Comme des Garcons Series 3 Incense: Zagorsk

In the quest for the perfect incense fragrance, Zagorsk often gets recommended. The raw, lemony-smokey incense that most people in Western countries are used to (Avignon, Sahara Noir) is not to be found in Zagorsk. Instead, a pine-like, cold, crisp, resinous (almost powdery) accord is what Zagorsk offers, which is quite accurately described by the accompanying marketing. The scent is supposed to immitate a snow-covered Russian Monastery in the city of the same name. It remains quite linear throughout and develops little to my nose. The Russian-style incense is totally justified in my opinion, so most Orthodox people might feel at home with this scent. But this is no 'one size fits all' incense. However, it may well be one of the most appropriate cold-weather scent in a long time: one that is zero sweet and a million miles from oriental ambers or ouds. Comme des Garcons should be praised for their objective to create a fragrance for each of the world's largest religions, although I wouldn't associate Russian Orthodox with everything Orthodox Christian. That said, this scent is one of the closest things a fragrance can get to without actually burning anything. Therefore, it gets the thumbs up from me. Other similar scents to check out might be Polo RL for the pine note (although quite different to Zagorsk) and Amouage Jubilation XXV and Breath of God by LUSH for incense in general.

Zagorsk is not my favorite cdg incense but it's damn good. I picture a russian church, blanketed in snow, surounded by coniferous trees. The opening is very interesting. There is spiciness but overall it smells remarkably cold to me. Almost slightly metallic, like cold metal. The pine incense combo creates a strangely transparent, almost clovey airiness over top. This opening lasts a very long time, almost hours but eventually the pepper and other woods emerge from hibernation and it becomes much more inviting. The drydown is interestingly contradictory. Theres the cold airiness of the opening but theres also a spicy coziness. In the opening you're trudging through the freezing taiga. After hours of walking you finally see in the distance a large, gothic cathedral. The drydown comes as soon as you enter it and slam the large, heavy door closed. You can still sense the cold, biting air outside, but it is muted by the heavy wooden door and the warm scent of incense and a cozy fire within. While I love this, for some reason I dont feel the urge to wear it very often. Maybe it's a little too serious, lacking in charm. Performance is on par with the other incenses, being above average in both duration and sillage. All in all this gets a 7.5/10 from me for its transportive, if overly sombre qualities.

Boy, tough break for Zagorsk considering how much everyone loves the other four! It's definitely got the deep, dark pine forest going on right from the first whiff...makes me think of Polo almost. I find it to be a very natural, organic confer scent, even after it moves indoors, into the log cabin, losing some of the brisk coldness after a minute or two. This is what life smelled like in remote Hudson Bay Company forts in the wilds of 18th century Canada, pipe tobacco and all. It's slowly getting sweeter, with a single sweet note, almost like grassy vanilla, that stands out like the spring shoots reaching up through the last of the snow in March. But after the woods from the top notes dissipate more, this grassy vanilla note does get a bit one-dimensional, almost like a He Wood flanker. The dynamic, fresh-hewn log cabin smell ages a few hundred years to leave that sweeter but heavily-worn remnant that you smell when you visit that same old fort today, on a tour at a national park. If you took all the gourmand elements out of Zirh Corduroy, or maybe even out of Rocabar, you'd be left with something like this. It's much less "my thing" than some of the others in the series, but I'll still give it a thumbs up because I think it's well-balanced for the sweet antique wood genre.

So far I've tried this and Avignon, and I expected the latter to be my runaway favourite. However, I think Zagorsk has a cleanness and contrast to it that elevates it slightly higher for me than the more sweet, straightforward notes of Avignon. My initial impressions were of sharp pine and cold smoke, and I'm obsessed with how it dries down. Perhaps I'm doing Avignon a disservice due to the very small sample I'm working with, but Zagorsk is still the one I keep reaching for despite having a similarly tiny vial. While I'll likely buy a full size of both to get more used to wearing them, I can see Zagorsk remaining my favourite going forward and becoming a staple of my wardrobe in the colder months. It also makes me very curious about the Orthodox incense that inspired it, since I'm someone who was raised primarily around Lutheran and Catholic churches, so Avignon is far more similar to what I'm used to. I'd recommend this fragrance to folks who want a less typical churchy incense and who enjoy sharp, woodsy scents... and for any in the witchy and gothic crowd that want a more melancholy (to use CdG's word) incense fragrance than the lighter and sweeter Avignon.

Zagorsk is wonderfully unique. Both as a city and as a fragrance. I've been there and I don't particularly remember how it smells like, but Comme des Garçons definitely nailed Eastern European Orthodox vibe of our monasteries with this one. It opens green, fresh, dry woody and settles down as gorgeous austere incense. The birch note (or is it hinoki?) is a tiny bit scratchy and harsh for my nose but at the same time it's immensely nostalgic, too. I own Avignon from Series 3 and it's so wonderful to see the contrast between the smell of pure Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Pompous, dark and gothic Avignon vs light, fresh and modest Zagorsk. I find it interesting that people associate Zagorsk with snow because usually when it's winter and snowy in Russia, there's no particular smells around, let alone "green" smells or smells of wood. So for me this is more of a spring/summer memory, when the sun is shining and it's still might be a bit chilly in the mornings but everything is already blooming. CDG nailed it, I have nothing else to say. Lovely poetic fragrance which evokes the long gone memories of peaceful times in Sergiyev Posad (Zagorsk).

If you’ve ever put your nose in a bag of actual frankincense that they use in orthodox churches, unburned, this is EXACTLY how this smells. It doesn’t catch the smell of the woods or the myrrh or the wine or the bread or the gold and the velvets, but it smells exactly like the incense itself alone. I find this one to be the most “masculine” from the line, I really get the pencil shavings scent that a lot of people seem to talk about. I also find it to be the most simple and no-frills, straightforward incense. It’s cold, dry, bitter incense. There’s really something very enchanting about how simple and COLD this perfume is. No other scent has ever made me physically cold like this one! It feels like you’re in the middle of an endless arctic forest, though I don’t really see the embellished cathedrals of Zagorsk with this, it’s a more small modest middle of nowhere kind of church. I can’t get out of my head that this is how Tarkovsky’s film “Andrei Rublev” must smell. Not a safe blind buy, it smells so cold and dry and bitter and dusty that it’s hard to perceive it as a person’s scent, as incredible as it is.

Another beautiful incense fragrance. Darker, deeper, cooler, wet and kind of dirty. I didn't really know what to say at first and I thought about it for a long while. I think I love it as much as Avignon, but for a different reason. Avignon is for me a nostalgic perfect recreation of my favorite smell in the world. Avignon isn't very powerful or long lasting, but it's accuracy is incredible. Here, with Zagorsk, I wasn't sure what I should expect. I have been to an Orthodox church before, but not while it was being incensed, so I didn't have a memory bank of information to go to when I smelled it. It's green, woody, a bit smoky and quite dark/cool. It warms up a bit as it sits, but really for me this is an angsty fragrance. A bit bitter, contemplative, aged. Definitely agree with alfarom's review: it's dark, green and cold. Really mysterious. Evokes for me the idea of Orthodox monks living in the forest alone, contemplating God. I think it's beautiful. 9/10

When i sprayed this, immediately i was hit with a naturally wintery, gasoline (not in a bad way) minty kind of smell, it then evolved into a slightly sweeter and peaceful yet still very cool and fresh smell after, throughout the day. I can smell pine, incense and the hinoki wood which combine to give a relaxed, spiritual sense of state. Its not a scent to wear to please others, yet i can see people acknowledge the scent, it almost has a calming effect on them. its a solid signature scent, something that a monk in the cathedrals or even a young man in his 20s in Russia would wear. It's smells industrial yet very natural at the same time. I spray 4 around 8 am in the morning and projects for the first3-4 hours and can smell it lingering around for another 3 after. I can smell hints of it the 1 or 2 days after. I would say this is a definite buy for those into the wintery, cold air, incense and meditative scents.

Being a Russian Orthodox Christian, living in the US for many years, I miss the scent of my church in Moscow and tend to look for it in perfumes and aromatherapy. I was so excited to find out about Zagorsk. But it fell somewhat short for me. Initially I smelled gauze bandages, now the most prominent scent is beeswax candles that are used in Orthodox church, however, that is not how my church smells like. Maybe Zagorsk (now Sergiev Posad) monastery smells like this, I do not remember (I only visited it once). Seems like a tiny village church might smell like this. I like Zagorsk enough to keep it, yet, it is not reminiscent of my Orthodox church experience in Russia and I do not crave it. Edit: despite all that, Zagorsk became my fragrance of choice to wear to church. It seems to be the most appropriate scent from my wardrobe, most perfumes seem out of place there.

Avignon gets all of the love... and it is a great perfume. But Zagorsk is my #1 from the entire CDG Incense series. Actually, it's my favorite coniferous fragrance to date. Admittedly I haven't sampled very many fragrances in this category--and I'm not sure I really need to since Zagorsk appears to still be in production. It works well in the winter, especially if you're of the opinion that cold-weather fragrances don't need to be weighed down with sweetness, oud accords, or both. There are no ham-fisted sugary afterthought notes thrown into this mix. The pine note here is ethereal and not the least bit heavy or tarry. It's from the mid-to-upper canopy, not the forest floor. For me it shines best and brightest in the summertime. But really, it's just all-out beautiful no matter which season.

This is a serene, peaceful fragrance...the pine and birch tar perfectly complement the frankincense, this is the last stop on my CDG Incense trail and it's been an eye opening, whistle stop tour around the world. I've reached the conclusion that I love incense when surrounded by other notes in complex compositions the likes of Amouage epic, memoir and interlude. Another reason I like them is they have a smokiness, I honestly couldn't describe any of these as being smokey with the exception of Kyoto and Zagorsk which have a mild smokey texture but I was expecting more. Again, not that I'm complaining this collection has more than delivered and educated me about different faiths and the smells associated with them. Hats off to Comme de Garçons!!!

to me this doesnt smell like orthodox church at all.. maybe small wooden church in some distant Siberian village.. to me orthodox church smells a lot sweeter... but this one smells like depression and i love it. scent is something between "smoky pine forest" and "molding carrots in a cold basement". scary in a philosophical way. just like death, its kinda always there but we always forget. melancholic but not whiny, more like contemplating that loses are inevitable, misfortunes may come, illness may prevail.. but at the end its all part of life and those negative things make life worthy. i adore this scent!! unfortunately, very very weak :( one spray will last you 40min if ur lucky

Perhaps my favourite of the Incense series (although I wear Avignon and Kyoto more often). I don't get carrot from it, but do get nutmeg, which I associate with carrot soup. I'm not sure this has been discontinued @nisz_snob. It is hard to get, but does come back into stock from time to time. I have been keeping an eye on the Selfridges and Liberty websites here in London and a single bottle just popped up on Selfridges (which wasn't there earlier this week) and so I grabbed it as a back up. The more niche CdG scents seem to come into stock in very small quantities, so you can easily miss them and then they don't reappear for months. Not sure what the supply issue is.

It's a masterpiece. Usually I'm allergic to those over-romanticised ideas and backstories behind fragrances, but the execution of this one is just insane. Melancholic, solitary, harsh atmosphere of an old wooden church in the middle of snowy nowhere is undeniable. That's the first time the perfume brought me an actual vision of that kind, it's truly remarkable to me. In that case, details like sillage, projection, drydown doesn't really matter. It took me for a brief moment to the different time and place and it's far more than I ever expected from a little bottle of smelly liquid. -If you want to learn about my approach to reviewing, please see my profile bio-

On my skin I mainly get birch and carrots, not much incense at all which surprised me. It's a silent, cool scent that tells a story in a way, it calms my nerves. I come from the northern parts of Sweden, so I totally get this minimalistic call of nature. It reminds me of climbing trees as a child, the woodsy, sappy parts of this scent really resembles the woods where I come from. It also reminds me of my mothers homegrown carrots, pulled from the soil, brushed off and piled in the fridge. The smell you get from snapping an ice cold homegrown carrot in half is right there. Zagorsk is an amazing composition of scents that really touches my heart.

This one is better for the colder seasons, I think, but it's surprisingly fresh for a scent with this much (frank)incense. Those smoky notes dominate on my skin, but they dominate subtly, if that makes any sense; they're balanced out so beautifully by the greener notes. The smell evokes a walk through a nordic kind of forest in the fall: lots of pines and birch trees and dark wet earth, and somewhere nearby someone is burning incense. It's great, cold and warm at the same time. So I guess I'm experiencing this like it's meant, maybe with some help from the suggestion of the name: it does remind me of (an idea of) Russia or northern Scandinavia.

I don`t know about the other commenters and their experiences, but this scent is so nostalgic to me, and smells exactly like churches of my childhood in my homecountry -- the insense mixed with the cold stony smell of the old church walls...to me it hits the nail on the head with Orthodoxy. I love the scent, but I am not sure if I would really ever wear it; this is for someone really bold and confident to be worn as a perfume, but then again, that is what the Comme des Garcons perfume philosophy is all about - avantgard, excentric, unexpected, unusual. I think I will eventually purchase it and experiment with wearing it.

Overall: 9/10 Here's Why: Sad. Rustic. Dreary. Slow Burn. I've never smelt something like this before. It's transporting. It tells a story. The Pine and pepper linger behind a strong birch and frankincense. Iris and Violet take the backseat. It's masculine, but young. fresh and stale at the same time. It's a beautiful and polarizing smell. The juice is wonderful, and it tells a story. It's deep and layered, bitter and sweet. It's full of contradictions and it shouldn't work. for my skin, it was magic. Does not play well with others. A little too morbid to wear daily, but it's special.

Great review below from Dr Kool. :) I have no idea what authentic Orthodox Russian church incense smells of? I'd assumed CDG had done some research? maybe they had? Perhaps the sample churches they chose smelled like this? or maybe a cock up and this incense range was labelled incorrectly? maybe zagorsk is supposed to be jaisalmer as he suggests....I love this one all the same and has been a recent addition to my wardrobe but I can't wear it yet as for me it's not warming enough for winter...will be lovely in spring I reckon.

This peaceful fragrance is perfect for an aromatherapy, especially when one needs concentration, as it keeps the mind clear (actually, it's an effect of olibanum, which could be purchased as an oil or in it's pure form). The question is, where to wear such a "spiritual fragrance", as an association with the church is too evident (especially for those who live in the countries with dominating Orthodox or Catholic churches). So I just enjoy it as an abstract aroma, not as a perfume.

This is a masterpiece: it's a real olibanum, and yes, it brings a vivid feeling of visiting an ortodox church in the cold season. It is exactly because of this direct association with a church I had some doubts about this fragrance before the very first purchase. But on a skin it gets some warm shadows, and does not sound too "spiritual" :). It also has some therapical effect, as it calms the mind and keeps your head clean. I have bought a second flacon of it.

One of the few incense perfumes wearable for summer. Fresh, beautiful and poetic. As has been said many times before, it is very reminiscent of a church in a pine forest. As an Eastern European, this scent is very familiar to me. Besides incense, I smell notes of smoke, cedar, pine needles and a slight soapiness. For a long time I couldn't decide which Comme des Garcons incense I liked better. I don't regret choosing this one. Plus, the price is quite nice.

Oh wow, lovely! Tons of woods, and cool fresh air. Has a saltiness too that reminds me of a shipboard sort of wood, washed in clean air and seawater, with a hint of tar and wood smoke. Crisp and beautiful. Not the greatest staying power, but it does at least last a couple of hours. And I don’t quite get the pine everyone speaks of; my nose still insists it’s incense and cedar with a sea-air zest. Which is working fine for me.

If you like the hinoki cypress smell I think Zagorsk is a much better interpretation of the theme than it actually is Monocle Scent 01 by the same house. A dark-green coniferous base (pine and hinoki) mixed with the most chilling and stark frankincense around. Minimalistic and austerely distinctive but incredibly compelling as well. One of my favourite incenses of all time. Highly recommended! Rating: 8.5/10

This is the ultimate goth kid scent, especially if you're on the masc side of the spectrum and enjoy listening to Siouxsie and Depeche Mode. It's melancholic, dark, ethereal. While resinous, it's not too sweet like some church-y alternatives I've tried, and it fortunately doesn't have any weird Catholic priest vibe. Love everything about this except for its longevity. It's gone in a matter of minutes. 9/10

As a Russian Orthodox Christian this scent has nailed the ‘snowy, secluded monastery in the middle of a pine forest with incense rising up’ feeling. This smells like home and I’m so glad that I came across this scent. Very heavy on the pine with a slight spiciness to it and most certainly the incense/ smoke really tops it off. Over all a very underrated fragrance

Zagorsk is one of my favourite cold weather perfumes. It is peaceful, transcendent, unique. Comforting and loving, present but not dominant, nostalgic in a way. There is something extraordinary about this perfume that transports me to peace, tranquility and hope. Best during colder months, especially winter.

Peaceful, transcendent, unique - perfect perfume for colder months, especially cold winter. It reminds me of snow, cold, frost, pines, small wooden church somewhere in the forest. On my skin, unfortunately, too much violet and flowery notes appear. Moreover, some people say they smell carrot.

I love the incense range! This is just beautiful! On me it's absolutely a comforting scent. I smell the pine, the resins and sap of trees, I smell frankincense and the earth of a forest floor. It's very sweet too, I do get the iris on me, but thankfully no smokiness. Want one now!

Like going on a run in the nature of zagorsk. The gentle wind flows through your energy as the fresh pine and green leaves stimulate your brain. Think taking a nice deep breath for the first time in a long time after a cold. Wish they made an EDP version.

This was the first perfume I ever bought and pretty much the thing that got me into perfume to begin with. While I've since moved on to incenses that are a bit more rich and longer lasting, this will always hold a special place in my heart <3

I was honestly surprised with how good this is. Incense, pine, green- typical Comme Des Garcon style fragrance, a little left of field but definitely able to be a daily wear for Autumn and Winter. Great value as well. Big fan.

Cold incense with an initial strong coniferous smell that dials down when it dries. It has more of an orthodox monastery smell than church. Less wearable or mass appealing than avignon, definitely not a blind buy.

Wonderful blend of wood notes and perhaps fresh frankincense resin. Personal and close to the skin. Good to spritz on after a spa treatment or just relaxing.

it smells deadly serious and gravely calm. church/October/pine trees/cemetery/damp marble. not a dark scent; more like a misty foggy morning, overcast day.

A woody gently smokey incense scent. I find it very calming and contemplative in small doses. Would appeal to a Bulgari Black lover

My favourite of the line! So mysterious and enchanting!! Why did they discontinue this masterpiece?!!!

This is how I wished Iris Silver Mist to smell like. Beautiful pale melancholic scent.

I agree with others who state Zagorsk doesn't present as a "true" incense fragrance, certainly not the type most Westerners are accustomed to. This fragrance smells very herbal, almost harshly so (at least to my nose...certainly upon opening). So, the opening notes are quite intense where I perceive lots of cedar, cypress, pine and some sharp berries. Zagorsk does open like many typical fougere fragrances with lots 'n lots of forest, greenery, fern & pine...small, faint elements of dry incense intermittently break through upon application and throughout the first 5 minutes or so. Mid notes emerge within 5 minutes and absolutely morph with and change the original opening notes. I like the middle phase of this fragrance. Unlike the other CdG Incense Fragrances I've tried, (or smelled), little floral whisps of violet try breaking through the mass of pine and cedar throughout the middle phase of this fragrance. While extremely faint, the fragrant violet is a pleasant & balancing element and one of the more pleasing aspects of this fragrance, IMHO. Finally, like many "incense" fragrances, Zagorsk settles at base with woody, birch, rather typical "wood" notes. Some incense notes pop through on occasion. Not at all resinous, like what one might come to expect with an incense fragrance, Zagorsk is a bit powdery and cloud like. As incense fragrances go, I think Zagorsk is a relatively "easy" fragrance to wear. And I like this fragrance, I do. However, similar to all the CdG Incense Series fragrances I've smelled and/or sampled, Zagorsk is not something I would ever purchase, or wear on a regular basis. While on my skin, Zagorsk is the most femininely appealing, or "unisex" of all the CdG Incense fragrances, I still think Zagorsk (and all the Incense Series fragrances) is decidedly masculine. While I love the CdG "Incense" concept and I appreciate many of the "Incense" fragrances and notes, none in this CdG series have worked for me. For me, every CdG incense fragrance I've tried has just been to "church-y" for my tastes and definitely way too masculine leaning. And for the price point (and like the others Incense fragrances), Zagorsk has limited silage, limited longevity and minimal staying power on my skin. It's expensive stuff and I like it but it's just not my style.

I don't know if this perfume reacts in a very peculiar way on me but I smell almost none of the listed notes, and smell a whole lot else. Firstly I do smell pine, and possible cedar too, but instead of any of it's floral notes what I get is constant and intense smokiness. I get hints of birch tar and burnt paper, and also a strong wiff of freshly extinguished matches. I don't get any Iris or violet. After a while this perfume (which despite it's oddness I do rather like) becomes damp and mouldy smelling, like an old mahogany closet in the attic. There is something haunting and weird and elemental about Zagorsk which it took me time to adapt to. After a while it transported me to some tumbledown ancient wooden orthodox church in Siberia where the trees crowd about darkly, and the snow melt dampens everything and where wood and the smells of charcoal, earth, lit tapers and clean dirt and dust fill the air. This is a very unusual and very magical scent which is worth owning even if one cannot wear it often. It's certainly not as wearable as Avignon (which I adore), but it's a hell of a lot more interesting than Kyoto or Jaisalmer. Like the rest of this range it's sheer and light and its sillage is only fair, as is its longevity, but the bottles are a handy size to carry about so you can always re-apply.

All about pine and fir balsam with a tiny curl of incense smoke, the opening notes of Zagorsk really do evoke the image of a tiny Russian church in the middle of a huge dark fir forest on a cold snowy night. As the scent warms a little it becomes greener and the image changes to the inside of the church, constructed out of fir wood, decorated with freshly cut evergreen branches, and scented with the smoke of a small amount of subtly spicy incense that’s being burned for a ceremony. As time goes on, it warms even more, revealing a soft violet/iris scent that’s still very green, becoming progressively sweeter and spicier. To me, this phase evokes pastel colored violet flavored candies. There’s quite a bit of sillage, especially in the violet phase. Zagorsk does a complete about-face, evolving from a cool and stark evergreen-laden woody incense to a violet floral that’s sweet and soft, although it does maintain an undercurrent of evergreen leaves and wood. I love the first act, with its woody incense, but the second act with its sweet violets becomes cloying after a while, especially since it has amazing staying power.

I have never been in a Russian Orthodox church, but I used to attend weekly Catholic Mass with my family and sometimes the priest would burn incense on certain days. This reminds me a lot of that scent, which I found very pleasant and comforting. This conjures up memories of being a child and sitting cozily between my mom and grandma at Mass. It also reminds me a lot of a cold winter day, and sometimes I will get a whiff of what smells like a campfire. It's very smoky, but on my skin, no pine scent really appears. I like this quite a bit for its originality, but I agree with the reviewer who said this is a scent she'd wear at home for herself and not out. I don't think I'd have the courage to wear this in public, but at home it's nice and calming, especially before bed.

While I haven't visited many eastern European countries, this scent transported me back to a very specific memory: a misty/foggy day in June, standing in Vladislav Hall in Prague Castle. Further memories evoked: the prisons of the Doge's Palace in Venice on a chilly December day, the coldness of the walls and surrounding enveloping you. Not quite a sterile scent, but solitary, like you're in an old European museum or church looking at paintings, sculptures, and architecture centuries older than yourself. Your family is just a few steps away, but in that moment, you are simply alone. I like it a lot. I really didn't expect such a specific memory to come to mind when I smelled it. Lasted 6 or so hours on my skin, though the sillage is a little weak.

To me, this is a much more woody and less spicy version of Avignon. Based off my preferences, I wrongly assumed that I would like Zagorsk the most out of the three CDG Incense samples I tried, but Avignon clearly wins. Kyoto is a whole different scent profile from these two IMO but still not my favorite. Zagorsk has pretty good performance (about 6 hours) but the pine tree almost overwhelms all the other notes. I do still enjoy this one, because I always gravitate towards woody scents, but Avignon is overall more complex and unique to me. I was hoping this would be signature scent material because the packaging fits my aesthetic so well, but I think if I had to choose a full bottle purchase from the incense it would be Avignon over Zagorsk.

First of all this is not a Woody (oriental) its a Leather fragrance, you can very much smell the Isobutyl Quinoline blended in with the Birch. The French always do this with Birch & it sh*ts me to be honest, another example is Creed Aventus they did it to that too, they'll always steer Birch in a Russian Leather direction and make it smell like Cuir de Leder. And hey look thats fine and all but just say what you mean, mean what you say, don't just call it Birch because when I think of Sweet Birch which is mainly Methyl Salicylate I'm preparing to smell the likes of Deep Heat or Ice gel physiotherapy in other words or prohibition a.k.a Birch Beer. After all that lovely fragrance buy it, they'll never out do COMME des GARCONS.

Woody from the very beginning, slightly smoky note of birch revealing a hint of green pine needles. I was expecting the typical refreshing resinous pine outburst but in reality this note only gives you a general feeling of green plants releasing their smell in the woods while you are stepping on thin wood and leaves. Then the olibanum kicks in with some sweet resinous hint. It makes me think slightly of incense but a very woody one, not the typical incense they burn in Catholic Churches. All in all an interesting fragrance although I would not know when to use it. The smell of wood is very good but in this fragrance it can become slightly stale after a while.

Evergreen, smoky, aloof - a more cold and outdoorsy incense than the warmer, enveloping Avignon - but still beautiful. But. Either it vanishes within minutes on me, or dabbing from a small tester ruins its projection and longevity. I'd happily buy this - it has certain piney delights in common with Fille en Aiguilles and Wazamba, which I ADORE - but I've got to be able to enjoy it! I've had the same problem with CDG Blackpepper - which again, I really liked, but it was gone in 50 minutes. Yet other people describe this as powerful and lasting. Skin chemistry, or needing an atomiser, or what else? What gives?

Violets and birch tar and young pine needles. And frankincense – rather light and therefore not really typical for an idea of truly depicting an atmosphere of orthodox church. This is for me a smell of an abandoned village church – slightly musty and dusty, a truly melancholic smell of neglect and desertion – and I’ve had a vast experience with Russian Orthodox churches – both grand and neglected. Nevertheless, I do like Zagorsk: it is much more original compared to Avignon, the projection and silage in both is equally rather moderate on me.

Smells just like a Russian Orthodox Church on first spray, with hints of a Birchwood bonfire. Perhaps it's Easter they're lighting one outside. (Sidenote, do the Orthodox have a bonfire on Easter or is it just us Catholics?) Tries down to a fairly generic spicy cologne scent- what I imagine the Russian version of Florida Water smells like. Something you'd buy at a corner store. Lasts forever, decent projection. A little masculine, but definitely still doable for a lady like me. Thank you CDG for letting me live out my Russophilic fantasies.

Firstly, Zagorsk, also named Sergiev Posad, it's a russian city that it's said that it's the spiritual center of the Russian Orthodox church. This fragrance it has a melancholic vibe like it's Russia hehe. Mainly, I perceive rather a dark green woody aspect that balmy. I detect the incense but not too much intense if not slight. IMO it's versatile since it's not overpowering. Although, more suitable for Autumn and Winter. A very evocative fragrance!! Scent: 8 Longevity: 7 Projection: 6 Sillage: 6 Uniqueness: 7 Versatility: 7 Overall: 6,83