Santal du Pacifique Extrait

The notes given here are not precise enough. According to the official Perris Monte Carlo web site, the exact ones are: -Head: Carrot -Heart: Creamy notes, Orchid, Violet, Gurjun Balsam -Base: Pacific Sandalwood, Dry Woods, Musk The sandalwood is the obvious main note which goes from top to bottom. A delicious, creamy sandalwood. The Carrot note is subtle but clearly noticeable at the beginning and makes the sandalwood "livelier". Unfortunately, it doesn't last for too long. I like it, it is an uncommon note and here it is blended very well, I wish it would last longer... Then the Orchid + Violet are clearly perceived as the "floral notes" indicated here. I'm not sure what exactly is the "Creamy note" made of, but it is certainly very noticeable, enveloping the sandalwood for hours during the evolution of the scent. Thus the creamy sandalwood which I wrote about earlier. Unfortunately, I don't know Gurjun balsam and I don't know what it smells like. But I can smell a very subtle balsamic scent in the back. It could be that, but I'm not sure. The dry woods are spelled as "fry woods" in the PMC web page, which is most probably a mistake! The scent is very woody, so I suppose that they were added to empower and make the already woody scent of the sandalwood more "woody" (if that makes any sense). The exact type of wood is not specified, so I suppose it must be some aromachemical with a woody odour profile (maybe Timbersilk?). The musk (probably the white one, since I cannot detect any animalic vibe) is also clearly there at the base, rounding it all and making the woody notes last longer. The good: a very fine perfume extract, very concentrated, lasts 10 to 12h on skin and much more in clothes. I love the creamy sandalwood + florals + woody/musky composition, it's pretty nice. I've already got some compliments on my first day wearing it. The bad: it does not project a lot, maybe heavy with 2m at the beginning and later moderate at an arm length for several hours, but after that, maybe 6h, the sillage reduces quickly until it becomes a personal scent (between soft and moderate). This can be good for someone, but I would prefer it to be beast-mode. The ugly: the price! I understand that it is an "Extrait the Parfum", but IMHO it's just too expensive...

On initial spray, for the first few seconds, I thought yeah, another sandalwood. But, wow, all sandalwoods are not created equal, and this quickly shows it’s on another level to everything else. Yes it has the characteristic sandalwood smell. But it is sweet, and smooth, and has no harsh edges at all. There is a floral sharpness, but absolutely no hint of pickle. In the smells like section I think this is much sweeter and more floral than Sacred Wood or Santal 33, and the dry down is maybe most like Santal Blush, but I’ll have to compare them directly another day. It’s definitely more sandalwood than floral.

I bought this recently and I'm liking it a lot. Great longevity 12+ hrs with just one squirt on each wrist. Sillage is pretty good too without being overbearing as some sandalwoods can have the cloying sweet quality projected in the sillage. The sandalwood in this scent is the Australian, the oldest sandalwood around, and unlike the Indian/South Asian kind is not as sweet. Hence the name - Pacific Sandalwood. For me it sits right on the fence between masculine and feminine, one twitch and it could easily have flipped either side. A happy scent, I think it will be around in my mix.

The most expensive blind buy for me, lol. I was noseblind to it at the first spray. But the scent started to show after a while. It is a very subtle sandal, with a touch of floral and astringent (not sour). An intimate scent but quite beautiful. On subway a girl leaned very close to me even though there's quite lot of space around. I don't know if she's enjoying the scent. I was. I don't know if I'd like to promote this to others, but I'm very happy with my bottle.

There's actually aquatic notes added to the Extrait (coincide with its name "du Pacifique"), and to my surprise, it upgrades the already "pretty good" original to "Nice! This is quite good and different!" The aquatic vibe here is a comfortable sea-breeze similar to Epice Marine (Hermessence) as opposed to the bitter mossy mess in men's colognes. Definitely one of the better dry/refreshing & natural sandalwood fragrances out there. Best of the line in my opinion!