Comme des Garcons Series 3 Incense: Jaisalmer

The first time around, I found this to be the best balanced, and least of an "outlier" among the incense series. (Hopefully that doesn't mean boring). It's more of a straightforward, sweet wood in the top notes, with just a hint of spice to begin with, but that will grow. Cinnamon like in Maharadjah starts to appear pretty quickly, and gets very strong but doesn't completely overshadow the initial wood note, something that I find happens too often in spicy wood scents. The spices here are very "warm", or even hot, but it's not spicy in terms of burning or being peppery. It has the garam masala spice blend of chai tea, but in spite of the "incense" label, it blends them almost solely with wood, not with smoke. I honestly prefer this, when I consider how Tea for Two is almost ruined for me by too much smokiness. Later the ardent fire of the spices cools down, and the smooth, middle-of-the-road sweet wood returns, and it ends up resembling Sequoia somewhat, but with a more polished rather than raw wood aspect. There's still enough creamy sandalwood along with that slight crayon-waxiness to show that it's Indian-inspired, but like Ouarzazate it's not over-the-top, not trying too hard to be exotic. Another balanced, sophisticated winner from the Incense series!

This is so nice! However, two minuses. One, the performance and the sillage are veeeeery weak. Almost non-existent. The projection is so intimate I almost can't smell it unless I put my wrist directly to my nose. Two, unfortunately I don't recognise this smell as anything related to Hinduism which is a shame because Avignon, Zagorsk and Kyoto are all true to their concept and smell exactly like religious places they are affiliated with. I expected this perfume to smell more like Rien Intense Incense from ELDO, which gives me Hinduism feel from the first spray. But to me Jaisalmer mostly smells like cloves and wine (mulled wine?). A little sweet, a little bitter, very pleasant and interesting. I like it a lot and I wish so much it was a stronger smell, I would wear it all year around. The incense in it is still very distinct and enjoyable, it's a very unique take on it. I am glad Jaisalmer is in my incense collection and it's definitely not the worst one in the Series 3 (I am looking at you, Ouarzazate...) but yeah, the performance is a major flaw and probably will be the only reason I might not repurchase the bottle in the future.

Speaking solely about the smell, for me, this is one of the nicest perfumes ever. Like, if Indian marketplace really smells this way, I'll have to move to India someday. It has that trademark incense note of CdG and, especially, Series 3, but, other than that, there's a whole new world around. The incense backbone is surrounded by an abundance of spices in the opening - mostly cardamom and pepper, but with a dash of cinnamon as well, and later there is a fine mixture of ebony and oriental resins as well. This simplified picture, though, can't describe how divine the smell is, through the top, heart and base notes, all the time. Unfortunately, the longevity is abysmal on my skin. I can't get more than an hour or two out of this one, and that's really a shame. It also doesn't project well while it's present, and that doesn't help either. To make things even worse, this is as wearable and as unique as any CdG, so that just makes all this more sad. This is an one-of-a-kind smell, aura and atmosphere but, unfortunately, with very, very short life. 10/10 for the smell 7/10 for the perfume

As others have mentioned, this has a very strong pine note at the opening, that lasts for at least 30 minutes. In fact, it's so loud that it smothers pretty much anything else for a while. And then it fades away (never completely though) and the incense shines trough. And how it shines! It's calming, warming, comforting AND not the least bit churchy. While I love Avignon, I find it hard to wear because of the strong churchy connotations; no such fear with Jaisalmer. This is not a meditating fragrance like Avignon or Kyoto, this is an incense to wear when out clubbing. IMO, it's the most wearable of the Incense series (along with Quarzazate but that lacks any lasting power). The spices (cardammon & pepper) warm this up, making it perfect for colder weather. In fact, I find this much more 'flamboyant' than Encens Flamboyant which I also own and although I like to layer my incense scents with other perfumes, I think is too rich to need any 'embelishment'. After 4 samples, I finally invested in a FB and I can see myself wearing it quite often. A must try for incense lovers!

Indiaaaaaaaah! Sweet powdery cinnamon bliss. Like diving into a giant 50-metre vat of the stuff, except it's not at all choking, nor overdone; somehow, though dry as dust, it strokes rather than suffocating. The rest of the spice is soft and subtle, all arid no acrid. Beautiful gaiacwood so sweet and gentle I took it for sandalwood, only an especially classy and upmarket version. On me, not many of the darker notes (pepper, incense, ebony) come through very strongly; it's just light, terracotta-pink, pillowy soft yet never cloying, all around. That gorgeous dusty-pinkish-red of Mughal palaces and Indian cotton prints. They named it well and made a scent with similar beauty. The drawback - sillage is over-shy, and longevity's not amazing (as with the rest of this series on me), though sprayed on with the abandon it deserves, it'll survive up to 6-7h as a faint but gorgeous aura on the body. Sadly not much longer on fabrics, my usual tactic for lovely heartbreakers like this. Reasonably priced IF your skin lets it endure.