Desert Sermons

desert sermons, in relation to toskovat's line, is a great execution of an intriguing concept rendering it better than most of the perfumes toskovat offers. the brand is not especially known for its sweet scents, but this is uniquely warm and comforting in contrast to the sharp, frigid tanginess i know so well. of course, there’s nothing even remotely sharp here. to me, and though it may be the name playing with my brain, i can’t get the image of a gilded and perfectly smoothed-out desert underneath a parching sun out of my head whenever i catch a whiff of this. this smells like a gust of wind, one that’s not just hot but carrying grains of sand. the resins form a coziness which persists throughout this scent’s duration, providing an amber that seems comfortable in its sweet and slightly vanillic qualities. the petitgrain is a massive player and you can really understand the solar aspect if you think specially about it. depending on your past experiences with the brand, it’s likely something you’ll either greatly like or dislike, and for me it's the former. if you were to try it yourself it's available exclusively on scentsplit

I recently, received a two milliliter decant of this. I don't like sweet fragrances. This does not come off to me as sweet. I do get the honey, but it's so perfectly balanced with a dryness. It almost reminds me of the smell of the inside of a hot sauna. Resinous baked wood. My family has a vacation home in upstate New York. This reminds me in a way of my childhood there. The house was built in the late 1800s and is all wood. When the summer sun heats it, the whole house smells of this sun-baked wood. A beautiful slightly sweet cedar. Someone commented that there's a parched paper vibe-I do understand that. There is depth and nuance to this fragrance. I feel that it's well balanced. Most certainly not cloying. Really fantastic for me.

Got the chance to smell this at a new fragrance boutique in Houston. I heard this scent is hard to find and I was so excited to try it - this was absolutely the correct sentiment to have. Sweet but somehow sort of mellow, the honey and amber play really well together to make a great scent. Imagine if "Bedroom Hymns" by Florence and the Machine were a frag - it's this. Even better - when I sprayed the sample strip, I got some of it on my hand inadvertently. Later in the evening, I threw on some Molecule 02, thinking I had washed the accidental spray long off. Nope, but the happiest accident. Perfect Ambroxan explosion.

I don't get the cake at all, I would say the honey is there but isn't overpowering. definitely smells like a desert in the solar notes and amber, it's a very warm spicy scent that I enjoy a lot. lasted a full 24 hours on me even through working in a lab with a bunch of chemicals--when I woke up the next day I could still smell it though it had definitely faded to a more intimate scent. do keep in mind it is strong, I sprayed this once on one wrist and it was enough for the all of me for that full 24 hours. I got multiple compliments on this one

Ancient honey in a ceramic pot sealed away in a tomb for a thousand years. This is what I think that ancient Egyptian honey they found smells like. Sweet (without ever being cloying TRUST ME I HATE CLOYING SWEETNESS), dry, warm, slightly resinous. Projects minimally but somehow lasts a very very long time. Reminds me a ton of memoirs of a trespasser from imaginary authors. If you took that, and took the vanilla out of it and replaced it with honey, and maybe made it a bit more humid, you'd get this. Good stuff.

Bits of dry fruit, sun-warmed and radiating sweet flesh captive in desiccated skin. Balsamic incense, scrolling visions: Head is a wanderer, head is a traveler, head is bundled in woven scarves that shield from the sun. Head holds the visions. Green pistachio amberized in bark crumbled atop honey-soaked sumac sponge. Spoils of silk road fragrant mercantile. Though I am very hesitant with sweet notes, I find Desert Sermons quite alluring, meditative, and approachable as an unconventional gourmand.

I just got a bottle of this complete blind buy and man is this stuff is Good now the fragrance’s smell is very challenging but not crazy. It’s a resinous honey desert like smell. The best way that I could describe this is that you’re standing in the middle of an sandstorm in the most badass way possible I like this fragrance more on how it makes me feel than the smell but I still do really like how it smells overall I’m happy with what I got and wouldn’t think about refunding for a second

Smells like stumbling across a religious ceremony in the desert. All participants clad in robes and wicker beekeeping masks. Grass fed fire smokes out the horizon in dusty reds. Clay vessels of honey are passed among them as blood seeps up from the parched land like groundwater rising. This feels like a beautiful marriage between Pinewards Funerie and Hayloft. Smoky honey, rich incense and an atmosphere like the dust bowl. It dries down very pleasant. An easy wear. Absolutely love it.

Obsessed. Genuine primitive urge to roll in this scent so it becomes worked into my natural smell. Never before have I truly considered buying an entire bottle of perfume. Warm resinous scent, reminiscent of a hot evening- be it the air temperature or the warmth of alcohol suffusing your body. The sort of smell that evokes skin-closeness with another person, an intimate conversation you’ll both forget in the back of a smoky bar, your tongues and the tabletop sticky with sweet rum.

It has this sweet, hot, dry but also petrichor smell that is so beautiful. It smells like an old, sun bleached piece of paper in a house with a window open after it has rained on a hot summer day, for the first time in months. The first time I smelled it it was novel and comforting/familiar at the very same time. There is also something sad about the scent, which makes it incredibly endearing. I love it, and I don't regret buying it.

It is warm, dry, and slightly austere. The smell makes me think of brutalism in a hot desert or a Zdzislaw Beksiński painting. Lots of paper, dust, resin, myrrh, and dry spices stand out most on my skin, while the tobacco, acacia, and buddleia don't. It’s a stark, modern smell with a distinctly atmospheric character. I absolutely love it.

I agree with MrHEFF, the notes are kind of a mess. I only really smell the amber/resin, honey, and tobacco. This stuff is real good, slight gourmand as it's warm and cozy with something else that I can't quite pinpoint. Will most likely be my winter signature. Scent: 9/10 Longevity: 11+ hours

This is my first Toskovat' fragrance and I gotta say this is a very intriguing but pleasant scent! It smells like you're eating a slice of cake in the middle of a persian bazaar. It smells cakey, resinous, and smoky. Might be perfect for seeing the new Dune film in theaters this December.

Warm, dry honey cake filled with dried fruits and wrapped in waxy paper. On my skin, the blend of resinous fruits, spice, and a subtle sweetness carries a faint impression of an old, dry book in the best possible way. This is another exceptional scent from Toskovat and worth every penny.

Gldd they finally added it! literary amazing! One of my favorite toskovat's, really great stuff, smells just like the desert before it rains - photo realistic, just really really solid release from toskovat

Amazing. It gives a soft royalty vibe like an Egyptian Pharoah. As if you have a rich home in the desert with th smells of cakes and spices inside your home. Comforting, mysterious, and warm.

Smells like standing in a bazaar sweet treats and spices tempt you while the smell of incense smoke trails through the air. I rather enjoy this one I think. Might get a bigger spray.

Smells similar to Papillon’s Anubis but sweeter, smoother and warmer

This smells like a "christian" camp I used go to when I was like eight years old. We'd play gaga ball until 3 in the morning, sprinting to the cafeteria periodically to make chamomile tea. I like the scent, but to other people, it smells weird. I get it. I read a lot of people saying there was no note of cake when they smelled this, but I got the complete opposite. When I first sprayed this on my skin, it reeked of bug spray for some reason. It dried down into a sickly sweet honey cake after about an hour and a half, the bug spray fading into a little undertone. This perfume lasts a while; I sprayed it at around 7:30 in the morning, and now it's almost 24:00, and it's still clung to my wrist. I don't know why I like this, I'll be honest. I'd pick up a small bottle of it if a 60ml wasn't like 300$. Definitely an experience.

Does smell pretty similar to the name - warm, spicy air mixed with dry, paper-esque smell and a comforting honey/amber/wood mix. There's a lot of evolution of the fragrance here, it changes quite a bit from application to dry down. I'm not too sure what a solar note would smell like, but I didn't get anything similar to 'sun'(??) or 'cake'. It's strong and has some good last to it. I wouldn't call this blind safe given the amount of evolution, but I would call it a nice arid kind of scent.

Starts off incredible, an ambery, smokey and slightly sweetened tobacco. I don't get any of the top notes if I'm honest, no cake, no honey, no sumac, at least not in discernible amounts. However, in a matter of minutes this changes to a strange hot plastic-like smell, before then settling down to a realistic burning incense scent somehow stripped of smoke and a bit of the tobacco from the opening.

A strong honey sweet spice scent that lasts all day. I like how it smells in abstract but I find that it smells so strong that it irritates my my nose, almost like smelling freshly ground spice up close. I wish it was a bit milder. Overall good scent but not for me.

a gently spiced honey cake nestled in a sand dune & baked by the desert sun

Toskovat' has been one of, if not the most popular new niche fragrance brands taking the internet by storm. Many Instagram fragrance pages have a Toskovat' fragrance featured in nearly every post, or every suggestion to a person asking for recommendations. While I think some of their fragrances are masterpieces with nearly unanimous agreement (ex. Ichigo Ichie, Age of Innocence), others fall into a strange category where reviewers write overly verbose descriptions of otherwise much more simplistic and straightforward fragrances - Desert Sermons, to me, falls into the latter category. It's sweet - very sweet - to the point where the dryness of a desert completely leaves the mind. Incense notes are present, but I was hoping for maybe some more complexity on this front in terms of maybe some dry herbaciousness, or otherworldly Spice notes other than the currently present frankincense, labdanum, vanillin, and benzoin, that could shift one's mind towards Arrakis, instead of a mall in Dubai. I'd like to see this fragrance evolve into a different reformulated direction, since many of David's other creations show his ability to conjure up his inspiration's imagery with an uncanny accuracy. Unfortunately, for me, this doesn't quite do the same. It's a good, competent, sweet, slightly spicy fragrance - but falls short of anything else, at least to me.

I love Toskovat, but I did not love this one as the others I’ve tried. There is an intense burnt rubber smell accompanying the sweeter bits of the fragrance that I can’t get past, maybe it’s the incense and sumac together? When it dries down I do get a vaguely sticky resinous air, the sumac becomes more clear later. It smells like a car accident in the blazing sun, metallic shards strewn about. Something neatly packaged and sweet in the wake of a mechanical misfire.

way too sweet, weird browned butter smell on the top that persists for longer than i was able to tolerate. sans that it would probably be nice, but as is i can't stand it.

Pure evil. The person that finds this an attractive scent is my mortal enemy.

Wow, this is amazing. I had to pay a LOT of money for this one because I’m not from the US, but it was totally worth it. It starts off very resinous from all the different types of resins. Smelling it up close in the opening is all about the resins. But catching it in the air? That’s a whole different story—and honestly, my preferred one. My favorite version (the one you smell in the air) is full of honey, amber, and maybe even myrrh—even if it’s not listed. As it dries down, you're left with this light, slightly resinous amber that’s really pleasant. I’m not the best at picking up notes, but I thought I’d share my experience with this one. Even after all the extra fees, it’s still worth it for me. Easily top 2 in my Toskovat collection.

What cake? You could write “elf sweat” on the label and people would believe that too. Strip away the marketing provocation and what you really get is chamomile with honey, a dry tobacco leaf, and a pleasant amber base. It moves in the general direction of Zoologist Camel, only less spicy and without the animalic edge. This fragrance feels perfectly at home in the Middle East, but on me, sadly, it doesn’t last. A pity, because I was expecting something with lethal power. On the other hand, at least there’s none of that screechy synthetic harshness — which is a major point in its favour.

This one smells amazing, i don’t like getting deep into the notes in General but in the beginning it’s like burnt resin that slowly turns into something sweeter exceptional scent, i do get cakeish honeyish vibes from it. There is tobacco as well but not that much. Overall i don’t it’s that hard to wear but in the beginning it might be a little bit hard for u. Just like every other Art-Fragrance u need to get along with it little by little and in the end u will be amazed how much it has grown on u !

HONEY!! Gag!! Soooo sweet and sticky smelling YEESH. Nauseatingly reminiscent of the honey flavored Robitussin to me. Makes me think of a new age aligned therapist’s office. To me, this scent is about 90% honey, 5% amber, and 5% incensey/spicy smells. I kept smelling it to see if I would like it better after a few hours of wear, but it was equally nasty each time. Do not try this if you are not into sweet scents (I def am not, but the reviews made me so curious that I couldn’t resist).

This one smells most definitely and more so than any other perfume of PAPER. I just wanted to note this, without going into discussion of other notes. It is a very interesting and unusual perfume, I really like it.

Is it just me or is there like a boozy note to this? Like whiskey or rum. Nonetheless it's great. It's sweet like honey, warm, sort of like a fireplace, and a touch of gourmand.

How are you supposed to get a full bottle in Europe?