Cathédrale

As an Episcopalian I recognize the smell of incense from high holy days. However, as a good California girl it mostly reminds me of a very aromatic campfire up in the Sequioas, but without all the smoke. I bought this fragrance in Paris, but am very happy with the way it smells in Los Angeles. Sometimes what smells great over there, just doesn't when I get back here. I think the Maison de Parfum Berry has got a fabulous relationship going with Anatole Lebreton. I hope they keep making perfume magic together.

Recently I've been exploring incense scents. This is so good! Very familiar with Catholic mass and this pretty much nails it for me. I find it soothing, calming, familiar. Beautifully rich and uplifting. Definitely incense-y - in the best way. Not sure I'll choose this one on a work day though since fragrance seems to be taboo the past couple of years. (Personally I'll take fragrances over the smell of someone's lunch.)

When I got to discover cathedrale from Berry, I just was impressed by the scent of old cathedral stones and a bit of mysticism. This perfume is inspired by the stones of the cathedral of Rouen. They proceeded like in the book the perfume from Süsskind to get the scent of stones : "l'enfleurage" In Rouen is the perfume shop of the creator of cathedrale. I met him and he told me the whole story about this fragrance. I've never smelled somthing so divine and gorgeous from the first second I put the perfume till the very end, which actually never ends really.

Church incense, and black pepper doses. Salty church incense, black pepper, lime, cedar, lavender, & oakmoss. The colder it goes: + The more benzoin appearance become clear + brighter it become + Lighter black pepper becomes. At first, it was extremely high dosage in church incense, and black pepper, but later on (5 minutes in) it become balmy and very calming yet sour. This quite an interesting take on incense, very mature, and brings serenity.

Yup, this is full on High Mass. The incense is dead-on, very similar to Messe de Minuit. I don't get the stone impression or a big feeling of the building, but the incense is truly like a Midnight Mass at a lovely old cathedral. Excellent.