Since I first smelled Palo santo as a material I've been fascinated by it. Smells like the kind of thing that would be poisonous to humans, strangely enticing but deadly. My perception of the smell is creamier and more opulent than even the finest 80 year aged Mysore sandalwood, thick, lactonic, with lovely woody nuances. Sounds great right? However, it's SOOOO creamy it amkes you dizzyingly billious. What makes matters worse, is that weived into that is a latex rubber note and of all things mint. yeah mint. so it's mega sandalwood with milk and cookies and melted rubber gloves and then unsettling mintiness. It's fucked up frankly. I NEVER thought that anyone could tame it or use it as the focal point for a perfume and if they did they would have to negate some of the those odder facets and perhaps tame it into a great material because it has more than the potential to be something amazing or create useful effects. Up steps legendary master perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour a perfumer I associate with an eclectic commercial style but also somewhat stark, modernism as well, so it's interesting that he's doing this all natural perfume and surely NOW is the time for a great Palo Santo perfume and my wait is over yeah? NO! NO! it's not! I'm still waiting!!!! Petite Fumee is an olfactory nightmare. No that's a bit dramatic, it's a creepy smell, a really odd perfume. It has the sense in the top notes of a kind of implosion, you know something is lurking deep and heavy molecularly speaking, exactly like sandalwood perfumes do. I mean the sense of a kind of natural, hipster santal 33 only different, maybe rosewood, linalool, cuucmber, spunk? Papyrus? but minus any spicy sharpness or edge. Then the Palo santo starts to really come on, like Hunter S Thompson said '... good mescaline it takes time...' to take effect, but it creeps and crawls until it turns you into a raving madman. The only thing I can say is that Duchaufour has succeeded in taming the oil to a degree, it's much less rubbery and the composition sort of compliments the material, but it STILL manages to permeate and dominate everything else in here. It's an absolute creepshow. Strnagely though, I can't stop sniffing myself when wearing it, it's like rubbernecking an RTA, you know you shouldn't but you feel compelled to do so. I just can't hack this perfume but god love you if you can wear it, I doubt other people will thank you, unless they are oddballs too. Worth a sniff if you've never smelled Palo santo or you like briny, weird cucumber and cream cheese notes. I'm steering well clear though.