Palo Santo

When I burned a casserole so badly a few years ago that a fire erupted in my oven, and I panicked, opened the oven door and blasted fire extinguishing foam onto the fiery mess, I hoped I would never, never smell that burning, acrid odor again. Or so I thought. Palo Santo erupts in a blaze of burning tar, enflamed duck fat and putrid fetid flesh. It's amazing! But this olfactory slam calms relatively quickly into a wooded bliss that is both comforting and awakening. Maybe that initial blast is necessary to ward off the evil spirits as the sacred wood is claimed to do. It will startle you, it may even scare you but once the perfume settles, it will embrace you with a generous warmth and convivial assuredness.

This is a really interesting fragrance. The opening is really intense and almost off putting, but it quickly transforms into this smoky, woody dream of a scent. It’s one of my favorite “heavy” scents for the summer. It’s both fresh and green, and smoky, dark, and woody at the same time. The description said that they were invoking the spirit of Los Angeles, and this really captures the essence of that. It’s just really cool.

Under-recognized nice semi-realistic palo santo. Many compliments. If you like palo santo, you may like this. If you don't, you won't. Perfect in autumn for me.

The opening is amazing. Gets people to perk up. It's a bizarre smell, strong and captivating and confusing. Pungent from the hops, bold, alluring also a little attention seeking. The suede mellows and sweetens and the smoke keeps it lingering. I like it, but I don't know when to wear it. I tried wearing it for a couple months in a subtropical summer and I didn't realize until the end that it probably was a really bad smell for the weather. I don't think anyone wants to have to deal with heavy humid air and then also a hoppy smoky soiree. I read this description for a different cologne but I thought it applied here: "I think you're going to be choking people out in the warm weather and it's going to smell out of place in the winter...so i don't really see a place for it." It would be hard for anyone to cuddle up to you with this on unless you are trying to outperform the smell of the space. It only has moderate sillage and longevity, but it still announces itself since the smell is so different. I think it's too upfront for the office or classroom. And not a vibe at the bar. I went with fall because I think that's when it would work best doing things outside where its cool but not cold, where the air is a little dry or a little wet, but refreshing. If you can afford to have a scent specific for those crisp shoulder season cookouts, like flannel and dog walking, this is it. Who's that hunk

I don't get the depth that other people are talking about. All I smell is cheap shaving cream. If you want to smell like Barbasol, this is your jam.

Acid-green smoke. Can be a safe blind buy if the smell of a burning anthill is your thing.