Sangre De Drago
Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements

The first few minutes of Sangre de Drago briefly call to mind a Histoires de Parfums offering I can’t quite put my finger on - perhaps Ambre 114 or 1740 Marquis de Sade. Nice!

Unfortunately, this facet of the “aftershave/cologne” is short-lived, and for the rest of the wear, I find Sangre de Drago unremarkable. Dragon blood tree sap? Oud? Tobacco? I don’t think so.

PAA is known for using unique materials and distilling its own oils, which is perhaps evident in my sample: the dark liquid is full of “floaters”. Perhaps I got a bum sample, but from the notes and the color of the juice, I expected something dark and daring. What I get, however, is mostly a flat sandalwood fragrance after perhaps half an hour. I recognize the sandalwood used here from other PAA fragrances, and it just doesn’t do it for me. It smells a bit like any generic sandalwood oil one might pick up in a health food store, new age store, or headshop.

On clothes and hair Sangre de Drago lasts a solid 8 hours, but it doesn’t jump off my skin at all. Though the first 30 minutes smell great and the drydown is pleasant enough, I was disappointed with this one.

Original and captivating. It’s a dark, aromatic swashbuckling fragrance. It’s in the same vein as Clubman Special Reserve, but Drago is sweeter and brighter, with an earthy feel, instead of boozy.

When PAA gets it right they really get it right. I own the aftershave, and it’s quite satisfying after a wet shave.

I use this exclusively in fall and winter. Very rarely otherwise unless I just need to smell the awesomeness.

The scent is unlike anything I've smelled at fragrance counters. The use of resins here is fantastic and resins are the central notes instead of just being a small players in the arrangement. The Dragon's Blood resin (from unnamed South American Trees) smells slightly fruity, like a honeyed, aged fruit that isn't allowed to fully dry out, so it takes on a sap-like nature to the smell. Also seems to smell like the seed of a fruit was crushed and added to the resin of the fruit. There is an almost earthy tone to the resin as well. Labdanum and Benzoin resins also are blended into this concoction.

Then, along with the dense, deep-tone sweetness of the resins there are woods. Sandalwood and Oud. This helps add even more depth and it smells fantastic as a combo.

Among the more fascinating portions of their process of creating their aftershaves/cologne, they add hydrosols, which is water that contains wispy essences of fragrance oils. These add an intangible quality of sorts. The EDP doesn't contain these hydrosols, so IMO, their aftershave/cologne's are ever-so-slightly different than the more condensed EDP's they offer. There are some aftershave/colognes they make which I prefer the aftershave/cologne version I think due to these very tiny differences.

Either the aftershave/cologne or the EDP are excellent. Both last me most of the day. The aftershave cologne is like 6-8 hours and the EDP slightly longer lasting, up to 10-12 hours. It depends on how intense you want the scent to be. At times I only want the aftershave and at other times, like in colder weather, I want the EDP.

The best time of year for wearing (for me) is the Fall when it starts to cool. It gives off that vibe of over-ripe, aged plants that Fall seems to impart. Although this could easily be a year-round scent.

Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements seem to be very, very talented with resins. This isn't the only resin-based scent they make. They use resins heavily in fragrances such as Controversy, Solstice (love this one), and Copalli. The use of resins in many, many of their other original scents as smaller players is evident if one just searches their various offerings on their website.

Sangre de Drago is a winner. In my opinion, this fragrance is among their very best offerings. It's ultra-masculine and, although 'any' fragrance can be worn by any gender, Sangre de Drago just seems manly to me. Strong, earthy, natural. I won't call this fragrance "mature" because there are rugged, stubbled 20-something year old men who this fragrance would match very well. This is a 5 out of 5 star fragrance for me. I also think this could easily be someone's "Signature Scent".

It's got a very original character to it that is unlike any other scent you'll encounter in stores. This is definitely a niche that smells good. The value is insane on this one. I could easily imagine this style of scent getting "borrowed" by a high-end niche house and sold for hundreds. It's my opinion that, the brand Tom Ford would be most fitting in terms of who might release something like this.