Praline de Santal

Not sure where to review this - it seems a lot more likely that it's a sample of the 2023 relaunch Praliné De Santal that finally fell into my hands recently, but it says Parfumérie Générale on the label and not Pierre Guillaume, so I'm choosing the page of the 2011 original anyway. I was so excited to test this scent - it's been haunting the back of my mind on and off ever since I saw it compared to Jeux de Peau, my first big perfume coup de foudre, the one that got me obsessed with perfumery and that I still love 10 years on. And true enough, I love this one as well, but I don't think they're very similar beyond both being in the admittedly pretty niche category of woody, "grown up", perfectly unisex gourmands. This one is at once dustier and creamier in its woodiness, and warmer, which is no surprise because the stars of the show here are a realistic hazelnut and a lovely, luxurious sandalwood note (where Jeux de Peau, in my opinion, is defined by the wheat and apricot notes apart from the woody aspect). I'll stop the comparison there, because it's unfair and unproductive - I'm aware nothing will probably ever measure up to the subjective memory of my first experience of JdP, that eternal favorite, and Praliné de Santal is great in its own right! It's not a loud scent, with just the right amount of projection and average longevity, and it's sophisticated enough to be worn in any situation, which sets it apart from many gourmands - I guess it's the woody aspect's contribution, it makes it smell delicious without evoking actual foodstuffs. Like others have mentioned, it is very aptly named. So I think this is really wonderful and I definitely want more of it - if I chose the correct page for my review, I sure hope the new version is exactly the same.

When will Pierre Guillaume stop impressing me with these unique masterpieces he turns out? What I love about this House is that there are always distinct top/heart/base notes. This starts out smelling just like a glaze I make for pork chops. I cook chopped nuts in butter, then drizzle them with honey until they begin to caramelize. It also smells like honeycomb (the crispy candy, not the bees nest). If there was ever a perfume that was a honey-bomb, it would be this one. I thought Honey and the Moon was as good as it gets for years, but even that pales in comparison to this. The heart smells like woody hazelnuts, freshly shelled. The taste...I mean...scent of hazelnuts is 3D, as though the flavor is really in your mouth. Can’t say that any gourmand has ever made me feel like that sensation. I am in love with the drydown—nutty, creamy, white nougat. Mouthwateringly good! Some hints of vanilla, though not disproportionate. I understand how some people say this disappears after a short time. Chemistry is everything, especially with synthetics. I can smell this on me all day at work, drifting up to my nose just from my wrists alone. Yet I doubt anyone else can detect it, and that is how I prefer my sillage to be. This lasts a monsterous +12 hours on me, like all other perfumes from this house. I need to own this. I am not a big hazelnut fan, but this is too good!

After wearing Aomassai, Tonkamande and Praline de Santal the winner became Praline. Amazing second half in Aomassai outbids for me almost unbearable opening, yet Praline de Santal is good from start to finish. It is solid and honest crushed into gun powder dry nuts with their skins. Its also relaxing dryness of the cedar and enveloping cuddle from cashmere wood. Heliotrope adds creaminess and takes away bitterness from the nuts. All minimalistic and appealing. With my other fragrances, depending not only from mood, but hormone level and weather - there are "moments" when certain ingredient is just too much or gives a headache all of a sudden, but Praline de Santal is for every day and time and situation, - there is nothing that scratches your throat (if you are nutty-woody sucker, mind you). It also not sweet, I do not find it similar with Jeux de Peau by Lutens as well, love and own both - don't consider them same directory fragrances, its more into direction of Bois Farine of L'Artisan. Praline de Santal is more like smell of cone of sizzling roasted chestnuts in winter air, while Jeax de Peau is a milky cookies with brown crust, - in few words. Overall - love to Praline de Santal from me.

Praline de Santal is one of the most interesting premieres of the recent months. For those with a sweet tooth, a must try I would say! Praline de Santal is a marriage of nuts and woods. The first phase belongs all to hazelnuts. Unlike Coeur de Noisette, nuts here are powdery, but also crunchy and hard. Freshly taken out of their nutshells. Slightly sweet and somehow slightly salty (maybe it's just me, but I definitely got some salt in the first phase). While nuts fade away, woods and heliotrope take over. The scent is not strong, yet very cozy and pleasant. You can almost feel textures of freshly planed wood, lying in the sun. You can smell sawdust. Cashmere woods adds an oriental touch here... Yes, eating crunchy nuts on a porch in India... Not that I have ever done it, but smelling my vial, this is what I iamgine a day would smell like. I must say that heliotrope was a note that I could never put my finger on. It is featured in a few of my favourites, but I until now I could not single it out from the symphony of notes. And here finally I got it! A very pretty addition to precious woods.

I fell in love with this fragrance at first sniff, after initially testing Tonkamande (which is also a beautiful composition). The smell of praline in this one is exquisitely gourmand, real and fascinating. The burnt, cruhed, sugar-coated hazelnuts are crunchy, tasty, sweet, irresistible to any real gourmand scent lover. I very much ejoy the way the sandalwood and (less so, but noticeable) cashmere wood work together to provide a refined, elegant base for the playful edible nuts, turning Praline de Santal into a daring, one-of-a-kind woody gourmand. Late to the party, the cedar is most noticeable in the drydown, offering a refreshing, slightly more masculine vibe to the composition. Lasting power is good (around 10 hours), sillage is excellent, one of my colleagues managed to sniff me from across the room and with an open window :) A slightly powdery sweet woody scent, masterfully done for those who really love a gorgeous touch of tasty praline.