Sancti

Easily my most loved of LLI's collection. I'm a huge fan of incense as a whole and this is one of my very favorite incense-based fragrances. The reason is simple: it's not invasive. Some incense fragrances, such as Montale's Full Incense or Chopard's Black Incense Malaki, can be very overpowering and not everyone will be into it, you wear those with liberal sprays at your risk and peril. Personally, I don't like to intrude on others with my fragrances too much so Sancti is a way to wear incense that won't choke everyone out. It has an unusual citrusy tinge and is rather close to skin and doesn't project like crazy (much like the rest of LLI). Be warned that this is still a very "churchy" incense so if that's not your jam, this probably won't change your mind. Sancti opens with a blast of fresh, bright citrus which is surprising and helps to elevate the oncoming resinous incense storm. it's a pretty linear fragrance so there's not much transformation on my skin (as opposed to Fortis from the same "trilogy" which keeps morphing and evolving on my skin). That's fine by me however, I love the heck of this scent so I'm glad it sticks around throughout. It lasts about 4-5 hours on my skin (1 or 2 hours of projection then sticks close to skin) which may be somewhat weak for many people. Personally, I tend to wear LLI's fragrances often for a specific mood and not for others to enjoy. I think of them more as aromatherapy than perfumery. The house does have a pretty esoteric approach to things to begin with. Sancti for me I wear when I feel anxious and scatterbrained. It's a very grounding, relaxing scent. As such, I don't feel there's a season or a time of day for it. It's fresh enough for the summer (although not in insane humidity and blazing sun) but the intense winter cold would break it as well but other than that, it's pretty versatile for me.

This stuff has completely won me over. One of the most sophisticated, transparent and *clean* takes on incense. The composition is actually pretty simple but is so smartly conceived to result refreshing and novel while sticking to a somewhat classic liturgical-incense structure. It opens with a plethora of unsweetened and fizzy citruses (mandarine, pamplemousse and bergamot) paired to a super soft cardamom note and maybe some aldehydes. The citruses smell extremely natural and realistic as opposed to the *undefined* lemony notes we experience too often in modern perfumery. In this phase Sancti feels extremely sparkling and fresh, almost freezing and wintery as in a early morning breeze. The evolution starts right away and the citrusy opening perfectly links to the lemony aspect of frankincense. This is basically the middle phase where the fragrance smells of clean church floors, wax and sunlight entering from the mullioned windows. Think about Comme Des Garcons 2 Man with an extra dose of citruses and the vetiver toned down. There's also the *clean* accord of Cardinal as well as the white linen vibe already found in some of the Maria Candida Gentile's works. A white smoky base starts emerging from the back while the incense gets drier and drier to give birth to a simple yet incredibly satisfying drydown. There's something so purifying about this fragrance, something that smells salubrious. Smells white, pure, clean...almost virginal. If you're looking for something bombastic and tenacious, you'll probably be disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the fragrance is anything but weak bit its weightless character gives it an ethereal vibe throughout that makes of this composition a perfect fit for almost every occasion and every season. Fantastic if worn both on skin and fabric where the incense drydown lingers forever. Mucho Love. Rating: 8/10

So close to heaven, but mortally flawed by a failure of nerve. Truly splendrous, clean, zingy, citrus-toned frankincense that doesn't go all the way to 'bright cologne' territory like some in this genre, but still perceptibly lighter and less gloomy than some of the dustier, more 'old church' approaches like Cardinal, Avignon, etc. At first it seemed absolutely angelic to me, glorious without being vulgar, traditional without being stuffy, spicy in all the right places without being too heavy. Honestly among my top five of all the dozens of frankincenses I've tried; somewhat like P Roma's definitive Olibanum, for that feeling of intensely spiritual cleanliness and tradition hanging around like a halo of shining wonder. But it can't stick the long Calvary that is survival on my earthly skin; maybe it's made for higher things than base (female!) human creatures like me, but Sancti's gorgeous aura of sanctity only hangs about for 3-4hours, at most. Can true virtue be so easily dispelled? It still tempts me - and with performance that weak you know that means the smell itself must be STELLAR for it even to be a contender - yet I think this time I'll be able to get a grip, show some self-discipline and resist. If you too adore frankincense and haven't found precisely the right one for you yet - definitely worth trying, though, especially if discounted. (RRP is really shooting for the moon, here, I feel, it's unarguably a quality product but does not justify the price point.)

10/10. Gorgeous packaging, look, smell. I tried it at a store alongside a few other incense perfumes, and this one was a winner. Very resemblant of Avignon by Comme des Garçons but not as intensely sweet. Sancti is still quite sweet but in very subtle, minimalist and non-invasive way... The main notes that I sense are olibanum and labdanum (for some reason absolutely no citrus unlike many people), but I am sure the rest indicated are there and that's why it feels so incredibly complex and gorgeous, even royal. Its subtleness is giving me a crispy morning alone in a small church in the middle of nowhere. I see a lot of snow around it and cloudy grey skies. Yet inside the church itself it's warm and cosy and maybe there's someone there except you but that someone is a friend, you can tell them all your secrets (sins?) and they won't judge you. “Tell me every terrible thing you ever did, and let me love you anyway.” ― Edgar Allan Poe. I own Passage d'Enfer and I am surprised how different those two are. While Passage is giving me severity and strictness, Sancti is clarity of thought and kindness. Absolutely recommend.

Oh... no words. Well, maybe I can try. Sancti is fully holy, reverent, pure. It is light and peace in a bottle. Peppery sacred frankincense, fir and citrus predominate; grapefruit but not too astringent, more like the cushy white pith of pomelo. A little bitter but refreshing without ever being cologne like. I smell the herbal earthiness of rosemary and lavender, not too flowery. Cleansing. Calibrating. Woods... light shavings. Grounded, dry, sweet. Softly fiery with spice. Delicate ambergris to add body, perhaps a little mortal connection. Not angelic. No mass, no church, no religious institution required. When I wear this, no other beings exist except myself and God. Much praise for Sancti... Sillage is quite discreet, but I am quite gratified in wearing this just for myself and anyone else I want to allow in my personal space. It almost knocks Le Labo Vetiver off my favorites shelf for my spiritual comfort fragrance. Sonia Constant, you are supernatural.

This is pure Orthodox church incense - unmistakable. In my country, it’s a tradition for the priest to visit every home before the holidays, offering prayers and cleansing the house of evil spirits. This fragrance smells exactly like the myrrh used in that ritual, but softened and refined into something more sophisticated. It’s what Enigma’s “Sadness” would smell like. On my skin, it becomes incredibly pure, like a dove. Neat, powdery, musky, soft, cozy, clean, and luminous. I don’t get any soda, citrus, or freshness the way others do; my skin tends to pull everything into a musky sweetness. What remains is purity, holiness, untouched stillness. This is unmistakably feminine - virginal yet sensual, holy and mysterious. There’s restraint and submission here, devotion and sacredness. It’s not a scent meant to seduce, yet it could do so unintentionally. Angelic, distant, untouchable. Also it could be a perfect bridal scent.

I loooove this perfume Such a sophisticated, scenic and relaxing perfume. It instantly brings me back to one snowy winter sauna night in Helsinki in 2016. It reminds me of walking through quiet streets blanketed in freshly fallen snow on my way to Kulttuurisauna. I can see myself being in this sauna place again surrounded by the scent of warm cedar, clouds of steam, and the icy sea quietly waiting in the darkness beyond the glass door. There’s something almost monastic about it as well —a sense of complete detachment from the outside world, like an old monastery or a silent stone church. It feels sacred, peaceful, and deeply contemplative. Sometimes it even makes me picture a grey winter sky overflowing with a soft, buttery-yellow Milky Way, as if the stars were pouring gently across the darkness. I love to layer it with Cedre Du Liban from BULY on cold snowy late night winter days before my bedtime.

This is tropical church. This reminded me Christmas in the islands of the Philippines. The citrus sunny opening and that church incense with slight floral. I remember being a kid, my mom would wake me up at 5am to go to church for the traditional “midnight” mass during the Christmas season. The incense takes me back to that time. And that opening reminds me of that early sunrise perfectly timed as we exit the church and I can smell the pomelo tree/ fruits near the church and also the vendors down the public market. It’s so vivid. And pomelo fruit is literally part of new year/christmas food festivities. I’m not practicing catholic now but this is just nostalgic but also uplifting scent. A very well balanced perfume. Transparent and effervescent but has a nice strong presence. A very unisex type. I’m a fan of this house and I’m maybe slightly obsessed. It’s very unique. I’m in love. 8.9/10

This is the best fragrance I have found to date in my quest for the ultimate orthodox-churchy incense scent. It's very wearable and projects well although the longevity is a little weak, so I will reapply after a few hours. In my mind its as if Le Labo Eucalyptus 20 and Diptyque Opsis had a baby and laid it in a very dry manger full of hay and slightly mouldy cassocks. It's got a super-dry zingy fresh opening quickly progressing to a lovely mix of nutmeg, myrrh, cedar, cardamon and vetiver which develops and evokes spring sunshine on ancient pews. There's incense but it's not smokey in the least, just very bright. There's musk in the base lending the perfect amount of funk for my tastes. Well blended, damn near perfect in its class. I'm very happy with this.

Like for many others, Sancti reminds me greatly of Comme de Garcon's Avignon. Avignon, however, felt less like a person-perfume for me and was very much a place-perfume, which is very in line with their fragrance philosophy. I was comparing Sancti against Jovoy's Les Liturgie des Heures and preferred Sancti on my skin, so much so that I locked down on a full botte quite immediately. Sancti has a fizzy quality similar to Opoponax by Olibanum (Histoires de Parfum's sister brand) but is infinitely more complex, buoyed by its potpourri of fruit, flowers, and herbs. Instead of being dark and brooding, Sancti is bright and luminescent - it reminds me of being hit by strong sunlight streaming in through a window whilst contemplating in a marble church.

Ahh, I bought this blind and luckily, I like it. A very powerful opening of resins and well, incense. After about 5 minutes it’s super citrus and incense and resins annd is giving me Catholic Church day spa (!) and as it dries down, 10-15 minutes out, I’m getting full on Catholic Church. I enjoy the atmospheric experience of visiting old French Catholic Churches and this is what I am getting here. Can’t wait to spray this before meditation (and I will give it 30 minutes to settle) as I think it will help relax me and calm me and take me to a warm summers day in France when I slip into a smoky, dark church and inhale millennia of incense hanging in the air, with the candles burning in the semi darkness. Beautiful.

This shit right here guys, this is the one. I have been searching for a good gin and tonic type fragrance for a while but the problem with most fragrances like Voyage d'Hermes and Juniper Sling is that they last for about 60 minutes and then disappear. This one is distinctly different as it stays pretty linear throughout the 5-6 hours of longevity, keeping the sparkly, fizzy, 'gin and tonic'-like accord through its duration. During the dry down it becomes less citrusy and more soft and woody, with a hint of incense. It won't project across a room and isn't exactly a cheapie, but out of all the "fizzy" fragrances I have tried this one smells and performs the best.

I got Sancti because I wanted a Church inspired perfume, a holy smell and it did not disappoint! It also surprised in a very pleasant way. The myrth, frankincense, rosemary evoke memories of Catholic cathedrals, it's impressive yet with the citrusy notes that follow this mystic blend, it becomes also a comforting, pleasant perfume. On me, it is quite noticeable, and also feels ever so spicy, which is a very welcomed noted by myself. It is one of the more complimented perfumes in my collection (which does sometime irk me as I personally prefer other's) - but goes to show that it stands out

With the name Sancti, one can't help themselves but to imagine walking into an old church, greeted by the welcoming scent of the dark and smoky insence, having a seat on the old pews made of dark wood and taking in the beautiful view of the pulpet while smelling this fragrance. The freshness of the bergamot, mandarin, pomelo and grapefruit can be described as the sunrays from the church windows penetrating the smoke, making everything brighter and more grandiose. It smells very calming and zen, yet still dark and mystical, and I love the playfulness with the holyness in this fragrance.

This fragrance is amazing. It has a super resinous opening, it smells like being around cypres trees, but not in a foresty way. It's not overwhelming, just straight-up cypress tree. I adore this scent, it's so nostalgic to me: my primary school had a few cypress trees in the school yard, and I spent most of my time hanging around them. Their smell calmed me down. This is how this fragrance makes me: super calm. It's so fresh it for real feels like getting purified by holy water, but for me the whole holy water concept doesn't really come through because of the strong nostalgia.

A beautiful, light citrusy incense opening. Sunlight filtering into a temple on a cool early spring morning. Despite the slight smokiness a clear and transparent fragarance - fairly low projection. After the uplifting citrus top dissipates you get a lovely incense with a bit of wood in the background (I'm guessing the cedar but it smells sandalwood-y to me). There's still a bit of something lemony in there at this point. As it develops further it slowly morphs into more of a fougere but it never loses it's clean wood and incense character. Quiet, elegant, and restrained.

It is a Great Fragrance , Elegant, Classy, Soft, Clean and Modern. I tried it in store and I received a sample of that yesterday. This is on my Radar , I must try it again and I will decide about it. It opens up with fresh citrusy, spicy , herbal and spices notes in the background then dry down is semi sweet warm spicy, balsamic resinous, ambery and woody. Longevity is good. The Grapefruit and The Incense notes are dominant in this perfume. Thumbs Up Rating : 8 / 10

Plenty of reviewers below have summed this fragrance up perfectly, so I won't get super detailed. Instant love for me. Sancti is not your usual monster-projecting incense frag. It's classy, sexy, inoffensive, fresh, herbal, and resinous. Super versatile for any occasion/season. Quality ingredients and great blending, but you can still smell almost every listed note. This has everything I could ever want in an incense scent.

My first niche perfume. From the first sniff it took me back to the monastery where I learnt prayers before confirmation: incense, balsamic and Mediterranean citrus-rosemary freshness. Even though it reminds me of childhood, it became my signature scent because of how versatile and easy it is to wear. It isn’t very strong, but citrus leaning fragrances often trade projection for elegance. I just reapply it again.

received yesterday finally. I have to change my opinion. it is an incense for hot days but its performances for me are very different on the skin than on the paper. ok it won't have a great wake. but it is an incense for those who want to smell like incense without bothering. the notes are all well balanced. and I like the development, albeit a bit linear. 10/10 longevity 12 h moderate sillage.

Magnificent incense fragrance. It’s like 50% CDG Avignon but with less soapy frankincense, little more citrus , and a boozy vibe. Picked this up for 50% off retail since I’m a weirdo that loves incense fragrances, news flash, there isn’t a whole lot of people that do lol. It’s pure art and this is magnificent quality, 10x better than that new crap by Omonluxury - Royal Incense, what a joke.

I smelled Sancti in a perfume store, and I just could not stop thinking about it. This is sitting in a church in summer, and the doors are open behind you where the wind blows in the scent from the lemon garden that grows in front of the church. It's simply amazing. This one of the lightest incense scents I tried, it truly suits any occassion. I absolutely love it <3

A simply gorgeous lemon-infused incense with a lightness and sweetness that would make an ideal Spring-into-Summer companion for those of us who find it hard to leave behind the winter-friendly delights of fragrances like LAVS and Cardinal. Scandalously weak longevity however. Bois 1920's Scuro would be an alternative, but at a vastly inflated price.

This is a nice fresh take on incense. It opens with a strong blast of citrus and fresh herbal combo which I found refreshing, then a nice mild churchy incense comes through. The problem is with silliage and longevity. These were really poor on my skin. Otherwise, a great unisex, easy to wear in any season take on incense. Love the bottle esthetic.

This is how blonde-haired angels with Slavic facial features smell. Something magnificent, evoking a mystical ritual in the most beautiful cathedral in the world. This is how the most soothing whisper smells, this is how a wondrous promise of closeness smells. This is how a person who shines like the strongest crystal smells. Pray.

Summer incense, feels like visiting a lot of Italian churches during your euro-trip. Surprisingly I can feel it on myself for good few hours after spraying, it's def not a skin scent, but the projection isn't overbearing either. I've been searching for the perfect church scent for some time and I have to say I am quite satisfied.

To me this fragrance smells like you are surrounded by 10 cypress trees and it is 37*C outside. The overheated cypress and wax from the trees with some citrus I get the churchy vibe, incense is there but not heavy Just like I imagine an old roman town like Salona would smell in the peak of summer

Smells like the frankincense I burn on my altar, reminds me of the Goddess Hecate. A very spiritual fragrance but not heavy or cloying it is airy and light with a lot of citrus too. Smells exactly how i imagined it would, will be buying a bottle soon... Update : Bought a full bottle, its divine.

Elemi bomb on my skin! I always dreamt about a perfume which could capture the atmosphere of a church, but less smoky and more ethereal. Fresh incense for all year round. Fortunately this projects magnificently on me and the longevity is about 6 hours. I loooove it!

starts citrus and citrus always accompany this fantastic scent. finally a scent of summer incense. fir, rosemary and aldehyde. 9/10 a must have for the summer. great performances.bright, with a sense of peace and serenity.ethereal.

maybe with the cold it makes more ... I don't know why but I have this doubt ... yesterday in a restaurant with an air conditioning they complimented me while shooting with the evening heat I almost didn't even feel it ...

I adore this! How Mysterious and complex! Amazing! Divine! Spiritual! Airy! Love the aldehydes and pine and lavender - those notes stand out to me. A+ My son hates it. Lol. My husband is in the middle. I love it.

Perfume with a dominant scent of frankincense, which is very beautiful and amazing with a combination of smoky citrus and woody notes. This perfume is extremely admirable. I love it like crazy

An almost photorealistic citrus with well-blended churchy frankincense... the reviews here are very accurate! The most wearable and unique church scent I've tried... i have to say Masterpiece

I love this perfume but the longevity is ridiculous. How long does it last after application... it should halve the price because it has to be applied every hour.

After half an hour of wearing, notes of Coca-Cola begin to open up to me, as if you were smelling these bubbles that were already rising above the glass.

Somehow smells like a bubbly tumeric to me in such a lovely fascinating way I immediately said oh that’s so weird when I sprayed it. And I like weird

This makes me feel so kind and angelic, I love pairing it with white clothes,while beatu du diable for my black clothes

Aromatic fresh spicy Pine accompanied by sweet resins and incense Very refreshing, clean and bright

I think its a good scent but in my skin doesnt work, i was expecting more but can feel the qulity

Oh to smell like a gothic church, what a dream. I need more incense resin perfume.

To me, this smells exactly like the green VitaBath and I absolutely love it!

Why have too low performance? Could be bacame the best incense ever.

Citrus, woody, frankincense with some herbal fresh tone, i like it

I get sparkly ginger ale from this and I dig it.

Sancti is a pleasant, easy, entry-level incense fragrance. If you're looking for western church vibes, this is kinda sort of it but not completely. For that Roman Catholic mass incense scent, I *believe* you need frankincense and myrrh. Sancti feels like it has one but not the other. It also isn't a one-note incense fragrance. The initial spray, disappointingly, first smells like alcohol, which I don't usually get with niche fragrances. That only lasts a minute. Then, surprisingly, it becomes citric in the opening. It's during that stage that I can relate to the description of @elizabeth.grayton of it being a Catholic Church day spa. Funny but accurate. Who knew an incense fragrance could somehow almost be a freshie?? The incense eventually comes out, but it's tempered by the citrus and comes off as a soft version of incense, rather than the smoky version you might be seeking if you're pursuing this niche genre. For that more realistic church incense, most would direct you to Commes des Garcons Avignon, which I haven't tried. I also give a strong recommendation to Christian Louboutin Fétiche L'Encens. I have a couple of other incense colognes, but the only one I've smelled that is truly accurate to church incense is Fétiche L'Encens. Compared to them, Sancti feels watered down. Unfortunately, Fétiche L'Encens is expensive and not found on any discount sites. Still, that's not to say that Sancti isn't good. It smells great for what it is. If you're looking for an incense fragrance that is still almost mass appealing, Sancti would almost assuredly be your best option.

An instant happy scent on opening. The only thing “churchy” about this is the name - unless your church has a happy-go-lucky vibe and sells fresh citrus in the back. This is another powdery cocktail (seems to be the DNA) from this house. Incense vibe yes, but more of the lemon citrus note of olibanum blending with mandarin and grapefruit. It is a beautiful, eye opening blast of perceived sweetness reminiscent of an old school powdery candy like pixy stix. The attention grabbing opening lasts for about an hour. Did I mention I like the opening? This feels like a summer wear to me due to its bright, powdery sweet-like opening. Spice is negligible and more of a citrus spice - like a frosted lemon ricotta cake. If ya know, ya know. Skin scent within a couple of hours so I would not worry about anyone being offended in any environment. Unisex right down the middle. The dry down never gets heavy, dark, or smoky, but it does carry that subtle chalky, rubbery, ashy note like in their other perfumes. Overall a pleasant scent.

The name announces in advance what you're going to get. Sancti , as you'd expect, is all about cleansing green frankincense, it's almost a soliflore. Yes, it's balanced with some myrrh, there's a hint of the sharpness of pomelo but most of the rest of the extensive note pyramid doesn't appear on my skin and hardly on the blotter. The exception is the aldehydes which soon fire up and start tickling my sinuses. And for a while Sancti is absolutely beautiful - a delightful lemony bright frankincense, almost direct from the incense burner. On the downside it doesn't have much of an anchor in the mid range and only takes a couple of hours to dry down to a very quiet incense-wood skin scent. So very lovely but not convinced yet that the simplicity and longevity justify a full bottle. Will need to try a few more times.

This is surprisingly fresh for an incense-based fragrance. It has decent sillage and lasted about 8 1/2 hours on me. The notes I noticed were bergamot and a shampoo-like scent (that I can only assume was the aldehydes that the company's website listed) in the opening, a very strong cardamom note (which I didn't particularly like) in the heart, and a lovely base of frankincense, benzoin, cedar, and to a lesser extent myrrh. It was the cedar and benzoin that I found lasted the longest. Overall, I would say that despite the very strong cardamom note the positives outweigh the negatives, and that this would work well as a year-round fragrance; the incense base goes well with colder winter air but it's fresh enough to work in the summer- I'm wearing it today when the temperature will climb into the 80s.

Luminous — a fresh, bright take on incense, lemony and transparent, almost watery. At first spray, I could swear I was smelling olibanum, and was surprised to not see it listed. The interplay of notes also creates a gingery nuance. It's uplifting and translucent, not quite what I'd associate with a church, which would usually be something darker and more introspective. Sancti is radiant and solar, yet still infused with the gravity of holiness, and a liturgical touch. As a curiosity, on the Liquides Imaginaires website, there is a fictional tarot card associated with this fragrance, called "The Goodness", which says: "Sancti is a symbol of light. A healthy relic. It is sacred protection. A divine dew that illuminates with its purity".