Incense
Ava Luxe

While the incense isn't as potent as some may wish, I give it a thumbs-up: it's what I wanted from CDG Incense Avignon but didn't get. That frag I found unhappily, severely literal; this one is much more restrained about its frankincense, which it allows to develop gradually through layers of cedarwood, leather, bergamot, and chamomile. The overall impression, for me, is warmly resinous -- serene rather than severe. If it has any deficit, it's the oddly Estee-Lauderish quality that I am finding common to Ava Luxe frags -- the warm amber at the end of the day seems to me just slightly too fuzzy. Still: some incense make me contemplate my mortality, while this one makes me smile. I like it.

The description from the web site: "The fragrance starts with a gentle and fresh burst of bergamot and Roman chamomile then gently opens up into a warm soft cloud of frankincense, myrrh and copal incense. The scent lingers on the skin as a wearable incense and dries down to a very soft exotic woodiness."

Those first few notes rushed past me in a flash. Now I'm in the incense. It's a kind of woodsy, soapy, incense. It's as vibrant as brown linoleum. It just doesn't trigger anything of interest for me.

Notes: bergamot, Roman chamomile, elemi, frankincense, copal, myrrh, labdanum, katafray, Tamil Nadu sandalwood, cedar, Tibetan musk, Peruvian balsam.I think the name “Incense” is not quite accurate. I'd call this “old money”. This scent gives me the impression of a well-heeled gentlemen's club; with leather chairs, paneled walls, brandy and cedars. If there is any incense burning it is in the distant background.The scent begins with a fleeting vanilla note… this will return as the ambery dry-down much later. Then appears a very dark, earthy and smoky note. It is powerful, rich, not too sweet at this point. As a counterpoint to that, I detect hints of dry resinous notes which are the incense. The sandalwood becomes pungent and aromatic. Finally, the dry-down after several hours is less appealing to me, by now it is a fairly sweet and buttery amber.So I find some things to appreciate here, but I wish for more incense, particularly of the dry variety.