Armani Privé Bois d'Encens
Giorgio Armani (2004)

A minimalistic, airy, and remarkably boring concoction of frankincense over a polished cedar or Iso E Super base. Despite critics and bloggers writing a paeon of praise to this bellwether of bellwethers of the incense genre, I was never able to ‘get’ its supposed complexity. To my nose, it is a micro explosion of black pepper and frankincense e/o inside a very small (but perfectly chic) black vase. Though perfectly formed – well, everyone keeps saying it is anyway – it is too featureless to leave much of an impression on me.

This has been reformulated, or something. I tried this years ago and adored it but couldn't afford it. that soft, incense-y woody comfort scent was just so lovely. I recently resampled this from a new bottle and it's loaded with that cheap aroma chemical that Armani has started to put in absolutely everything. I think it is a synthetic commonly used these days to boost wood notes, but I refer to it as Screamwood, as it is a screaming rubbing alcohol note that burns my nose and overpowers every other note in there. Look for the older bottles.

This fragrance features frankincense and woods, making it one of the best from the Prive Line, and possibly worth the money if you're a big fan of frankincense. Luca Turin gives it a four-star rating, but describes it as "incense animalic." While I do get the incense note, I don't find it to be animalic. It's wearable and slightly cozy, thanks to the sweetness from the labdanum. It's not a boozy or densely sweet scent, as it doesn't lean in that direction.

The Prive Line may be hard to find, but it should be available at retailers like Holts, Saks, or Nordstrom. It's definitely worth trying a sample.

Great incense scent, with a vetiver/pepper twist.
Probably one of the best, maybe even the best (in terms of scent).
Unfortunately it has poor performance, unacceptable at that price point, thus a neutral rating.

Armani Prive Bois d'Encens is yet another solid offering in the Prive line, understandably a staple in the line since its 2004 inception as it offers a bold, mostly-wintery, mostly-masculine contribution to the line that seems otherwise slightly lacking in the current line-up.

It's extremely spicy at its onset with lots of pepper and woods, and then almost immediately begins to calm down to be only very spicy, but still quite spicy and woody, as a resinous, semi-sweet base starts to unfold. It feels like the sweet rather than the animalic side of resins, though, nothing too untamed, the pepper perhaps being the wildest aspect of the whole risk.

The result is a masculine winter fragrance that's elegant for formal and nighttime wear but still has the air of being a men's anytime signature scent for cold weather, especially.

Performance is solid, well above average on projection and great on longevity.

I definitely recommend trying this out. I waited far too long to try my sample.

8 out of 10

Initially green, dry, unsweetly resinous, like a cracked branch of cypress. For me this makes it much more wearable than Heeley's Cardinal, vividly close as I find that one to neat frankincense smoke.
Unfortunately have to agree with others about the low mileage from this, especially for something as inherently tenacious as frankincense.
Thumbs up while it lasts.