Skins x Vilhelm

Skins Cosmetics were kind enough to give me a sample of Skins x Vilhelm. They are quite proud of this one, being a collaboration with Vilhelm Parfumerie. On first wearing I am impressed; I like this one a lot. The three top notes (Bergamot, Black Tea and Juniper Berries), the Violet in the middle, and the Papyrus and Palo Santo at the base seem to dominate for most of the wear. It gives a crisp, cool, sharp, almost green feel to the scent. It is a decidedly masculine fragrance with excellent longevity - around 12 hours. What perplexes me is that the lady attending to me at Skins stated this is a Sandalwood dominated perfume. There isn't much, nor did I detect the depth and warmth that leather might've brought. I have no experience with Santal 33 Le Labo, but there is a fragrance produced by a company here in South Africa that gives off a similar scent profile but that has plenty of Sandalwood. In fact it is called Sandalwood Accord by Tread & Miller. The next time I wear Skins x Vilhelm I am going to layer it with Sandalwood Accord. Despite the above concerns Skins x Vilhelm does feel high end - you know you're wearing something unique and ritzy. Really not sure I want to spend $325 on a bottle though, as tempted as I am. Especially if I need to layer it with a fragrance 8 times cheaper to create what I think they meant to achieve. A third wearing is needed, and may help me decide on whether to invest in Skins x Vilhelm. Definitely one for the warmer months. I feel it will make one stand out from the crowd.

WOW I did not expect to be interested in this at all - just smelled it out of curiosity at Skins Cosmetics (a Dutch high-end niche perfume store)... but I truly adore this ! Admittedly it smells A LOT like Santal 33 by Le Labo, but the notes are more interesting to me in this one... I particularly like the combination of black tea, berries, violet, lavender, and palo santo!!! How interesting. Honestly I never go for this type of super woody unisex perfume but this truly is beautiful and unexpected... I would personally layer it with a simple rose perfume to make it feel more close to home. Something like Rose Magnetic from Essential Parfums. Overall very impressed !

I took it for a walk today and it's holding up really well for the first 3h. So far it's been pretty linear, I think it's the tea that gives it air because although it's strongly woody, it's not sticky, not too sweet (which I find tends to happen where there's a lot of warm wood). It's also not super smoky in the BTF kind of way, although papyrus is known to be smoky/smoky. Likewise the leather is a very thin, non-interloping, elegant one. A very nice surprise.

There is something deliciously creamy in this very woody scent. I know it is considered unisex but I gave it to my boyfriend and it is just smells DIVINE on him. His skin brings out the creamier notes my skin brings out the dryer more masculine notes so it is a no for me but it's my favorite fragrance on him.

Definitely getting Santal 33 straight off the bat, but I don't have my santal sample anymore to directly compare. All I'm getting is leather, with the sourness and sweetness that comes with it. Like chewing on a leather necklace lol. It's a nice smell but I'm not into it enough to justify that price. Even if Vilhelm is like 10% cheaper than Le Labo.