Bois de Santal
Keiko Mecheri (2000)

Interesting one. Opens a tad feminine, then gains quite some depth right off the bat.

It's a smell you kind of want to dig into, in my case it reminds me in a way of certain paints and lacquers that kind of have a nice aroma to them. Some of them are apparently scented with things like tolu so consumers don't get put off too much by their smell.

Anyway, Bois de Santal has a touch of that going on and at the same time has a definite purple feel to it. You know like Hypnôse and Alien for women for example.

It's not bad but it's not the sandalwood-ambergris bomb I was hoping for. Those notes are way in the background. It's mainly a deep, nice smelling osmanthus (has to be that note, maybe some tolu balm too that's not listed).

On a woman I would say this is quite nice.

As a fragrance for men: overall, it's a no go(!) but in certain situations I can see this working, namely formal ones that still allow for some creative input.

This is going to sound crazy. I blind bought a bottle bc of a suggestion that it was supposed to resemble Stella Rose Absolute. I smell no rose at all, but I do smell vintage Poison. I have no idea why I smell poison bc it seems as though they have no notes in common. I tried it on yesterday and got that vibe and again today. Not even sure how this is possible, but it makes me love this. Vintage poison was so great that I actually wish that they had stopped making it instead of the horrible reformulation that destroyed one of my favorite scents of all time.

Maybe it's just my skin or maybe my nose, but when I apply a fragrance with sandalwood that is about all I smell despite any other notes. That's part of why I love the simplicity of Keiko Mecheri's Bois de Santal, I don't feel like I'm missing out on other notes when there are so few in the first place. When sandalwood is all I smell from Al Oudh by L'Artisan, I feel much more disappointed. I prefer Mecheri's also because it is a bit softer, smoother. This scent lasts on me all day long, though with limited sillage.

Keiko Mecheri Bois de Santal

Notes: sandalwood of Mysore, white Chinese osmanthus, ambergris (from luckyscent.com)

With "bois" and "santal" in the title of Keiko Mecheri's Bois de Santal, I expected something somewhat woody. In reality, this scent develops so quickly, that the initial burst of lemony sandalwood is gone in a matter of seconds. Too bad, because the santal is of the Mysore variety, which is quite lovely. It sticks around a bit longer if sprayed on cloth/paper, but even in its extended lifespan, the santal is far too fleeting.

Soon after the top notes fade, BdS develops into a nondescript pink-vanilla-amber-musk base, ultimately settling into a one-dimensional ambroxan bottom note. I find BdS to be lacking in personality, but I suppose there is always a time and place for an inoffensive fragrance. For a better vanilla-woody composition that is fluffy and feminine and much more well defined, I recommend Kenzo Amour instead.

This is a soft floral over a faint sandalwood. The soft floral, osmanthus, always reminds me of tea fragrances. And there is the faint "perfumy" smell that I don't care for.

If ever there was a pleasant enough fragrance, this would be one. But just don't have your expectations too high, especially if you are looking for sandalwood. Wear it in summer, where the softness can be more appreciated.

The listed notes for Bois de Santal are sandalwood, osmanthus and ambergris. I think a more realistic name for this fragrance would be Bois de Osmanthus because the peachy fuzzy textured floral note of osmanthus is mostly what I smell in this fragrance. The sandalwood blends effortlessly with osmanthus as they both have parallel types of scent patterns with sandalwood adding a dry wooden aspect. Ambergris adds strength to the base and a little warmth and depth. This floral wooded perfume would probably work best for a woman as it is a little lightly tuned and a bit too gentle for my taste. A nicely blended and enjoyable to smell fragrance, but wearing it is not for me.