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smertlove – :
It took me a while to get around to this one but I made it. And I love it! It’s very fresh and can easily be worn in any season. It doesn’t remind me of anything I’ve smelled so far. Definitely full bottle worthy.
SPILLERHIM – :
The second fragrance from this line that I am going to review is Santal Woods. Sadly there are no reviews of this fragrance on Fragrantica despite being released in 2013 which is 4 years ago.
The first time that I wore Santal Woods I was disappointed. But the second time, I liked it better. And then the third time, I started to think hey this is worth the money … at least I will get value out of the purchase. And then I kept wearing it and liked it more and more and more.
Like the other Note fragrances Ive worn or tried Sillage is moderate but with this one, I get better performance. I expect niche fragrances to give me maybe 10 hours and this one gets there and perhaps then some. I could say it goes beyond 10 but lets be conservative and stick with 10. Its what I expect and its what the fragrance delivers.
Pricing like with other Note fragrances is average. I expect Designer to live under $30 an ounce and Niche under $50. This one comes in right at $37 and hits that sweet spot of what you expect to get in the Niche / Indy world.
So lets talk about the smell. A lot of times in the fragrance world by the time we travel from Designer to Niche weve smelled or even bought 100s of fragrances or samples. We are used to the pleasant little Designers and we reach a point where the ones that stand out are big or bold or loud or different or unique. We start reaching for the Avante Garde rather than the tasteful.
Like many, I love and adore Woodcut by Ellen Covey. Its won awards and I understand it. Its a fabulous scent. But most of the time, I dont really want to smell like sawdust. Even though its a great scent worthy of magnificent applause, I dont often “wear” it. And when I do its usually a home alone day.
Outside of Dame perfumery, Note fragrances are just about the most wearable Niche scents that I own. Id easily put Dumont in the discussion but those are sweet vanillas which I personally love but can be feminine with all the vanilla. Note is becoming a favorite house of mine because I know that I will use what I buy. And thats not true of all that I own. I want to buy fragrances to wear and not to look at.
In many respects this is much like Dunhill Pursuit even though they smell differently in just how wearable its is. Note Santal Woods was designed to be worn. Not collected but actually worn. And the more I wore it the more I appreciated just how good it really is. I love Pursuit but its been discontinued and this one seems to have stepped into that void nicely.
It seems that Fleming brands herself as Note in a tongue in cheek way and builds each fragrance in her line around a a fragrance note. But these are blended fragrances and not big single hero type notes with a supporting cast in the background. With Santal Woods, I dont feel that Im walking through a forest or have a pine Christmas tree type of feel. Sure the woods are there and also the green notes but it also has citrus and spice and mint and lavender to give you an overall complex feel to the fragrance rather than a bully note that stands as king of the hill and dares his friends to knock him off it so you notice them also. The notes in this fragrance are social in their interactions with each other. And Id say its golf club refined clapping rather than the roar of a crowd at a football game.
Like with Midnight Leather you arent going to get a dominate note. But you do get a blend that dances around and adds to the ball.
If I had to pick one word for Midnight Leather it would be sensible and for this one it would be wearable.
Overall, Im going to grade this one out at 85 which is almost a rock solid B and certainly above average. The scent and smell is good and certainly above average. Sillage is polite and you can wear it to work or church or all those places where people dont want you to scream scent at them. But it still would hold its own in a date or special occasion situation. Value and bang for the buck is respectable and performance might even be a tick above average.
The questions I often ask myself when I actually grade fragrances are these. Do I wear it a lot and for me the answer to Santal Woods is yes. When Im not wearing it do I ever think that I would rather have chosen this one. And again, the answer for this one is yes. There have been times I chose to pull another but would rather I had pulled Santal Woods. Is the bottle being used and drawn down and am I getting value from wears and again this one checks the box. If I enjoy wearing a fragrance, want to wear it more than I do, and indeed am wearing it often enough that Im using up the juice at a fair clip then I say the fragrance is a success.
Again, the joy of this fragrance is just how wearable it is. Its not one that I just own … Its one I pull and pull often. I will probably retire it for spring and summer but I know that I could easily wear it year round if I wanted. I can wear it formal or casual or day or night and I can wear it around people that dont like fragrances and complain about some of my other more Avant Garde fragrances. Ive never had a single complaint with Santal Woods and people seem to enjoy it. And I enjoy it as well. Its not my favorite but I like it a lot.
Santal Woods almost goes into the category of being a dumb reach. You can pull it and pull it at almost any time of the year and for any occasion and it just works.
Danielle Fleming seems to specialize in making fragrances that are meant to be worn. And I appreciate this so very much about her and her artistry. So many of us here at Fragrantica have built our collections up to include so many fragrances that we just dont even wear. Sometimes, I think I could go a year just wearing my samples. I used to buy them each month from Olfactif and other services and now I have hundreds of them that might never get used. I love my samples and they sure are useful for when I travel. But reader, you know what I mean and get the picture.
I get tired of buying fragrances and Im as guilty as any where I smell it and am like thats great. And then after a couple of weeks the new wears off and I cant think of an occasion where it fits. Again, I will pick on Woodcut a bit. Its great. I mean that scent if truly fabulous and if you asked me which one I like better then Id pick Woodcut every time. But you know what, if Im not at a Lumberjack convention or going to the lumberyard or watching log rolling, I cant imagine when Id really want to wear it. Its sawdust .. pure lovely sawdust. But when I want to go to the grocery store or the opera I want to smell like Santal Woods and not Sawdust. And in that respect Santal Woods kicks some butt. It may not be the most noticeable fragrance in the world but it gets top tier grades for getting the job done and being one that you might actually use.
Santal Woods is a fragrance that I wear a lot, want to wear more than I do, and am sure will end up with a bottle drained and emptied even amidst an oversized collection of fragrances that sometimes dont get worn enough.
Its likable. Its wearable. And in my opinion that makes a noteworthy fragrance that in my opinion does what I want and need it to do and that I enjoy and that I wear.