La Cérémonie de l'Encens

Surprisingly, for me this perfume is all about merriment, but in a rather unusual context, if I may say so. How to put it.... What if — maybe in a dream, or maybe for some creepier reason — I ended up in an old, ancient cemetery swallowed by twilight. I’d be walking over the moss-covered ground, breathing in the gothic dampness — quite confidently, actually — even though I didn't have a single clue where I came from or where I was headed. And then, of course, I’d take that one step — and oh! — the ground would cave in and I’d plunge right into the oldest crypt in the graveyard. But there, instead of darkness and tombstone horror, I’d find a bizarre spectacle, like something out of Andersen's fairy tale "The Elfin Mound". In the light of thousands of will-o'-the-wisps, trolls, elves, and dryads would be dancing, and the air would be steeped in the strange sounds of subterranean music. Instead of regular food, on the tables — fried frogs' legs drenched in snail sauce, salads of wild mushroom seeds, and fresh rain collected in crystal goblets. And that’s when it would dawn on me: my lovely La Cérémonie de l'Encens is nothing but an invitation to this gala.

Well i have to disagree with most of the overall thoughts about it, i absolutely love it. I have to admit that when i first tried it, it was just ok and simple, and performance wise i was a bit disappointed. Then it settled for some weeks and wow, the game changed. The incense is so beautiful and natural smelling, i'm from southern Spain and the smell reminds me so much of the streets of Seville and the holy week. The pepper and cedar make this so so wonderful and not like you're a walking censer, to me this wears more masculine because of those woody aromatic and spicy background. And yes, the performance changed so much after some weeks, it's really well done and to me this is the best incense based perfume i've tried so far. They told me at L'AP this is the first of its own new collection which will feature other incense fragrances, i'm looking 4wd to see what they will do next. If Bertrand Duchaufour makes one, i could die 😍 Last but not least, if you layer it with Seville a l'Aube is just to die for, as well as some neroli or some vanilla.

I got this one recently - it’s a really wonderful scent. The incense note is beautiful and very natural smelling. It’s supported by pepper and cedar. I find the projection weak but quite long lasting on my skin. Overall, amazing IMO!

I thought this was going to be perfect and the scent really is but on my skin or to my nose it is so damn light. Even after multiple sprays I have to bring my nose close to my skin to get some of the scent. First it is a genuine high quality olibanum with a little black pepper. This opening I love the most but I wish it was a bit stronger. Then for hours it is a soft dry woody skin scent. What remains in the end is a somewhat boring cedar scent. Is it meditative and serene as it is advertized? Yes, it is. It has the vibe of unbleached linnen, early morning sunlight, colors of soft yellow and dark and light brown, empty spaces, stillness.. looking at it like that then the scent should not be much louder to not ruin this effect to be honest, I think. I hope to read more reviews here soon. La Cérémonie de l'Encens might also appear too light to me because I have been wearing some heavy olibanum/woody Fueguia scents, Misiones and Manglar, for the last two years. Perhaps that and I am quite noseblind to cedar by now anyway. Probably because cedar is in so many fragrances. I don’t get much hinoki. I willl give it and my nose a rest. Somehow I think I will appreciate La Cérémonie de l'Encens more and more over time. What I do appreciate a lot is that the scent is very natural. I cannot detect any harsh chemicals. This for example not like Encens Roi by HdP where the olibanum is put on steroids by ugly synthetics. This scent goes with every season, day and night. It is understated elegance, wabi sabi and unisex. It is less suitable for a party but a safe choice for a dinner or an easy Sunday morning concert. One week later: I tested again and my opinion remains unchanged. It is a light meditative scent. It will stay on the skin for long though. It is mainly an olibanum.

The pepper top note was sharp, and initially I had unpleasant smoke - burnt a pan so badly it can't be saved smoke. However, after about 30 minutes it dried down into a lovely smoky incense and the hinoki began to come through. It was incredible from then on. Unfortunately, it didn't last nearly as long as I had hoped for an EDP. Usually these fragrances linger on me, but by five hours it was all but undetectable. Will try it another day when I'll be out in the heat rather than in the AC to see if it lingers longer.