Bois de Copaiba

Parfumerie Generale Bois de Copaiba, possibly the most unique scent from this great house. It surprises with an exciting opening that blasts with booziness of amaretto, spicy ginger and orange. That doesn't lasts for too long and the scent transforms into the most comforting, resinous and rich goodness of myrrh, sandalwood and copahu balm, blended so well to a dry, intriguing and definitely unisex fragrance. It does reminds me of Mitsuko, the dough-y part in the dry down with just a slight vintage feeling. The scent is deliciously thick and luxurious, like a soft cashmere blanket that you don't want to part with. It does have pretty good sillage and longevity.

Rare and defiantly oddball treasure with two decidedly different faces. If you get on its wrong side: Is it even actually a scent? I mean, smells good, but surely this is a household product? A golden-aura'd, but rather plasticky old-fashioned wood-furniture polish spray with orange oil. Definitely bouncy-resiny and well-bolstered, though still somehow disconcerting, with a slightly harsh alcohol-and-myrrh chemical slap scaring me a bit. Smell of sniffing a warmed 1960s couch set? A rattling can of vintage Pledge? BUT, on a good day: it becomes a much warmer, gentler, quirkier wonder, smelling of actual hardwood (furniture) itself, with a more harmonious tang of real orange - and rather than the squeaky plastic/plasticiney chemical buffer of the bad days, the other notes magically do unfold and reveal themselves in a proper order: a no-compromisingly chewy copahu resin banging in from the outset; after a bit the alcohol smooths out and begins to puff like delicious amaretto instead of aerosol spray; the myrrh mellows and sandalwood swells to make it all just plain delicious. Not a gourmand - it's too "built" and woody and myrrh-heavy to qualify for those with a proper sweet tooth - but definitely adding that nearly-edible sense of pleasure into a more sophisticated picture. Its bubble is close (doesn't radiate more than 1-2 feet from you) yet feels very, very robust and durable. Although - puzzlingly again - some days it seems to last forever (into the next day on either skin or clothes), while on others I'm left feeling that it's disappeared by 4h in, which is more like the PG average. So what will you get if you spin the wheel of fortune? Fascinatingly random enigma, time after time. Humidity and temperature probably have a lot to do with it (this seems like definitive cold-weather wear to summon imaginary fireplaces to me, and likely to get overwhelmingly waxy / polishy in high heat) - but even after a few years with this scent, I can never figure it out which aspect of BdC is going to show up on any given day. Something of a Russian roulette, then - though maybe in the long run this adds to the intrigue. Happy to have it, keep it and keep rediscovering it. It's expensive and it's very weird. Not a blind buy under any circumstances and not all that similar to anything else I can think of. I'm still keeping it. One disclaimer: I have no idea what real essential oil of copaiba smells like - although I know it's highly prized in healing/aromatherapy circles and the smell industry - so if you are specifically seeking something that smells just like the real thing, or is made of the real thing, only you can judge if this will get you there. (And that's by no means the only thing about this eccentric and lovely scent that I just don't understand!)

The opening to "Bois de Copaiba" starts off quite squeaky and soapy. As it continues to dry down, the soapiness subsides and I do start to get more of the warm boozy Amaretto vibe I was looking for, but it's still rather faint and transparent. I was expecting more density and richness from the woods and more spiciness from the ginger, but it mostly just smells like very clean almond soap to me. It's pleasant, but not quite the grown up gourmand treat I'd hoped for. Bear in mind I'm only testing with a dabber vial, from which I poured a generous amount onto my hand. Perhaps I'm not getting the full picture, but so far I think it's just ok. At least a wearable unisex almond scent, but definitely not boozy. I will enjoy it while it's on me, but probably won't be buying a bottle. *UPDATE* Poured a good bit of my sample onto skin today and I liked it a lot more, although I still think I can't judge it fully without testing from a spray bottle. It's not as soapy as initially perceived it to be; Now it feels much drier, nuttier and cuddlier. There is also the vaguest similarity to a soft leather/suede note in the dry down. I'm becoming quite attached, as I love almond. It's still very linear and close to the skin though, but a few more wears and I might fall in love :)

"Bois de Copaiba" is indeed a very strange perfume, first I was approached by amaretto which here adds a very strange & boozy accord. It reminded me of Etro's Heliotrope when it's sniffed right out of bottle without letting it to develop. At the heart I get lots of balms and still the boozy blast of amaretto. The balmy notes are not at all warm and sweet, but very dry and almost bitter/herbal. The drydown brings a slight sweetness from sandalwood, but it's still extremely dry. I enjoyed trying this - it's perfectly unisex, suitable for colder weather, staying power was around 6 hours and silage was more than satisfying.

Sampled this and don't like it. It opened just like Guerlain L'Heure Bleue on my skin so I checked the notes for both and the common note is sandalwood so perhaps it's that. Unfortunately didn't detect anything else besides orange. I had to scrub it off.