Essencial Palo Santo

Two disclaimers before I begin. English is not my native language, and I'm just a fragrance lover, nothing more, so don't expect a professional review by any means. Okay, here we go. This has become my absolute favorite Essencial. I was very surprised when I first smelled this on a store, because there are other, way more hyped flankers here in Brazil. In fact I watched some reviews on YouTube, that actually went as far as saying this was a "lukewarm", or even a "pointless" release. They said the flanker added nothing new to the line, etc. I wholeheartedly disagree. The only criticism I feel is somewhat fair, is saying the note that gives the flanker its name it's not really a star of the fragrance. With that I agree, this is not a Palo Santo bomb by any means, in fact it's a rather subtle facet of the scent. With that said, I don't view that as a problem at all, it's not like I was searching for a scent with a particular focus on the note. So I'm giving my thoughts based on the fragrance for what it is. And what is it? If I had to some it up, I'd say it is a woody tonka fragrance. It's definitely the more prevalent note to my nose. But it is not a sickly sweet, vanillic tonka. The heart of redwood, cypress and rose, add such a light, airy quality to the fragrance, it's truly beautiful. It has a powdery, velvety quality to it that is almost hard to describe. It is sweet, but not sickly sweet, god it's so beautifully blended, silky smooth. It is so easy to wear, so versatile, it can work both as a dating scent, or as an office scent, as it has that romantic, cozy sweetness, but it is not vulgar or overly loud. The evolution is nothing too crazy, the scent stays more or less linear for most of its life, with slight differences between the oppening and the dry down. The dry down is where you can smell the palo santo the most, and it is very pleasant, slightly smoky and intriguing. And boy is it a compliment magnet, people just absolutely adore it. The performance is quite good, it projects enough that it gets noted when you enter a room soon after you've sprayed it, and it stays on the skin for over 12 hours easily. So that's it, beautifully blended mix of various woods, completely smoothed out by tonka, and a slight touch of rose. If you're lucky enough to find this in whatever country you live in outside Brazil, go for it, I have yet to meet anyone who haven't loved it at first sniff. 10/10

What a hidden gem. Of course, it’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere so I naturally haven’t been able to wear this much, but when I have, this is quite honestly the best winter fragrance I have tried, which I guess is my uneducated opinion, but what I can say is that this is a near perfect winter scent. Especially in the category of not easily including vanilla or some alcohol to give it that winter vibe. Starts out with some spice, and I get some sweet notes as well as some citrus. Then the scent goes down to a woody scent with a little bit of that rose I assume, which adds that still sweet part about it. Then at the base it still remains as a beautiful woody fragrance with that sweet touch. But don’t let me throw you off, everyone around me still comments on how masculine it is. It has the lasting power, and it projects kind of exactly how you want it to. It gets out there, but it doesn’t overpower anyone. Also, there are maybe 75 people in the entire world who wear this. If it was winter, I think I’d give some better tier reviewing on this, or more realistic, but anyways, if you stumbled upon this searching for a winter fragrance or whatever, there’s not many that beat this.

It start with a good and creamy smell of Coumarin, then it goes to more deep mahogany /sandalwood, them in the drydown it became a creamier Palo Santo with Incense and a little hint of rose ! I just love it ! It is so cozy and warm, the woodness is extremely high but a soft polished wood. It lasts on my skin about 9h easily ! And the asillage is good enough to be noted but not invasive ! 10/10 for Natura on this one !

#1147 in my "Tour de Fragrance" As I expand my collection of Natura scents I realize how much Veronica Kato hits the same notes over and over again with minor tweaks. This is different from the other scents, but not very different. If you tried this side by side with "Homem Dom" and "Essencial Mirra", you'd note differences, but you note more that's familiar. Cardamom, Black pepper, tonka, every time. Always a note that's unique to Brazilian perfumery, one the Arab and European houses never use. But so far none of the scents really veer very far from a well-traveled road. I've a dozen more of the EDPs to try, so maybe something will surprise me along the way, but this seems to be a strategy they stick pretty close to. I do love the smell of Palo Santo. In a scent. In a bath gel. If I could I'd panel an office in it I would, but maybe I might eventually get sick of it if I did. Not so far. To me it's a completely masculine scent. Reminds me of my father's wood shop in the winter. Comfortable, relaxing. But I wouldn't call it "sexy." More, "reassuring" that you're a man who at least knows how to build a work table for the garage or a campfire for an evening on the mountainside. That's how I guess I'd describe it. Long-lasting and good sillage. Inoffensive, so you can wear it anywhere, but to my mind a cool-cold weather option. This was another blind buy. Very reasonably priced at $42 on PureBrasil.com I'm not blown away by it, but I feel good about.

I can hardly distinguish the notes, still I can detect some spices in the topnotes, some florals in the midnotes and woody basenotes. As to the palo santo, I can hardly get it, less still if I take as a reference Amor América Palo Santo or Biografía Assinatura. Its presence is quite demure. This reads the blend is quite linear but it is not, as a matter of fact, it is quite complex. Some references come handy if you want to have an idea of what this is about; it definitely shares notes with those that Homem Dom and Homem Tato have in common, some kind of gourmandish accent on the chocolate side of things. Add the spciy notes and the idea will surely come to your senses. I think it is a good alternative if you are on a budget - given the fact that you live in countries where the company operates. Many that had tried their offerings agree that their products do not smell their price, so to speak.