Immensely realistic incense.
Italian church incense. A cooling incense. Not cold, but cool.
A mild cedar base.
Not very long lasting, but amazing while it lasts. So good, that I don’t mind the mediocre longevity.
Magical fragrance! Yet again the Armani Prive collection has delivered a wonderful fragrance of the highest order. Sharp Labdanum opening into Frankincense, dry peppery spice and dense luscious woods, I get from this fragrance. It's a mystical incense scent of superb quality and has a unique feel with it too. Took me a couple of tries to write a review but that's no reflection on the impact Bois d'Encens made on me because it was immediate. If you love incense, and precious resins without an overly smokey vibe this is definitely for you. Longevity is a little bit of a let down and that is probably the only minor criticism I have of these Armani fragrances. The only one that has great lasting power for me is Myrrhe Imperiale, followed by Oud Royale.
Armani Privé Bois d'Encens: A peppery craggle of stones where incense once burned or might burn yet, vetiver roots drinking the ghost of unburnt smoke, cedar planks weathered by ceremonies that left no ash, flint poised, tinder arranged, the space between intention and flame where autumn's last bitter breath meets winter's sterile promise, austere echoes creaking through lofty spaces that know neither warmth nor chill, dusty light filtered through vacant windows, fresh in the way that morning air tastes sharp and sour before the sun softens its edges, the potential for incense hovering like a prayer never spoken aloud.
Though at first glance, it might not be immediately apparent, but Todd Hido's photography comes to mind when I smell this - an atmosphere of ordinary spaces shedding their daytime purpose to become threshold places, a pause in time between being and non-being, a thing neither fully present nor absent.