Comme des Garcons Series 3 Incense: Avignon

For nearly 70 years the seat of the Holy Roman Church was not arguably, but quite literally not seated in Rome. From the years 1309 to 1376 seven successive popes resided in the French city of Avignon due to the predictable conflicts between Church and crown. In the year 2002 Japanese fashion and fragrance house Comme des Garcon released their groundbreaking and well loved Incense fragrances series. Five fragrances chosen to represent five world religions. Interestingly enough the name given to represent the fragrance that would stand to represent the Holy Roman Church was not Rome but Avignon. Relique D'Amour is currently my favorite fragrance. Orpheon is my "signature" and how I'd like to be remembered. With that being said Avignon is one of my favorite fragrances and the BEST "church incense" fragrance. Church incense fragrances are a niche that I love so it goes with out saying that Avignon is often worn and often discussed. Perhaps no other fragrance replicates the smell of the smoke that exits the censers inside a church. While I do believe there are other fragrances that better represent the smell of the inside of a church itself, I can honestly state that I believe no other scent recreates the smell of the smoke itself as Avignon. Anyone familiar with church incense blends will know they often consist of three parts primarily. A frankincense, a myrrh, and a floral often a white floral such as chamomile or lily. Avignon lists its top notes as Chamomile, elemi, and Aldehydes. These opening notes, to my nose and on my skin, are accurately represented in the opening. The elemi introduces the fragrance immediately as being an "incense" fragrances with the chamomile bringing an unmistakable old world reverence into the picture. Lastly,the aldehydic notes in the opening, I feel, aren't talked about enough, without these aldehydes lightening the overall composition Avignon would be far to dark for most consumers. Avignon's aldehydes open up the figurative windows of the room allowing the guests to enjoy the art on the walls. Avignon has middle notes of French labdanum, spices, and Ambrette(Musk Mallow); and base notes of Incense, Olibanum. Virginia Cedar, Brazilian rosewood,, Patchouli, oak moss, Vanilla and Musk. Avignon's beauty is that it's a fragrance where the final drydown smell is best described not from its ingredients but from its creative intention, the SMELL itself. Plenty of people know what patchouli smells like, but more know what church incense smells like. Comme des Garcon set out to represent religions by their incenses in the case of Avignon they did an amazing job, perhaps the standard since its release. Warm, rich, smokey, and calming. Avignon is certainly a fragrance best worn in cooler weather or in air conditioned environments the heavier woods, vanilla and myrrh may be to cloying in high heat for most. Avignon provides an incredibly rich scent with out being gaudy in the least avoiding the inclination to overdose the spices or patchouli. There's enough smoke for this fragrance to never feel distinctly feminine and the smoke itself is rich enough for this fragrance to never feel completely masculine. Perhaps it is because this fragrance was created to replicate another scent itself and not as a "product" that it naturally avoids gender categorization by most noses including my own. Avignon is a fragrance I wear for me, sure, I love the few compliments I've gotten wearing it but this is a fragrance that allows me to feel a sense of comfort and calm, Avignon isn't experimental in this sense. Avignon isn't a head trip to help expand your conscience it's a warm cup of tea after you've journeyed enough and realize the trip isn't worth the gas. Avignon surprisingly has notoriety among not just us "fragheads" but among fans of The Smiths and their singer Morrisey. I've had two people in the past year who upon telling that I was wearing Avignon stated "Oh cool, I heard that's what Morrisey wears." Upon further research I can proudly say that what appears to be Moz's signature fragrance is certainly a favorite of mine as well. Avignon is by no means lacking attention, well known and well loved as the best church incense fragrance. The standard, the flag bearer. Avignon is a fragrance that changed me, Avignon is a fragrance that changed perfumes from something I used in my grooming to a piece of art I am able to incorporate into my everyday life. Avignon is a fragrance that has allowed me to fight my shadow of nostalgia by creating new memories. Avignon is a fragrance that I think everyone who has an interest in scent and perfumery should smell, and most importantly I think Avignon is a perfume that most would enjoy wearing and certainly smelling.

I've got this, Kyoto and Zagorsk going head to head. Kyoto has a lovely, bright, clean, non-smoky, non-stinky, yuzu-ish or lemony incense resin thing going on. There's more than a hint of fruity bubblegum sweetness in the top but there's also a kind of understated fullness or roundness underneath. The fragrance reminds me of fresh ginger, cardamom, lemongrass (honeyed Indonesian lemongrass tea) and probably clean vetiver too but the rounder aspect makes me think of--I don't even know what--lemon candy? Honey, even? Beeswax? (Edit: it may be just immortelle.) At any rate the fragrance is not all top-end zing but I do think that's a huge part of what it has to offer. Zagorsk is more recessed and perhaps comes perilously close to lacking detail and being too dry or dark (though not at all in a heavy way) to make much of an impression. I don't get any big hit of sauna wood but the many descriptions I've read regarding walking through a coniferous forest in cold weather, more than likely with snow on the ground, with just a hint of a kind of greenish woody incense in the air (quite possibly, yes, from an Orthodox church) are on point. The touch of ambery powder here is nice. It almost makes me think of snow. The fragrance is quite soft, impressionistic and definitely reserved but I like it. Essentially I see almost a clear, bright yellow or green-yellow (straw) resin with the Kyoto, whereas Zagorsk is more green, like pine resin or mastic. Avignon is somewhat fuller, rounder and probably sweeter than either. There's citrusy sweetness in Kyoto but Avignon has the myrrh and so on, and essentially there's more ambery dark-resin sweetness in Avignon than in the other two. Avignon is the gummiest of the three--not in terms of bubblegum fruitiness but in terms of almost rubbery resin or balsam. It's still quite soft and impressionistic, but at its core, of the three fragrances, it probably does offer the biggest dose of incense of the kind that many of us in Western Europe or the Americas are most familiar with in the context of church. Is any of the three full-bottle worthy? It depends what you're looking for. Kyoto would probably be lovely in cool spring or autumn weather (but maybe more the spring for me). The picture that Zagorsk paints favours cold weather but I'm not sure the fragrance has quite enough presence to stand up to that, so for me it may be a scent that, like the original Encre Noire, is lovely but suffers a little from not being quite convincingly suitable for the kind of context where in principle it should most shine. Kyoto and Zagorsk particularly are quite delicate, though not in completely the same way. They would be great for indoor relaxation and reflection. Because it's a little fuller, sweeter and more opulent, with a little more presence--at this moment, it reminds me of the far, far bolder and less sophisticated Bentley Intense--Avignon may be the only one of the three that I would feel comfortable wearing in the winter as well as the autumn. Then again, I am a huge Smiths and Morrissey fan and was probably always likely to prefer Avignon. CdG perfumers, take a bow. There's always someone somewhere with a big nose who knows.

You did it. You finally did it. You finally pulled the trigger and buy that ticket to Japan for vacay. You had the PTO, the money, the hankering and it all added up to booking wonderful accomodations and amazing sounding tours in and around Tokyo. GO. YOU. Then from the moment your plane takes off from the airport in Atlanta on its' way to Toronto it seems as though everything that could go wrong DID go wrong. Weird smoke in the cabin (it turned out to be a cloud of baby powder???) triggered a return to the airport and hours of waiting and dread and stress being heaped upon you--brick by brick, hour by hour--while you stared at the clock wondering if you would miss your connecting flight. And guess what! You did miss it. And you'll be getting there not just many hours after the original flight. 3 DAYS after the original flight. The hotel food in Toronto was bland and cold as you hunched over it with your phone making cancellations and re-reserving tours and lots and lots of "I'm sorry. There are no rooms available"'s. You think about going back home but you don't. No. This is a bucket list item. You're doing it. When you're finally on the flight to Narita Airport you breathe a sigh of relief. Then 3 hours in you feel weird grumbly liquidy feelings. Diarrhea. The bland food in Toronto's vengeance was upon you. Barely able to sleep an hour at a time you land exhausted, dehydrated and defeated to a degree you've never experienced. This was a mistake. You get to your hotel in Shibuya swimming in sorrow. You quickly fall into a black, dreamless slumber for 15 hours straight. When you wake up you decide to try to see if something will finally go as it should. You go for a walk to explore the beautiful area around the hotel and you start to feel a little better. Maybe it wasn't a mistake. You work your way away from the heavily crowded touristy areas. You decide to let go and allow fate to lead you wherever it may. Not long after you do you walk near a fenced area with a small rock garden. Next to the garden stands a wooden temple with a tiled roof surrounded by beautifully groomed trees. The gate is open. You step inside. You are completely alone as you make your way towards the temple. You remove your shoes, make your way inside to sit on a small cushion and you begin to meditate. As you sit in silence you are enveloped by the smell of incense, the faint decay of unimaginably ancient woods felled and shaped with handcrafted tools and sacredness. You feel the most profound sense of welcoming, peace, compassion and acceptance you've felt in years.

Revelatory. Even for a 21st-century sceptic raised atheist in a historically Protestant country, this is Old Church personified. It is some time in the early fourteenth century and you are right there in the opulent, grandiose, world-changing court of the Avignon Anti-Popes and big things are happening. Most notably a massive gilded thurible is swooshing all around your head, wreathing you in sacred smoke and the odour of sanctity. Truly exceptionally beautiful, fresh and fizzy frankincense up top (and/or mimicked with aldehydes) which is somehow cool and green and aerated, as well as golden and honeyed and resinous. This might be the smell of an old stone church but there's not a whisper of damp or rot: it may seem dark and hallowed but it's dry too, dry as dust, dry as the crumbly pages of the parchment books and the most erudite scholars' wit. It swathes you in history, swaddles you in heritage, saturates your skin and clothes with thousands of years' worth of scent memories of reverence. And it also has that usual Duchaufour magic of letting the air and the light in, too: somehow you can sense the sunbeams, slanting in through scriptorium windows, which allows even this apparently heavy and "thick" atmosphere of resins to open up and sing, like the choir invisible. It's not all solemn ritual (like say Trudon Olim) - there is true joy and spontaneity there too. Glory be! Definitely shines most beautifully on warmer days in my experience, as you get the full rounded richness of the bottom end more clearly. But basically heavenly any time. (Has there ever been a Pope Bertrand? On the basis of this I think there definitely should be.)

Bought blind, taking advantage of a great offer, I fell in love with it at the first spray and was particularly impressed with its performance on my skin, both in terms of projection and longevity. It is a powerful and extremely evocative scent that puts you in a church during a service. It is not just incense; it carries with it all the suggestions of the liturgical environment. Sweet, yet cold and icy thanks to its surprising balsamic characteristics, it recalls the dense smoke of incense grains burning in censers, with the addition of masterfully blended notes capable of perfectly recreating the scent of the interior of a majestic cathedral: wood, moisture, sharp lights and shadows, the choirs of the faithful, silence, the altar. It explodes on my skin, spreads out for at least half a meter and remains there, imperishable, for well over six hours, while rather than smelling it on me, I feel it around, like a mystical aura surrounding myself. I find something devilish in its perfection, between the sacred and the profane: it is the sheepskin the wolf wears to infiltrate the flock, the fancy dress the swindler wears, the smile of politeness of one who refuses a favor, the witchcraft that hides deception. Yet its light remains dazzling, its icy coldness sweet and attractive, like a lantern for moths. A weapon to be used wisely, rather than a perfume.