite I've not appreciated Blue Cedrat as I expected (hoped), I strongly believe this is a pretty solid trio. Another fantastic option to enter the CDG's world. Tremendous. Rating: 7.5/10

I sniffed Blue Santal for the first time in Europe and now I have the pleasure of wearing it.. Blue Santal opens up spicy and woody but fresh at the same time.. The coniferous pine note balances out the warm aspects of the sandalwood and gives Blue Santal a fresh cool opening.. The pepper is noticeable right from the opening and along with the sandalwood the pepper gives that same freshly cut wood vibe that Wonderwood has.. The juniper lends a hint of sweetness to the scent but Blue Santal is all about the sandalwood! This is all fresh woody sandalwood! If you know what australian sandalwood smells like than you will recognize it in Blue Santal.. I find that the sandalwood in this fragrance is quite creamy, and I like that.. I am not sure if that is the sandalwood itself being or perhaps other notes that create that creamy vibe.. What Blue Santal smells like to me is a fresh creamy sap that is bleeding out of an exotic tree in the cold snowy mountains.. Overall Blue Santal is a nice interesting sandalwood scent that definitely can work in the warmer months.. This scent is pretty versatile so I am sure it would work great in the cooler months also.. Blue Santal is not groundbreaking nor is it the best sandalwood fragrance I have ever smelled but it is very nice and very different! The contrast of cool fresh and warm woody is very interesting, and makes this a unique scent.. If you like Wonderwood than I definitely suggest that you try Blue Santal!

Straight up pine and pepper on spraying! If the image of chomping on peppered pine needles was a fragrance, this is it. Super sharp and super pine-y, not even fair to say it smells “green”. Once the top notes have been endured it actually mellows into something quite pleasant. I only say “endured” because although the pine is photorealistic and nice, I don’t want to walk around smelling like a pine forest. It dries to an inoffensive piney woody fragrance. I’m struggling to pick out the sandalwood specifically, to me it just smells like “woody notes”. Hits the mark as a pleasant androgynous scent, and although this is usually my jam Santal Blue is a touch too linear and nothing exciting about it (unless you are excited by pine!).

20230920 Initial impression of a few sprays from a test vial. Blue-green. Smells very nice. The notes on Fragrantica are spot-on to my nose. I caught a whiff of powder for no more than a minute upon initial application. The juniper adds moisture to the pine needles though the scent remains airy. The pepper adds contrast. I think Australian sandalwood is my favorite sandalwood, but there's not a lot of any kind here. Walking a wooded park trail after a short rain shower on a warm day. Simple. Doesn't seem like something I'd pay more than $40 for, but I don't have time today for a full wearing. I'll come back to it and this site, someday, with additional thoughts.

Gonna break with the crowd here and say that, to me, this doesn’t smell a thing like Wonderwood until maybe the deep dry down. Up until that point it’s fresh, aromatic pine on a creamy sandalwood backdrop. The pine is crisp and invigorating and VERY natural smelling - others here have mentioned it being a refreshing break from the Christmas candle vibe that a lot of other pine-heavy frags fall victim to and I have to agree. The sandalwood is doing a fantastic job of turning the volume down a bit on all of the spicy components to the point where some otherwise pretty bracing notes are softer and quieter. And it all blends together exceedingly well.

FIRST IMPRESSION: I've been looking for a decent pine scent for a while now, this perfume seems to hit the spot without smelling like a detergent cleaner nor to a yankee Christmas candle, even though, it does sometimes remind me of the head and shoulders shampoo and reminds me of a perfume my father had at some point. The idea was to create a cool woody scent that reminds you of Forks from twilight, in my opinion this smells like a pine forest after the first rainfall in September. Very masculine leaning and very classic, nothing crazy nothing peculiar, I like it, way better than wonderwood in my opinion.

So, Comme des Garcons took some good-old sandalwood and made it "cool" again. Starts strong: lots of pine, juniper and pepper, that makes this fragrance appear cold and super fresh (even a little harsh). Dry down - clean, warm a little powdery sandalwood. I love how this blend has fine texture to it. Some pine or sandalwood fragrances feel thick and oily. I know CdG uses synthetics to make their fragrances, but they sure know how to do it right. Also, I know this fragrance claims to be unisex but I would prefer smelling it on a guy.

I think this is good. I'm not obsessed with it but it's a nice fragrance for layering, or if you're just not sure what to wear and you want something inoffensive. It's more powdery on my skin than the notes imply. I am getting the sandalwood and pepper, but I'm surprised that tonka is not listed in the notes. It has an earthy, powdery quality that usually ends up being tonka.The juniper is present on the dry down, and I don't smell any pine at all. It's nice! It's not bad. It's just very simple, but sometimes that's what you want.

Mentholated pine needles and juniper berries with a woody undercurrent that sort of comes and goes. That's the majority of this scent according to my nose. The performance and projection is really good on my skin, even with one good spray. I love this particular scent because of how different it smells to run-of-the-mill fragrances. When I wanna small a little weird and unique in a good way, I can confidently wear this knowing that nobody else around me is wearing this or have even heard of it.

Its like Wonderwood but much softer, and not so soapy I find. Its a warm and tender touch, and I love the pepper and juniper side to it. The pine comes slowly. Its like being in a wooden cabin in the northern forests during late autumn ,with a gorgeous view over the dark green pine forests, the mist crawling over the forest floor in the early morning hours, and the fireplace just about to let go of the last trace of smoke. I like it

Why is black pepper not listed as one of the key scents. At times, it's all I can smell!! Lasts forever, doesn't fill a room and is more classy than many perfumes. Would like to try CDG's other fragrances, but they're so difficult to find. Wouldn't pay full price for this, there are better perfumes that are warm and spicy without the pungent black pepper tang. Actually thinking of selling my bottle on.

Two strong facets of this one and I could sum it up by A) A superlight version of Woonderwood B) Odeur 53. The fragrance is quite alright, but the middle-part of the development was nose-burning. I used to adore Odeur 53 and still use it from time to time, but that "ethereal" (could it be shock-full of hedione just as Odeur 53 maybe?) feeling is very emphasized.

Tested 5ml decant. It's Green Santal, nothing blue here. Creamy sandalwood, fresher at first stages due to juniper berries and pine. Moderate, arm lenght projection for decent time (2h?), good longevity as a skin scent for another 5-7h. Pleasant, easy to wear - not worth it's pricetag in my opinion.

179) Chanel manqué Mon favoris parmi les trois Blue. Un beau santal avec un aspect frais, presque marin/iodé. Un bon basic facilement portable pour toutes les occasions . Je lui reprocherais une tenue un peu faible.

I like it alot. Love the pine mixed with incense and cedar. 7.5/10

I dislike the water part in it.

More masculine than I expected. Also, a bit marine, but I didn't expect that at all by reading the notes. I guess it's the juniper (the main note on my skin) that makes the scent smell blue, as the name suggests. It opens as a fresh sandalwood scent, but it soon morphs into a conifer forest with a dash of black pepper. Maybe on a guy's skin it smells different, though, I've tried other CdGs with my partner, and the scent profile on both of our skins is as different as it can be. Nonetheless, I can see this as an all-purpose fragrance for a youthful and carefree guy who still looks stylish. 6/10

i guess this is where the “blue” in the name comes in but to me it really smells like this sea salt hair spray i used to use. i was expecting something much woodier

This is why you shouldn't blind-buy perfume. I know that I very strongly dislike blue scents, but according to some articles / reviews it was supposed to smell woody with a strong sandalwood in it. Not that the name doesn't cleary say that it's a blue one :) Unfortunately all I get is blue, spices and blue. The strong spicy blue smell masks all the sandalwood, and actually all the wood for me. I might smell the effect of sandalwood underneath the spices and the blueness (that deep, warmish creaminess) but I don't smell the sandalwood smell. What is even worse, unlike the CDG perfumes that I like (Wonderwood and Wonderwood) this is actually a strong one, it has good longevity and probably a strong silage as well. I couldn't even wash it off. Those two I can't smell after a couple of seconds and my wife can't smell them on me either. I wish they had this performance.

Blended very well, but the result is too much acidic for my taste - keep getting hints of vinegar and dill. Its not toilet cleaning supplies or gin tonic sparkling zest, its in the middle. For drink its too dense and heavy, chemical and artificial mixture of juniper berries and lemon. For lemon airfreshner its too much woody (so woody that you can almost feel the fibers and tree rings) and peppery. For wood scent its too much airy, sour. I cant place it and it can be headache-inducing after some time. Longevity and sillage is good. Uniqueness for sure - its not basic cologne or anything near it...you just need to try it.

Where I am from we have our own local company that makes all kinds of cosmetic products, they have been in business a LONG time, so one of their oldest products is a pine extract for hair and bath, it basically smells like someone took a shit in a pine forest. That is what BLUE SANTAL smells to me. Feces under the pine tree with cold snow on top of it. There was no sandalwood whatsoever, just this weird unpleasant smell of feces and of course the faint smell of snowy pine forest.

absolutey agree with dresdendoll this starts of promising for the first few seconds with sandalwood and pine then takes a wrong turn into hot wood shavings, gin and a very strong pepper note. Black pepper is overpowering when sampling it on my skin and it disagrees with the lactonic and smooth sandalwood note. The ingredients don't play well together and lack haromny. What I thought would be a like or even a love is a solid dislike.

Remember back in school when you would sharpen a pencil, and the smell of the pencil lead would just waif up and catch your attention? Well this is Exactly what this smells like for the first 15 minutes, and it just fads out after that. Is that all you got Comme des Garcons??? I am Disappointed.

A tonne of pine, mixed with an almost paint-like smell on my skin with some noticeable black pepper. This one really, really didn't agree with my skin chemistry at all, and I was not a fan. Had to scrub this off within ten minutes or so.

Was a little disappointed with this. The juniper is the main note here and suffocates everything else. I get no pine and very little sandalwood. The juniper also has a weird sweetness to it I really don't like. 5/10

Blue Santal is a very solid, fresher and more peppery version of Wonderwood. In comparison, it also has stronger projection, as the fresher notes, juniper, and pumped up pepper seem to project off the skin and cut through the air a little more aggressively. Longevity is about the same between the both, which is pretty solid. Wonderwood becomes gentle quick, but has one of my favorite openings and mids around, whereas Blue Santal is fairly linear throughout. Once into the base notes, they smell very similar with the same synthetic sandalwood notes dominating, but Blue Santal maintains a more crispy laundry-in-the-forest freshness on top almost until the end. Wonderwood shows off a bit more subtle woody facets, but it is almost like Blue Santal just sprinkled some fresh peppery juniper on top and called it a day. I do think there is something special to both, and Blue Santal really captures a nice synthetic approximation of a conifer forest simulated in a blue body spray type delivery system. I really love the fresh, blue, juniper notes in this, and dig that it's a fresh blue/green bodywash type scent for those with a bit more refined taste than what you can pick up at a drugstore. However, since I already own Wonderwood, the above $100 price tag keeps me from pulling the trigger. If I had to go back again, I would consider purchasing Blue Santal over Wonderwood, due to that juniper berry and improved performance, but the "blue" starts to get a little tiresome towards the end as it shouts above the base notes.

Aptly named. A synthetic, mellow sandalwood juxtaposed with a cool, slightly frozen, 'blue' feel. To me this fragrance screams Scandinavia, which is interesting, because juniper berries are quite typical in Scandinavian cuisine, and they (surprise) are also featured in Blue Santal. But this isn't reminiscent of the flowers and ruins in an Ingmar Bergman film. Blue Santal is clean and hyper modern. It's something you could wear while sipping on a gin and tonic at an art gallery in Stockholm. Milky, blue skies, warm smiles, friends and family, the sounds of glasses clinging together, and sleek, minimal, interior design. That's exactly what Blue Santal conjures for me. At first I scoffed at this scent and felt it to be on par with generic, designer fragrance. But today I felt quite differently. Still thinking that sillage and longevity could be major problems here but this ones gonna take a little more time to fully discover. Fun, clean, safe, but maybe just a little too run of the mill.

Some babies are ugly - or at least look like there is a sense of ‘wrongness’ about them. Blue Santal is like the lovechild of Comme des Garcons’ more avant-garde woody-incense fragrances, and fragrances such as Sauvage or Dylan Blue with a strong aquatic nuance. It doesn’t really work. The sandalwood-incense nuance is strongest at the start, but a tsunami of white laundry musk with a dash of ambroxan to give it that typical men’s fresh designer release overwhelms the Comme des Garcons’ signature. Keep in mind that like unlike many other Comme des Garcons’ fragrances, Blue Santal is both strong and projects. But hey, if you like the idea of a stereotypical men’s designer laid over the top of a classic woody-incense Commes De Garcons, this may be right up your alley. Many of those ugly and/or wrong babies go through a period where the sense of wrongness falls away and what’s left is something both unique and beautiful. Sadly, this does not happen for Blue Santal.

Techno Pine. Over the years the Puig produced Comme releases became a second universe to their original, produced in France, scents and therefor also to the 'parfums parfums' series - the three 'blue' releases built an exception in that two fold division - they came in a trio, almost in the spirit of some of the 'Series' and also since they seem to pick up themes that were experiment with somewhere else by the house, and more so by working with the same perfumers again - Evelyne Boulanger for Blue Encens and respectively Jaisalmer - or Antoine Maisondieu for Blue Santal and Sugi respectively. Similarities between these are apparent, which is not a bad thing at all. Blue Santal sticks out as the most particular one from this blue series - similar to overlooking Seoul in winter from a bath tub made from hinoki wood on the rooftop of a skyscraper - beautifully technicistic, strangely artisanal, definitivly worth trying in cold weather !

There is a very specific smell to the air at our summer house. Whenever we arrive after a long long drive, I step out of the car and inhale deeply of the ancient pine forests of northern Wisconsin. The air is clean, green, cool, woody and full of life. CdG Blue Santal is this scent, bottled. I know it's hyped up as a sandalwood fragrance, but I hardly smell the sandalwood. I get rows and rows of hundred year old pine trees. I get the juniper bushes that my great grandmother planted in the yard back in the 1920s. I don't necessarily want to wear this, I like to save that smell for the actual event of BEING THERE. But it's so cool to find this and know that someone managed to bottle the experience.

First spray was 'mmmhhhhh!' - sandalwood and cedar, yummy woody goodness. But then it takes a left turn and goes wrong. I agree with Cereza, I can smell something... not quite right in this forest. It takes on a little bit of stank quite frankly, almost like civet, and it's quite sharp - a strange result of the pine? This dies down after a little while but never quite goes away and it mellows out considerably into an acceptable piney woody scent, but one that for me pales in comparison to others such as Tam Dao, Wonderwood, or indeed Fille en Aiguilles. Veers more masculine. Definite miss for me. But if you don't mind your forest being a touch fecal then try it out.