Cèdre Sacré
Sentifique (2012)

A simplistic, sharp and mainstream cedarwood-driven concoction with boatloas of generic citruses and synth oudy aromachemicals floating all over the place.

Too little, too late. Meh.

I once received a souvenir from – I think – Morocco, it was a big heavy wood dice with an irresistible, sharp smell of raw cedar wood which lasted for years. This fragrance by Sentifique quite captures that smell, sadly drowning it into an unnecessary massive synthetic-smelling feel halfway pepper, plastic, rubber, wet grass and stale water. Try to imagine a bridge between traditional woody fougères and cheap Axe deodorants. Which I guess is how my nose decodes that oud note or accord, as indeed I do smell also something rubbery and “dark woody”. It's not a “fecal” scent or anything heavy, so don't think of other ouds; actually it's a really mild scent, but still I do get a stale feel which I really find just both out of place here, and plain off-putting. And I am not even sure whether if may due to oud, as actually it's more a “synthetic” stale feel, like in really (really!) cheap woody scents. It's not a “barn” note, rather some moldy plastic thing left rotting somewhere in the woods after a storm – that's the kind of “stale” I am talking about. This whole sort of bad-smelling cheap woody accord is negatively enhanced by citrus, which adds a pungent-astringent feel to it. Anyway, among all of this, if you inspire with attention you'll get a really beautiful, solid and realistic cedar note – one of the nicest I've ever smelled. Sharp, wild and aromatic. What a shame you've to dig for it. Feels like plunging your arm into a poorly-sanitized crapper to retrieve a gold ring. Not an entirely tragic fragrance after all, but surely kind of messy and to me, fairly cheap (especially on the drydown, which is definitely on the cheap “cloying woody deodorant” side).

5/10