Incense Pure

Straight off, this is a really wonderful scent. Incense is one of my favourite notes and just as the genre seemed in danger of being a little tapped out, Sonoma Scent Studio saves the day here with yet another quality offering. I own a number of incense based scents and this one is right at the very top of the heap with the likes of Comme des Garcons Avignon/Kyoto, Norma Kamali's incense, Tom Ford's Sahara Noir and Profumo Roma's Olibanum. In fact, I think it just shades all of those to be honest, which is saying something! The thing I love about Incense Pure is that it is just that! SSS use all natural components, so there is nothing synthetic here. It is an almost perfect rendition of olibanum (frankincense) that is joined later in the journey by a beautiful, cool sandalwood. The other stand out for this scent for me is the way it takes a different route to some of the scents I mentioned above in that it avoids the 'liturgical' path many incense fragrances take and instead, opts for an outdoorsy, resinous, natural theme. I burn natural resin incense on charcoal in my home and this smells almost exactly like my fingers after I have been digging around in the bag to get some resin for burning. I might add here that Laurie Erickson is not only a genius perfumer, but a genuine good egg as well! I highly recommend subscribing to her newsletter and blog, where you will find someone who is right there with you, personally answering comments and questions, providing a personal touch (I even received a hand written thank you note from her with my shipment!). This is a quality which is so utterly rare in the fragrance world (John Pegg is a solid exception). Such attention to detail really sets SSS aside and that approach is clearly evident in Ms. Erickson's products. To finish off, I'll add that Incense Pure has amazing longevity, no doubt due to the natural composition and it projects perfectly, just to an arm's length or so, enough for it to be noticed, not enough to be offensive (not that it ever could be - it's gorgeous!). It's also fairly linear, which can occasionally be a drawback, as I like to go on a journey with my scents for the most part, to experience them developing and changing on my skin. But in this case, the scent is so perfectly nailed that I don't want it to change too much. Sure, it warms up over the first hour and becomes a little more woody, but the essential nature of it remains throughout. Another bonus of it being a bit linear is that if you get it on your clothes, it's not really like you're stuck with only the top notes on your shirt, instead you are just treated to a longer lasting date with this heady incense as it wears off your skin. Bravo Sonoma Scent Studios, this is in my top 5 fragrances for sure!

There are some perfumes that I’m hesitant to try because I’m afraid I’ll be disappointed, and Incense Pure was one of them. I had high expectations, but I have to say that they were met, just not quite in the way I expected. What I was expecting was a “church” incense in the image of CDG Avignon or Heeley Cardinal, which are both near-impossible acts to follow, but that’s not what this is at all. Incense Pure is a thick, heavy, dark frankincense-sandalwood-evergreen sap combination. The sandalwood provides a strong, primitive, sensuous and insistent bass(base) line for the other elements that play against it: olibanum, labdanum resin, and a hint of myrrh. It’s resinous, not smoky. This is incense in the making, not incense burned. I can almost feel the stickiness of tree sap everywhere around me. The elemi works with the high notes of the sandalwood, blowing them up to larger-than-life proportions. Sillage is quite strong, and the scent lasts and lasts, with the sandalwood drydown persisting for more than 12 hours on skin. I would classify this more as a sandalwood scent than an incense one. It’s just the kind of fragrance I like, so of course I love it. I’m sure not everyone will love it, but everyone should try it.

This is such a beautiful incense scent and a must try for lovers of sandalwood. I'm really impressed by this and will be ordering more from Sonoma. It's an incense scent but not overpowering or too smoky as some incense scents can be. Not a full on churchy incense either but a balanced blend of the notes listed. I actually hate patchouli but this is blended so well that I don't detect that thing about patchouli that makes me sick. To me the most predominant notes are sandalwood (my favorite), amber, and incense and the sandalwood used reminds me of Mysore which is so lovely. Give this one some time and it develops into something so sublime to me. This is one of my new favorites.

Growing up, I had a friend who was Chinese, and her family was Buddhist. In her home, they had an alter set up with tons of extremely skinny, delicate incense sticks jutting out from a small jar where her grandmother would place them after burning them. Sometimes the air was slightly hazy from the leftover smoke. Incense Pure takes me back. It smells like cedar and resins that have actually been lit to produce a wee bit of smoke. Incense Pure is plenty strong. I made the mistake of spritzing waaaay too much, not realizing its strength, and I got extremely nauseous. A little goes a long way with this. I don't say that about many perfumes.

YUM! Is this the incense I've been looking for? This smells ritualistic, gothic, mass-like and utterly compelling to me. That Sonoma have used natural oils only makes me want it more since I am going more and more in that direction anyway. Dark, resinous, this hits me on some deeply emotional level and evens me out, feelings wise, is that weird? I don't even care, this stuff is Lush ( yup, with a capital L). Conjures up images of a gothy type drifting past in swathes of black and long lace skirts. Yum. Edit - My husband calls this stuff my "goth juice"! So now it is Goth Juice in our house ;-)

The warmth and depth to this is insane. A classic mix of sweet and smoky done perfectly. The labdanum and amber mix goes well with the incense. I am a lover of these type of scents and SSS is a definite masterpiece. Similar scents are Ambre Fetiche, Tauer 02 and still in the same category but different Copper Skies by Kerosene. This lasts all day with great sillage. The only drawback to some is the size is small but a couple sprays is enough. Fireside Intense is another standout for SSS.

What a perfectly intriguing incense experience! For me this wonderfully natural perfume is all about enjoying the whole spiritual and meditative ritual of collecting carefully selected, rich and resinous raw materials in the outdoors, taking time to prepare and blend them, slowly adding some heat and finally ending up with a beautiful, pleasantly dry, woody and smoky burning incense of incredible longevity. A true masterpiece :)

My favorite winter perfume. This is one of the few perfumes that last on my skin. It is complicated and sensuous. Love the combination of incense and sandalwood. It does not smell like smoke nor is it "churchy".

No BBQ, smokey, campfire, pine tree, or church smell. This is like walking in a warm, cedar forest with smoldering, resinous incense. A fairly linear fragrance but it lasts an entire day. Wonderful!

Another one of my favorites from the line; it's a crossbreed between an all-natural herbal incense + sweet amber and the very popular Churchy incense

Fantastic. If you love resins, this one is for you.

The opening had a bit of funk to it, but that died down after a few minutes. Then it’s a resinous cedar, smoke, foresty woods. Dry, but with the resin giving it more body / richness. It’s meditative and kind of like walking into a great smelling sauna, but with the resin making it deeper. Kind of transports me to the onsen (hot bath houses) in Japan. This would be such an amazing scent on a snowy day — I can see images of an onsen retreat in Hokkaido when I smell this scent. More evocative than some of the other incense scents I’ve tried which are less resinous and therefore more calming of the mind, because there’s less evocativeness of the heart.

A very dry, resiney-woods scent that is quite familiar smelling. The cedar backs beautifully onto the amber and incense, and works as a unified scent and ticks all the boxes, it's just a little, well, done. I know this is more than 10 years old, I am not trying to say anything untoward, but it just feels like it's been done many times before and, quite often, differently and with more appeal. This is a reference point (for this particular genre/trope), but I'm not much for reference points. This would've been PERFECT with a bit of animalic stank, some cumin or something funky.

This starts off slightly green and lemony but in a very herbal way. As the fragrance progresses it becomes a bit smoky, w/ a dry soil and moss quality. Musky, dry earth w/ the slight spice of crunchy, crisp leaves that have fallen from trees from a year that was a bit to dry. A cabin is in the distance w/ a wood fire burning and smoke is just beginning to come from the chimney. A slight powdery orris root comes through in the dry down mingling w/ a vanilla and giving a sad sweetness to a very wistful perfume. A beautiful masculine composition.

Lovely interpretation of incense. Bone dry, a bit smokey. It has an outdoorsy quality that makes it feel secular, private and introspective. It feels like something to wear alone but if you spray lightly you'd be unlikely to offend anyone. Really great value like all Sonoma Scent Studio fragrances. It is not trying to be anything other than an incense fragrance and as such its "story" is fairly simple. If I ever find myself wanting a straight incense fragrance I'll likely turn to this one. Genderless

I'm trying this out, and I find that the drydown is strangely similar to byredo gypsy water, a buttery sandalwood is definitely there. It's the first incense of many that I hope to try. I like it very much! nose-to-wrist, non-stop. someone else used the word "meditative." it's sonorous, deep but not heavy. PS getting a hand written note from Laurie Erickson on the packing list for my samples was... awesome.

This is a great incense composition, however I wouldn't place it as churchy. It starts out with the smell of incense burning in a cold, dark forest. The cedar fades substantially after the dry down, then you stumble into a warm cabin as sandalwood, amber and vanilla warm up the scent from there. I love the layers that unfold as you wear it, as it keeps you coming back to it again and again.

Just received this today. So happy that someone was letting it go in one of the Fragrance Groups on FB. I was shocked when the seller let it go for $75. He could have easily got $100+ for it. I'm not complaining. Very happy about this purchase because I used up the sample I had. Plus you can't get them anymore. So sad! Hope someone lets go of Tabac Aurea.

Been trying this out for a few weeks (sample) and I am digging this scent. I have a sample of Cardinal by Heeley, and although it is good, Incense Pure takes the cake for me. Will order a bottle.

It smells nice overall, but I can detect a sour note which is a little repulsive. It has good longevity and projection , but for now I will not be getting it!

woody incense, not bad just not what I would personally wear

196 This one is similar to ambre noir except it’s lighter with a noticeable patchouli. To me it just smelled like a generic wood incense with patchouli. I prefer amber incense. 6/10-nothing special, has patchouli

On my first trip to India, many years ago, there was a restaurant we students used to frequent called The Kings Court. It was billed as a fancy restaurant but was quite shabby--the lights were low enough so that you could not quite make out the stains on the tablecloths and napkins. Anyway, we were frequently the only customers there, and often very early by Indian standards, so as soon as we would arrive the waiters would light incense. The incense was quite strong and acrid, but unfortunately it did not cover up the smell of urine that emanated from the restroom. Together the two smells were rather unpleasant, though quite unique. As soon as I applied Incense Pure I was brought back to the Kings Court Hotel (restaurants are called hotels in India) and its smell of strong incense and pee, with a few spicy cooking smells in the background. The incense used in Hindu India (as opposed to the Tibetan incense, which is more woody and cool-aromatic)is often sickly sweet. I think Incense Pure is a remarkable take on Hindu incense. But I find it too strong for me, and the background smell of urine made me scrub it off. Perhaps another day, when I am not expecting visitors, I will leave it and see what happens.

As fans of what is one of the more saturated genres of perfumery already know, there are a handful of incense perfumes generally heralded as being the top of their game. Norma Kamali’s infamous Incense from 1982 is probably the most sought after, and Comme des Garcons’s entire Incense series put the genre back on the map with Avignon (2002) serving as the perhaps the most referential liturgical incense to this day. Others have followed suit with varying degrees of success, but I’d like to suggest that Incense Pure should be considered on the same level, perched close to these forerunners while successfully holding its own between them. This is indeed a benchmark incense perfume, but it’s less liturgical than the Kamali or the CdG; instead, the focus is as much on woods and sappy resins. Consequently, it feels transitional; more meditative and sacred than austerely religious, yet it still manages to conjure up the impression of a kind of ecclesiastical sanctuary. In contrast to the “pure” of the name, it’s actually an elaborate, complicated scent that sidesteps the paradoxical chill of Avignon and the linear force of Kamali, instead veering more toward a more dynamic and multivalent experience. It’s smoky, yet it doesn’t catch your throat; it’s dry, but still manages to feel warm and heartening; it traces the outline of more liturgical fragrances by relying on a text-book combination of frankincense, myrhh, labdanum, and cistus, yet it takes an entirely surprisingly turn. While those four notes are in perfect harmony, functioning more as the heart of the scent, they leave space for the slightly botanical and woody notes that set Incense Pure apart from its brethren. A patchouli note and a hint of orris lend the scent a earthy, herbal texture alongside cedar and ambergris that unite for a cagey musk, bearing resemblance to the “furry” accord that gives Parfumerie Générale’s L’Ombre Fauve it’s bestial name. Incense Pure isn’t nearly as pure as it claims to be. The base appears to be the house favorite of oakmoss and sandalwood, but here it’s layered with some vaguely lactonic vanilla and elemi to add weight and fullness beneath the resins, producing an elegant amber effect that hums along throughout the scent’s life. And this scent has a long life, so the base doesn’t really emerge for several hours although the creaminess of the sandalwood is there all along. It’s an intricate and involved bouquet, but one that yields central conceit effectively. But here’s the kicker: something about it doesn’t quite work for me. Although this is indeed still on my list of scents to purchase from the line (it’s fascinating more than anything), there’s something about the direction the genre is being spun that feels a tad off-kilter to me—but that’s just a personal taste issue as Incense Pure is as impeccably crafted as anything else from the line. Between the syrupy labdanum, the heady patchouli, the toasty cistus, and the slightly acrid tinge of orris, the composition strikes me as a tad too rich in a manner that I find destabilizing for a genre that has generally plays by the rules of dry and crisp. Therefore, my concerns seem to be more the result of my own cognitive dissonance. Picture L’Ombre Fauve’s “furriness,” crossed with some smoldering wood notes, and a muscular incense on top, and you’ll get a rough idea of what this is doing. I’d consider it to be a benchmark incense because it’s so articulate, but also because it veers enough from the other benchmarks without leaving the genre altogether. And that’s what makes this essential for incense fans: it’s touchstone in of itself.

Just right after spraying Incense Pure on skin, it immediately brings to mind of an hypothetic mash-up between the infamous Norma Kamali Incense and Jovoy La Liturgie Des Heures. It has the same dark starkness of the former and the sparkling, clean, greenish vibe of the latter. The main accord has been played ad nauseam but it's absolutely incredible how Incense Pure is able to gain its own spot amongst the most valid options in this genre. The main point of strength of this fragrance is that it doesn't play the churchy theme but opts for a more realistic interpretation of sap resins and woods. Yes, the fragrance is surely driven by an holographic frankincense accord to which Mrs.Erickson paired several other resins (mainly labdanum and some myrrh) and woody notes. What comes out is a *slightly* smoky composition enriched by a smooth dry sandalwood base. Powerful but absolutely comfortable, well rounded and tremendously balanced. As in other deliveries by SSS, there's an overall outdoorsy vibe which brings *natural* perfumery to a completely new level. It's natural because it smells natural but, most of all, because it evokes beautiful natural landscapes, great outdoors, fresh air. In this context, Incense Pure speaks more about incense in the forest as opposed to incense to church. I've to be honest, the first time I tried it, I was sort of disappointed but it *completely* won me over after the second wearing. There's something so special about this stuff, something perfectly nailed. Something probably more inherent to its simplicity than to its originality but this *je ne sais quoi* turns the whole composition into a total winner in my book. Nice sillage, tremendous longevity. No matter how much you apply, this stuff always feels perfectly sized. Love, seriously! Rating: 8/10

This smells sappy to me, and I mean that in the literal sense, not the maudlin one. I find this different from other incense scents in that as opposed to being burnt, or even dried, it smells as if this is the as-yet-uncrytalized resin. This is a forest scent; it smells of trees and earth. I get a lot of wood up front (cue the Bevis and Butthead chuckle). I’m not getting cedar, though it’s the main woody note listed, but it is quite possible that I’m just used to a more synthetic cedar. My first thought was pine but I have to admit, what do I know from trees? “I am not the type who wants to go back to the land;” as Fran Lebowitz said, “I am the type who wants to go back to the hotel.” Still, if it smelled like this every time I went outdoors I would probably be more outdoorsy.

29-Dec. 2011 / This is a perfect match of crystallized Larch tree sap from trees on the dry side of the Cascades north of Blewett pass (US 97) in Washington State. I harvest the the sap crystals in the fall for winter use in a tin on my woodstove. I’m sorry that I cannot find a notion of sandalwood or amber or a powdery sense. Albeit it in a different category, my benchmark for powdery sandalwood is M. Micallef “GAIAC”; I know I can sense sandalwood. I wonder if the sample was mixed up or incomplete. I can’t think of an instance where I’d want to wear the scent of the sample in my possession. It is a perfect match of a natural scent though. Darn, I was so looking forward to the Amber, elmemi and sandalwood.

A beautiful, rich, strong incense fragrance. Reminds me of Tom Ford Sahara Noir, but less sweet, more organic and powerful. This is a frankincense and cedar bomb - rich, indulgent, and fit for a sultan. Instantly brings me back to comforting memories of Christmas Eve mass in Catholic churches. This one is a soul warmer and I will definitely be buying this next winter. For sure my favorite incense fragrance. This lasts for ages on clothing and skin. I sprayed this on my wrists last night and even after showering the following morning, I could still smell it on my skin. This is saying a lot, since my skin eats up fragrances so fast.

Another reviewer mentioned this is CDG's Avignon, but better and I'd totally agree. It's drier and more full and with greater longevity. I think this develops better if dabbed vs. sprayed. To my mind, Incense Pure is resinous perfection, similar to L' Eau Trois by Dyptique but without the herbs. I am so glad I managed to snag a bottle of Laurie's delicious creation - it's masterful and so meditative. On a whim tonight, I spritzed a bit of Chanel No. 22 EDC and the white florals over the incense of Incense Pure is absolutely stunning.

This and Fireside Intense are my two favourites from Sonoma (others I've tried were Fig Tree and Winter Woods which I wasn't so keen on because of musk and amber notes which don't sit well on me). I like this almost as much as Fireside Intense but it feels like a fairly simple scent to me, but in a good way, as in, pure. I definitely get Frankincense from the start, which stays all the way. It begins to blend with a soft sandalwood. There's a tiny touch of amber and oakmoss, just enough to warm it up without taking over. Pleasant

Quick review more for myself than others, from sample: HOLY CRAP, that name is spot on. My sinuses are cleared!!! Huge burst of incense/cedar, really smells rather like campfire smoke. After recently having a bottle of Bois d'Ascese I'm spoiled though, this seems rough to me. Too 'real bark w/ moss just thrown in a fire and the fumes got too heavy so you had to scoot to the next stump-seat so you could breathe' to me. Not my thing but it's fascinatingly realistic. Makes Fille en Aiguilles (on my arms) cower in fear. [9.24.14]

Very nice, very outdoorsy woody incense. It opens rather bitter with all the resins, but as it dries down the woods come out and really make this juice shine. The cedar is prominent for the first couple of hours and then the sandalwood comes in and softens it. A very high quality incense scent with excellent sillage and longevity. I would put this on the same level as Tauer's incense scents and CDG's incense scents. Sonoma Scent Studio has a different take on incense, but it of the highest quality in my opinion.

Another must have from this house. Gives all the top known niche incense frags a huge run for their money. This house gives small 34ml bottles like nassomatto, but they project and last just as long if not more! The top three must haves so far are Tabac auera Winter woods Incense pure

this opens with smooth smoky incense & realistic foresty woods feels like a higher quality incense scent, great materials & technique simple but really nice, half a 1ml vial ... medium strong projection all sonoma samples have had excellent longevity

what i smell is incense smoke mixed with peppery notes. It vaguely reminds me of Azzaro "Visit", but not as harsh, yet it's more natural smelling and has volume, giving you the feeling that you are actually attending a church messe.

Where can I find this gem.. I am in europe.. so .. no way finding it here!! Anybody any sugestions?? thx

Smells like true wood incense with a touch of aded honey. Quite lovely and a perfect fall/winter scent.