Copal Azur
Aedes de Venustas (2014)

According to AdV at the time Copal Azur was released, copal resin was an incense that was not found in perfumery. Native to Mesoamerica, I suppose this makes sense since perfumery was never really a major part of that world but the burning of incense certainly was. AdV and Duchafour sought to finally capture it in a perfume. Did they succeed? I honestly have no idea. I've never smelled copal before.

What I can smell is a resinous and green combination of myrrh and olibanum. Tossed into the top of the perfume are some calones to give an ozonic, salty, sea water type effect - which is odd for an incense perfume, so perhaps we are to assume that copal has a natural watery and salty facet to it. There seems to be some spice, perhaps cardamom according to the brand, and some earthy notes playing very, very quietly in the background but they are quite meek and imperceptible to what is being presented as entirely incense. The final skin scent is a near invisible balsam and tonka amber base, flecked with - you guessed it - incense.

This is going to be a very brief review, dear reader; I have three final points to make. The first is, is the incense any good? The incense accord is lovely. If you love incense, you're going to love this incense note. The second is, is the perfume itself any good? In a word, no. It's boring as hell. Incense, incense, and incense, and very little else besides. If you want and love a completely linear incense perfume that does nothing else, this is for you. I don't want nor love that, so it's a "no" from me. The third is... well... how to do I ask this.... I suppose the question I'm reaching for is: what is the point of it? Copal Azur is now more than 10 years old and was composed by one of our great perfumers. There might have been a point in the perfume's past, unbeknownst to me, where this was actually much better than the formulation I'm wearing today. As of today, for what it smells like, what it does, and how it performs, for an EdP commanding its high price tag, you'd have to be bonkers to buy it. It's boring, it doesn't do much of anything, it doesn't say anything new, and its longevity is absurdly poor. AdV, as my new bottles of Signature and Iris Nazarena confirm, used to be much better; I have a feeling Copal Azur is what it is today because, just like my new bottles of Signature and Iris Nazarena, it was made insipid and wan to improve the business's bottom line. This is purely conjecture on my part, but I have ample evidence and experience with AdV over the years, and with several other AdV perfumes, to hazard that I am making a very educated presumption. To answer my own question then, what is the point of Copal Azur? As of today, it doesn't seem to have a point; in fact, it seems to be solidly pointless. Moving on, then....

Some incense fragrances are bitter, or sour, which can lend a sort of sophistication. They can smell exotic, or old fashioned.

Copal Azur isn't like that for me. It combines a wonderful copal resin scent with the ozonic salty notes described above. This is where the 'blue' comes from. I normally dislike this note, but it works here, combining with the incense to create a very modern, wearable, but ethereal experience.

The spices are there, adding a bit of warmth, but I find they aren't overly sticky when it dries down. I like that a lot. I find some fragrances end up just being a warm spice sticking to me, and I hate that. I find this one dries down really nicely; the ozone and salt are less prominent, but the sweeter amber and incense notes persist, with a little bitterness and sophistication thrown in.

This is a great concept, in my opinion. It smells very modern to me, yet it also reminds me of a place of worship. It is unlikely to offend, but it also gives you some nice complexity.

I'm new to fragrance, but with my first 20 or so samples, this was a stand-out. Definitely recommend trying it.

Price is high, but performance is good, and the composition is unusual.

I adore this perfume. It's one of the best incense perfumes that I know of. Luminous, bright opening with very crisp and clean incense! Good stuff!

Fire at Night by Francisco Goya 1794

First is a blast of Vick's Vapo-Rub. It then soften's into a quite beautiful incense symphony. More complex than my other incense faves " Cardinal" and "Bois d'Encens". A touch of patchouli interweaves and a most remarkably true camphorous Cardamom dances center stage and then stands back to a canvas of softened Myrrh and Blue Orchid. A dryness that brushes with LADDM.
It is here where it shares a moments exploration similar to Chanel's No. 18.
The "Ozonic" for me emerges later. It strikes me as masterful in composition and very wearable.
If you listen carefully, you can recognize the same structure in Oud Shamash. Bertrand Duchaufour

Wishlist definitely!!!

It smells like a bathroom cleaner, but a really good one. This is an incense fragrance that opens with a bang – a “blue” flame kind of effect carved from a snappy combo of aldehydes that gives it a feel not too far removed from one of those “blue” CdGs. From start to finish, it's clean – like OCD clean – which seems odd against incense, but it does work somehow. What bothers me about it, though, is the slight herbal tinge that seems sage-like – a note that I'm jut not a fan of. Even though I don't think this is something I'd wear by choice, I am impressed by how daring the approach is. I must admit, though, that it's a very poor performer; all the good parts are gone within 20 minutes, and what's left an insipid shadow of what came prior. If I were to sum it up in a just few words, I'd say it smells like someone just mopped the floor of a church with some top-shelf bleach.