Santal Majuscule

أعدت شراء العطر مؤخراً (أعتقد أنه تم إيقاف إنتاجه) كمحب لعطور الصندل أجد هذا العطر هو الأجمل بين عطور الصندل الصريحة مع العلم بأنني أمتلك كل من: أمواج Meander هذا العطر أكثر دسامة و كثافة بمراحل Tam Dao لا تصح المقارنة فإذا كان تام داو مثال جيد للصندل الحليبي، فهذا العطر يمثل سمنة خشب الصندل الرائحة لا تشبه السمن البلدي لكنها تشترك معها في إحساس الدفئ Santal Eli Saab و إن كان سانتال إيلي صعب يناسب الذائقة العامة أكثر لاحتوائه على رائحة خشبية جافة بجانب الصندل الكريمي، إلا أن هذا العطر مُغرق في الكريمية و الحسية Santal Neroli - Bohoboco يشبه الصندل الموجود في هذا العطر لكنه أكثر دسامة و نعومة جربت استعماله مع عطور تحتوي على neroli صريح سحر!! أوردت هذه الأمثلة لتقريب الرائحة و ليس للمقارنة، هذا العطر يحتاج إلى أجواء باردة نوعا ما، لا يناسب الأماكن المغلقة الصغيرة، يبرز جماله مع الحركة البسيطة أخيراً... هذا العطر يقدّم الصندل بطريقة محددة جداً دسمة، ملطخة بمربى الورد، قوامه بودري بشكل بسيط، و كلما كانت الرائحة محددة أكثر كلما زاد اختلاف الناس عليها ... لذلك لا أنصح بالشراء العمياني إلا للمخضرمين في عطور الصندل أو من يريد أن ينغمس في الجانب الدسم من خشب الصندل ______________ I recently repurchased this fragrance (I believe it’s been discontinued). As a sandalwood lover, I find this to be one of the most beautiful straightforward sandalwood fragrances. For context, I also own: Amouage Meander This one is far richer and denser, with a comparable quality. Diptyque Tam Dao Not really a fair comparison; if Tam Dao is the perfect example of milky sandalwood, then Santal Majuscule represents sandalwood with “brown butter” nature. The scent doesn’t literally smell like butter, but it shares that same warm, enveloping feeling. Elie Saab Santal This leans more toward mass appeal, thanks to its dry woody character blended with creamy sandalwood. Santal Majuscule, on the other hand, is all about lush creaminess and sensuality. Bohoboco Santal Neroli The sandalwood feels quite similar here, though Santal Majuscule comes across smoother and more indulgent. I’ve also layered it with fragrances that feature a prominent neroli note: pure magic! To be clear, I’m not drawing direct comparisons here, but giving reference points for the style. This fragrance really shines in cooler weather and it comes alive with subtle movement. It might be too much in enclosed spaces. In the end, Santal Majuscule delivers sandalwood in a very specific way: dense, creamy, smothered with rose jam, and lightly powdery. The more defined a scent is, the more polarizing it tends to be. So I wouldn’t recommend blind-buying unless you’re already a seasoned sandalwood lover, or you want to explore its rich and decadent side.

My goodness, I go nuts for this fragrance! While I love roses and their smell, I don’t prefer rose in perfume, unless it’s jammy. And surprise!—the rose here IS jammy— sweet, velvety and so beautifully blended. For the first couple of minutes, Santal Majuscule smells a bit like the inside of an old hardwood spice cabinet: nice and homey, but also witchy and kind of a mess. You start to think you’ve made a mistake here. But then, the sweet rose and cacao blend begins to unfold and it starts to evolve (resolve?) into something wonderfully exotic and...dare I say, erotic? Yes. Both, actually. At this point, Santal Majuscule reminds me a little of Encrin de Fumee, but not as smoky. It’s a little smoky (incense, not woodsmoke) with a dark chocolate sweetness from cacao. I don’t know how the rose works so well with the cacao...it just fits. But ohhhh my🤤— that dreamy sandalwood, she is the undisputed star of the composition. This is my favorite type of sandalwood— creamy and rich, it smells almost edible to me. As is the usual way of Lutens frags, we see only a few scant notes, yet there is way too much going on here for a scent with only three notes. Solidly unisex. There’s a definite warmth from some herb and/or spice in the background, maybe even a little leather? It’s for sure I don’t exactly know, but even my untrained nose can tell there’s more to Santal Majuscule than the 3 given notes! If Arabie is the warm, spiced air winding through a bazaar in medieval Persia, then Santal Majuscule is this: Golden palaces with minaret towers. Mysterious women wearing long robes with dark, kohl-lined eyes flashing above their veiled faces. Tiny silver bells that chime gently on delicate wrists and ankles. Camels and multi-colored colored caravans traveling the Silk Road over searing desert sands. Stories told every night for 1001 nights to a cruel Sultan by a courageous young woman to soften his brittle heart. Exotic? Erotic? You better believe it!👍🏼 Oh!— and very, very romantic. Performance: Lasts on me a good 7-8 hours, with a fairly long “throw” in the first 60-75 minutes. After that, it creates a nice arm’s length scent bubble until becoming a soft skin scent the last hour or so.

Santal Majuscule... a rose by any other name! Rose is not a note I typically seek out in a fragrance, but occasionally, if it’s not too sweet, and not too jammy, it can work for me. Here, then, a contradiction arises: as although I do not find Santal Majuscule overly sweet, it is undeniably jammy ... yet still I am seduced by it. This is a fragrance that is all about rose for me: a bright, vivid rose in full bloom, the sort that fills the air. It is a rose at the height of its potency, one that, as fellow reviewer Rylai beautifully described it, borders on decay. As the initial blast of the rose note settles, after fifteen minutes or so, powdery cacao and smoky sandalwood come forward. Together these notes tame the jamminess and sweetness of the rose with something altogether warmer and more subtle. At half an hour on my skin, the fragrance blends exquisitely and, in my opinion, is at its best. Now, a gentle, airy rose note wafts above deep, sultry sandalwood, providng an almost perfect balance. From then on, the fragrance stays consistent for another 8-10 hours before fading away. Like most fragrances these days, Santal Majuscule is listed as unisex, and in this case it truly is. In the first fifteen minutes after application, I feel it leans just a bit too feminine for my taste, but afterwards it sits right on the cusp between masculine and feminine. Santal Majuscule is one of those rare fragrances that puts me in a quandary: I love it, but I struggle to imagine a situation in which I’d wear it. The best I can picture is a warm summer evening in the garden, just as the sun dips below the horizon. UPDATE: Initially, I thought of this as a summer evening scent, but I've been wearing it in colder weather and it is equally as good, perhaps even more so. Tested: 1ml sample Seasons / Occasions: Late summer or early autumn evenings (and winter) Key thoughts: Jammy rose opening, tamed later with cacao and warm, smoky sandalwood Overall rating: 9.5/10 Buy full bottle again: Possibly (UPDATE: I did buy a full bottle and it's glorious. Rating updated from 8.5 to 9.5)

One of my Mum's favorite perfumes of all time. I together with my Dad and Sister gifted her this for her birthday, right before Christmas Eve. She has always dreamt about this fragrance. She always loves to hear my enthusiastic descriptions of perfumes and always says that I made her nose more trained, haha. We both appreciate classic French perfumery, so we have quite a common taste. I will always associate Santal Majuscule with my Mother. This is a homage to classic oriental French perfumery. It is very sophisticated, smooth and rich. Not overly complex in terms of notes, but it's so smoothly constructed, with multiple textures, Sandalwood-Rose formulation. Very thick, dense, sweet and creamy. It owns definitely a gourmand quality, a powdery one as well. It smells eloquent and natural. I think it is a Musk heavy formula, with perfectly selected naturals, especially Patchouli. It seems to be built upon Patchouli EO, Sandalore, Ebanol, Musks like Ambrettolide or Galaxolide. It seems to have nice Sandalwood EO with high concentration of beta-Santalol combined with lovely aroma-chemicals. I detect some powdery texture here, maybe some right concentrations of Ionones (alfa- and beta-) were nicely handled by perfumer. It is so smoothly blended and very well executed with Rose accord. I believe that some Rose naturals as a support play with PEA-Geraniol-Rose Oxide-Citronellol combination. I think, that it has nothing to do with modern perfumery. It is not old-school or dated, it is timeless. Very elegant, sophisticated, leaning more in feminine direction, French piece of art. Do I like it? Yes. It's particularly gorgeous, in my opinion. I strongly recommend it for Sandalwood lovers. I guarantee, you will appreciate it. It is very delicious, feminine and sensual perfumery. You can find it on discounts for great price, even 130$ for 50 mL. A fair price for such quality. I imagine a very sophisticated lady, in a beautiful velvet evening dress and black long elbow gloves observing a spectacle in Opera wearing this perfume. Enjoy.

Hey poeple, my experience with SM goes to show that skin chemistry is not a myth. I live near Paris, so I could smell and try on skin a lot of Lutens. Some of the strongest ones on paper just died or went dull on my skin. I wanted to love Ambre Sultan but on me it's just weak, plus I already have Ambré lumière from Molinard that gives AS a run for the money. Of all the fragrances I've tried at Lutens, Santal majuscule was the only one that was magical on my skin. Perfect balance of wood and liquor like rose, almost like a sweet wine quality, think Tokaj, dry cocoa in the background. The vibe is at the same time classy, warm but calm. Putting this fragrance on gives me a sense of composure. Very linear for 2-3 hours, then on me it becomes more woody/spicy, with a lovely hint of dirtiness. I think it's one of my top 3 perfumes, and I have been wearing perfumes for 30 years. A last word : some say that with this fragrance, Lutens rehashed old ideas and stopped being creative. I would rather say that he created one of his masterpieces, better than Santal blanc, Santal de Mysoore and Jeux de peau together. But again, on some skins it may feel completely different. I am sure there are more notes than rose, sandalwood and cocoa, but I am no good at analyzing the notes. For me perfume is an emotion and SM is a comforting classy calmly sensual fragrance, good for any time and occasion, just spray accordingly or even just dab. Impossible to layer with anything, except By the fireplace which gives it a nice smokiness. If you have both, try that combo!