Makassar (Bois de Santal)

Bois de Santal by Keiko Mecheri is a blush colored negligee. There is something about it that says skin and sex. Much like the reviewers below me I am mixed in the notes I am picking up on. I think my sample had more rose than the bottle I bought which is more sandalwood, ambergris and tonka bean. Yes, the sandalwood does smell rather synthetic – but I am wondering if it is because of the way it blends with the rubbery musk-like smell of tonka bean and the salty ambergris? Tonka bean and I usually do not get along, so it is no surprise that I once again dislike it in this fragrance. In Bois de Santal it has a human-flesh, sweaty, heat-of-the-moment vibe...yet weirdly enough smells like play-doh...if it were made for adults. I too find the opening unpleasant, but the men in my life seem to really like it and I have already received three compliments – one being from a complete stranger who walked passed me in a store, stopped, and then turned around to say “You smell really good!”. The sillage and longevity must be pretty good, radiating about three feet and lasting a good six hours on me. As much as I sound like a hater when it comes to this fragrance (damn you tonka bean!), I actually really enjoy the dry down and it is excellent for those certain promiscuous situations *wink, wink*.

One of my favorite fragrances. A bit smoky but light and smooth sandalwood. Soft and a bit powdery rose. Balsamic accords. It's not a 'loud' scent, but delicious and quite sensual. I mostly get an evening feeling from it, but because it's very mellow and calm, it doesn't seem 'out of place' at the office or at other day time chores. And I feel like the fragrance has a number of different 'faces': Sometimes I mostly get smooth delicate sandalwood, some days it is more balsamic and smoky, while other times, the soft, powdery rose is more prominent - while offering whiffs of spicy-salty ambergris. Never boring! Edit: I agree with Eos' husband (in her review above) - I love the opening! (But it's interesting how we perceive smells differently - because I don't smell anything rotten or bad: To my nose, it seems like the ambergris may play a larger role in this phase - but whatever it is, I think it is great!) So no, it seems like it wouldn't be a safe blind buy then (also because it's an expensive fragrance)... Edit 2: Other reviewers have mentioned osmanthus. Some days I smell that too - like today: a delicate, sweet and fruity accord in the opening of the fragrance. Followed by smoky, rosy sandalwood.

I saw a beautiful girl walk directly toward this perfume, doused herself in it and walked away. Naturally I was intrigued, and sprayed my wrist. At first sniff it came off as a generic “perfume scent”, the smell of the cosmetics section of a department store. A pretty, light, floral scent. As it dried down however, I got to experience the magic this holds. The creamy tonka bean and dry sandal wood makes for a unisex and intriguing scent. Very mysterious and deep. The ambergris note adds a salty animalic flavor, which makes it reminiscent of beautiful smelling skin after sex. It’s salty sweaty, not stinky sweaty - in the best way possible. The rose adds a touch of femininity. This is sensuality in a bottle, I can’t stop smelling my wrist. 6 hours of wear time in, it’s still very much present, and I hope I can smell it still when I wake up in the morning, it’s that good. I want to be her, and so I’m going to purchase this the next time I’m back in the store!

Bois de Santal starts out with a strange 'off' note, that I could only call 'eau du jungle' ---almost like the smell of warm, limpid, half-fermented flower petals and fruits. For me this is a bit unpleasant. This opening is tart and sweet, floral and fruity, stewed and warm with an undeniable edge of rot that I find disturbing. My husband, however, loved this opening and thought it was "beautiful!" As it dries down it transitions to a very natural smelling facsimile of Mysore sandalwood. Not the real thing but close-ish. ***Given that the real thing is so hard to come by these days, I would highly recommend you sample this fragrance for this drydown*** (as long as you can stand the first 45 minutes of wear). This is NOT a safe blind buy. ETA: Please scroll down to Elisa S's lovely review below, she has provided a good counterpoint to my interpretation of the scent. :)

Bois de Santal is such a chameleon. On first test I got such a beautiful rich sandalwood evocative of the Indian species -- nutty, resinous, and sensual. On second, third and fourth testing I am met first with roses, beautiful and clear, then warming with soft wood and benzoin resin, a little warm ambergris in the base to give some fleshy body. It's a stunning rose perfume, polite, elegant, natural and inviting. When it plays with rose dominance, it reminds me a lot of SHL 777 Rose de Petra which I already own. Sandalwood dominance is what I was looking for. I do love how this is elusive and temperamental -- I really appreciate perfumes with character. However the sandalwood I'm craving keeps playing hide and seek. This is not reliable enough to be my sandalwood perfume but I highly recommend Bois de Santal for lovers of soft woody rose.

Luckyscent sample: Amber and rose (almost orange blossomy to my nose) are lovely. I agree with everyone...this is light. Sexy. Soft. And reminiscent of a Hermes type Elixer/Eau Claire des Merveilles. Very pretty. I do enjoy sniffing it! The sandalwood is not sour, it is very pleasant. I rarely like sandalwood, as I prefer a ceder, fir, or oud type wood in my perfumes. But alas, short lived, and too close to the skin for me. I'm a loud perfume wearer. :D Good office scent. Good gifting scent. Will not offend.

This is soo deep and magic. All the divine soul of the sandalwood, with something more added to brighten the woody aspect of it: floral, peppery and animalic in the dry-down.I cannot identify the other ingredients beside sandalwood, least the amber- maybe because it is very well balanced.

Beautiful scent but it's very faint on my skin and doesn't last long

My bottle is not at all like the one pictured but the name is the same. I have this in an all black bottle with gold letters. I was told about this one when I asked for recommendations of something that smells like Stella Rose Absolute Intense. I will always miss that scent. I bought this blindly. While I don't really smell much rose at all and it does not remind me of Stella, it does remind me of vintage Dior Poison a lot. I don't know if it shares notes or not with Poison, but to my nose, it smells like it is at least in the same vein as this one. I adore vintage poison so am happy with this purchase. I want to wear it now, but it is def a winter fragrance. It is deep, dark and strong scent. I have only worn it once but the longevity was at least 6 hours. I like it and am glad I bought it.

you know how it smells on Rodeo Drive or the luxury store in the VIP section at the airport... that's how this beauty smells, very delicate yet animalistic Sandalwood, subtle Rose, a powerful opening but maaaaaaan!! In an hour it becomes barely-there scent, like a far-away relative of someone super-wealthy.

This perfume is a comfortable but sexy, resinous benzoin-bomb. My fiance looooves it (couldn't keep his nose off my neck), and it is a definite full bottle candidate when I finish one of my other sweet balsamic fragrances. Same family as Ambre Fetiche.

A surprise gift from a friend arrived in the mail yesterday that initially gave me a panic attack as I thought, “oh no, did I buy something from Luckyscent again? Did I have one too many glasses of wine this past week?” Anyway, the anxiety passed as I realized it was a wonderful gift and not a middle of the night impulse buy. And my friend is a Luckyscent perfume savvy shopper and remembered to include samples. Lucky-me indeed, this Keiko Mecheri was included. Makassar came out in 2004, and it smells as unremarkable as that year was for me. In fact, I can’t remember anything that happened in 04 which may be good, bad, or a sign of my declining memory. No matter though, as we are discussing this perfume. Sandalwood and rose, then nothing discernible beyond. And like others, it fades quickly. I’m not one to poo poo bad performance, especially if I love it and it doesn’t break the bank. Well, this only checks one box, it’s expensive. I don’t hate Makassar, but I don’t like it either. One of the best things about the fragrantica website overhaul is the inclusion of the OK (aka mediocre) button.

I'll be very honest here. I have tried bunch of Keiko Mecheri's perfume's and none of them leave a good impression, the smell is lovely, but it's so shy and almost not there. And it fades away very quickly. In case with Bois de Santal it's the same. At first I was hit in my face with blow of osmanthus and spicy tonka bean, after 10 minutes I was left with sandalwood? Or what is this? Very shy, syrupy sweet (from osmanthus I guess), barely there. So. Yes. Where is it?

As this develops on my skin, the way the powdery rose mixes with the subtle animalic note in the background reminds me of dirty baby wipes :/ I find this to be scent to be a little bit heavy, while it doesn't project much it also lacks a certain 'transparency' that I look for and really enjoy in such scents. This one was just not for me.

Lots of promise at the beginning. You find yourself waiting for it to get there. But sadly it never does. It's a pleasant enough fragrance but rather thin and watery.

Did not work for me sadly. Very rose dominant on my skin, very sharp to my nose. And no sandalwood notes came through.

Such a beautiful ambery, osmanthus-laden opening. Heavenly! Slightly sweet thanks to the vanilla. Overall a lovely smooth fragrance; warm and sensual. (ETA: No mention of osmanthus on the KM page, so that smooth slightly floral scent might be rose. I don't know...) Has kind of a fruity kick to it. I don't know what white sandalwood smells like but there sure isn't any of the smoke or heaviness that regular sandalwood brings. I can certainly understand why someone might find it watery or thin (see review by shenanigans) if they're expecting a classic sandalwood perfume, but I love it, I think this is a beautiful fragrance. Longevity seems pretty good but I need to re-test this and put it through its paces. Watch this space for an update ;) ETA: Retested this several times and every time it smelled so different to the first test. The first time I tried this scent I didn't smell a hint of rose, but every other time it's been there loud and clear. I must have been wearing a body lotion the first time I tested, and the lotion altered the scent slightly. It is still a lovely fragrance, but not one I'd wear. It's a little too powdery and I'm not very fond of rose-based fragrances.

I think that I may by now have become somewhat jaded by the veritable deluge of sandalwood frags currently available, most of which hit me as sour and synthetic. So I took up Keiko Mecheri BOIS DE SANTAL today in the hope of reconnecting with "true sandalwood of Mysore," as it is described in the adorable pink book that accompanies this house's large sample set. BOIS DE SANTAL does smell natural and not sour at all, as I was expecting, having become somewhat familiar with KM aesthetics. I cannot say, however, that I love this composition. It is a nice light woody oriental, but it reminds me of a profound quote by fellow fragrantican Action (in a pm in which we were discussing niche perfumery): "My problem with most niche is that the formula and the variety of ingredients is too simple. Niche stands out in high quality ingredients and they find that special enough. But for my nose that is actually only the beginning of a perfume, certainly not the end of the product." I agree with Action in the case of BOIS DE SANTAL. The base here is beautiful, but where is the perfume?

BOIS DE SANTAL is more rose than wood to my nose. It wears like a sheer veil of rosey mist on the skin. It is fresh, dewy with a hazy cloud of soft, salty, skin-like sandalwood. This is soft, powdery but not noticeably sweet or creamy. It is rather linear but very well crafted. BOIS DE SANTAL showcases this beautiful, lively rose that radiates femininity and positivity. This perfume has a very cheerful spirit and is absolutely adorable. Not a masterpiece or unique, but a simple, true rose that blossoms harmoniously on your skin. Must also add that it smells divine on this cold rainy London afternoon.

Oh, I love this one! In the awful synthetical sandalwood market, a scent keeps teh real thing alive! Well, I'm not sure it is natural, but it smells natural. In the opening it is very wet and wild, almost animalic and a little stinky (a good stink). Then it mellows and becomes a totally enticing sandalwood fragrance that soothes my brain. I love all other notes here, especially the light-handed tonka and ambery edge. Also rose smells quite noticeable, but the whole scent is only little floral. It smells like a light magical potion that doesn't scream around. Lovely.