Santal Basmati

A very finely blended and sumptuous sandalwood study. I just needed some time to really conclude my reviews of the house of Affinessence and found it hardest to review Santal Basmati. I am an enthusiast of sandalwood as I find it the most noble and benchmark woody note in my personal opinion implemented in perfumery. Perfect for my tastes in woody fragrances along with rosewood and palo santo. To me sandalwood is the perfect woody note and ever since acquiring Costume National Homme, to me a masterful sandalwood and a masterful designer perfume in general, I have been a fan of sandalwood and its behavior in fragrances. I am habitual in seeking the woody material particularly when I want to try new brands. Sandalwood is a very nuanced and complex ingredient intriguing in its profile because its rich organic facets can suggest many things other than wood, like milk, butter, mildew, human body odors, bread, oats, powder, soap, clay, stone, dust etc. Sandalwood can have so many personalities and has been in perfumery since the origins of precious oils, incenses and alchemy. Sandalwood is a hemiparasitic meaning it partially feeds from other host plants. Its roots possess tube-like structures designed to seek other flora and "steal" nutrients from their root systems. Sandalwood's origins begin in many places in the tropics like the peninsular regions of the Indian subcontinent, Malaysia and the Mekong Peninsula, the Regions of Southern and East Africa such as Zimbabwe, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, the Indonesian Archipelago and Australia and the Pacific Islands. Sandalwood has made its merry way via incense trade on the Silk Road to Arabs and Persians in the Middle East and Europeans through the trade hub of the Italian Peninsula and to the Chinese and Japanese in the north east establishing itself as a staple in precious incenses and essences in antiquity.

This is lovely. Quite soft for what I gravitate towards but I'd absolutely reach for this as an everyday fragrance. It's just so comforting and the creamy, slightly sweet scent just hugs you. It's perfect for the transitional seasons Spring and Fall when the air is not extremely dry/cold or heavily humid and hot. It's perfect for those "perfect weather" days where the sun is out, but there's a pretty and fresh breeze, and cooling evenings at the end of the day. I detect a sweetness that isn't necessarily gourmand, but it compliments the rice and as the scent develops, in comes a soft musk. It's like being snuggled up in a plush bath robe, with some softly scented candles around while you lay on a warm couch, your hair is still slightly damp and smells of rice from the products you put in it. Give this a try is what I'm saying ,you may love it.

Yesterday I was wearing Je ne sais quoi by Teo Cabanel and the rice note stood out to me a lot, I wanted to explore more fragrances with this note. Today I got my decant of Santal Basmati and, 20 minutes after spraying it I get no rice. I get an indistintc creamy sandalwood, sweet not dry (no pickles here even though I enjoy that kind of smell in my sandalwood too), a bit of patchouli and dusty iris. It reminds me of Santal Austral but way less obnoxious as it has the iris + sweet woods combo. I wanted this for the rice but oh well... will update if my opinion changes. This is totally my scent profile so I give it an 8 but as I said I wanted the savory aspect to stood out and that is not the case at all.

I have almost no experience with rice as a fragrance component. Kilian "Moonlight in Heaven" is the only one I can think of, and that's a very different scent than this. Basmati is kinda like carrot seeds and papyrus notes in adding an dry quality to the scent. I'm very much sold on papyrus. Carrot seeds I'm sort of indifferent to. Not sure how I feel about basmati other than at the Indian restaurant buffet. But I definitely like the sandalwood, iris, cashmeran and patchouli here. I'm not sure the rice is adding anything I can't do without, but it's not spooling the scent either, and it's a unique scent for sure, or at least not like any of the hundreds of scents I've experienced so far.

Did a little exploration of rice notes comparing Santal Basmati, Dirty Rice, and Moonlight in Heaven. Santal Basmati smells spot on like Basmati Rice in the best of ways. A tiny bit sweet, a little woody, very creamy. I think the sandalwood comes more to the forefront in the dry down. Sillage is more intimate on my skin. I think this is a like, but not a love for me. Im intrigued by the scent, but not sure if I actually want to smell of basmati IRL. Of the three perfumes I compared this one was the only one that smelled exactly like rice for what it’s worth. I think I’ll use the rest of my sample to try layering this one with another perfume so it doesn’t feel like straight up rice.