Copalli
Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements (2019)

Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements has created a nice little fragrance in Copalli. It opens with a woody-resinous accord sweetened just a little with an almost-brown-sugar-like note in the background. Here, it’s almost musty smelling, but not quite.

I’ve no idea what copal wood smells like, but as Copalli dries down, it smells to me like something between cedar and iris, with a touch of lightly sweetened chocolate. At this point, there isn’t much further development. It’s mostly dry and a bit resinous from here on out, though that “mustiness” never quite goes away.

Even though Copalli isn’t anything that will make you go “wow”, I don’t feel like it’s missing anything. It would be an excellent option for a Sunday morning church service. It’s a very comfortable, even cozy kind of fragrance.

Longevity is pretty good (I get around 6 hours), but projection is very light throughout. This is my biggest gripe; if there was a bit more oomph Copalli would make an excellent everyday option for cooler weather. PAA does call it “ethereal”, so I think the effect is intentional. That said, my wife commented favorably after leaning in for a kiss when I got home from work, and my shirt smelled slightly soapy the next day, so perhaps I get a bit noseblind to it.

Overall, I like Copalli, but it’s very much in “this is fancy aftershave” territory. I’ve gone through two full samples and decided it’s not full-bottle-worthy for me. At just $26/100ml, you could splash it on with abandon, but I just don’t see how it would compete with other fragrances in my collection.

Neutral.