Reviews of Sacred Wood by By Kilian
I suggest you only buy it for educational purpose: it's bitter sandalwood, and you'll never forget what sandalwood smell like after this. The smell itself is not unpleasant ...but that's all there is.
Even if I bathe in it, it still wouldn't have much project. So anyone looking for a subtle, keep-it-to-yourself smell...well, don't buy this, try Nassomatto.
Even if I bathe in it, it still wouldn't have much project. So anyone looking for a subtle, keep-it-to-yourself smell...well, don't buy this, try Nassomatto.
Not sure where all the "cloying" comments are coming from. I'd call it "cool" not sweet. Cedar and Sandalwood combine to make a sharp green accord. There is a musty undertone that makes this a fuller fragrance, not musty in a bad way.
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A sweet, smooth cedar/sandalwood mixture that is pleasant to smell all day.
Has a warmth to it so seems better suited for colder days. It's also big on projection and longevity, so too much heat might prove to bring out some cloying aspects. That said, I enjoyed it on an 80 degree day and it smelled great throughout.
Has a warmth to it so seems better suited for colder days. It's also big on projection and longevity, so too much heat might prove to bring out some cloying aspects. That said, I enjoyed it on an 80 degree day and it smelled great throughout.
Like others of the fragrances of by Kilian, Sacred Wood seems to be an exercise in creating almost painful beauty. Sacred Wood is beautiful. It is as good a sandalwood presentation as I've experienced in the years since true mysore sandalwood has become unavailable. It feels like sandalwood even if it doesn't exactly smell like the sandalwood of yesteryear.. This sandalwood scent is accented by a a delicious carrot note, some elemi, and a restrained cedar. Oddly enough I don't smell the cumin. I don't really get the steaming milk accord, although it is probably that which provides the opening's smoothness and the eerie / airy / resinous ambiance of the fragrance's first several minutes. Sacred Wood is short lived as a sillage producer, but holds beautifully as an ethereal skin scent. Painfully beautiful while it lasts.
A nice sandalwood. It's the Australian kind that smells sort of green and coconutty, as opposed to the Indian kind that smells like butter and sawdust. It reminds me of Le Labo's Santal 33, but sort of milky and with a sappy quality that brings to mind the smell of breaking open an aloe leaf to release its liquid. I also smell a hint of tuberose - not enough that it should scare anyone away, but just a little, working with the lactic notes to give a subtle milky femininity to what would otherwise be vaguely masculine.
All in all, I prefer my sandalwoods rough, as opposed to this milky and pretty, but Sacred Wood is still quite nice. Thumbs up.
All in all, I prefer my sandalwoods rough, as opposed to this milky and pretty, but Sacred Wood is still quite nice. Thumbs up.
Having grown up in a home where sandalwood chips were burned every evening as a ritual marker between the hours of daylight and those of night, I was pleased to find the scent of the wood truly represented here. Perhaps its profile is less mild and creamy than the sandalwood oils found in attars of old but it does the dry, sharp (almost tangy) but breath-catching fragrant aura of the woodchips well. What I most appreciate about Sacred Wood is its evocation of just split wood the resinous dryness of it, the earthy sweetness (plant blood!), the suggestion of furniture and sawdust. I'll happily wear any perfume that brings those things to mind. The mild shadings of incense and elemi in the background serve to highlight the star.
I don't find the milky tones particularly evident, instead what I do get is something that registers like a mix between camphor and Vicks Vaporub around the edges. The only duff note in this otherwise starkly appealing creation, it does however vanish after a short while. It leaves behind pure mature sandalwood the sweet rounded scent found in Indian emporia all the just-cut or splintered wood tones also having disappeared.
I don't find the milky tones particularly evident, instead what I do get is something that registers like a mix between camphor and Vicks Vaporub around the edges. The only duff note in this otherwise starkly appealing creation, it does however vanish after a short while. It leaves behind pure mature sandalwood the sweet rounded scent found in Indian emporia all the just-cut or splintered wood tones also having disappeared.
My favourite from By Kilian's Asian Tales range - an understated and under-appreciated quality milky sandalwood. It is in the same ball park as Wonderwood / Wonderoud / Hinoki by CdG, but Sacred Wood is definitely more refined, complex and rounded.
I get very good longevity with Sacred Wood and it projects moderately. Whenever i wear it I feel calm and relaxed (as opposed to Dries Van Norten par Federic Malle which is a sandalwood on another realm which stimulates instead of calms, and which is perfect for evoking an altogether different mood/ atmosphere).
I get very good longevity with Sacred Wood and it projects moderately. Whenever i wear it I feel calm and relaxed (as opposed to Dries Van Norten par Federic Malle which is a sandalwood on another realm which stimulates instead of calms, and which is perfect for evoking an altogether different mood/ atmosphere).
Killian - Sacred Wood
Not so much with a lot of sandalwood - more about sandalwood; it sort of reconstructs the feel of it with other materials then just sandalwood until it starts to shine more by itself. Calice Becker somehow manages to dress the sandalwood up by accentuating the specific notes that sandalwood wears on its own. Its peppery lemon-like top, musty old dust-like aspects, a sort of fruitpulpy waxy-fleshness, urinic blank wood, citronella/camphor-notes, raw edged woodchip-flavor, cool-minty undertones and a creamy oiliness. I guess Iso E Super plays a mayor role in this composition as well, to give it a airy and transparent feel. Sacred Wood makes me think of freshly crushed coriander-seeds, wet cedarwood, dusty waxed church-floors and the coolness a church radiates, old library-books, menthol-mints and a combination of black and green tea. It gets a more rounder and sweeter tone towards its dryout and some warm, light resinous-incense and salty undertones.
All this time that I'm smelling Sacred Wood, instead of sandalwood, it reminds me more of nagamotha - I miss that sexy and round, creamy lushness that sandalwood can have; in here it smells more like a sweet bitter almond note. Its a good composition, but it somehow lacks depth, juice and a lively 'sparkle'... it smells too well-behaved, too sterile - like a hospital corridor or the workplace of a chemical lab, where Sacred Wood was brought to life.
Not so much with a lot of sandalwood - more about sandalwood; it sort of reconstructs the feel of it with other materials then just sandalwood until it starts to shine more by itself. Calice Becker somehow manages to dress the sandalwood up by accentuating the specific notes that sandalwood wears on its own. Its peppery lemon-like top, musty old dust-like aspects, a sort of fruitpulpy waxy-fleshness, urinic blank wood, citronella/camphor-notes, raw edged woodchip-flavor, cool-minty undertones and a creamy oiliness. I guess Iso E Super plays a mayor role in this composition as well, to give it a airy and transparent feel. Sacred Wood makes me think of freshly crushed coriander-seeds, wet cedarwood, dusty waxed church-floors and the coolness a church radiates, old library-books, menthol-mints and a combination of black and green tea. It gets a more rounder and sweeter tone towards its dryout and some warm, light resinous-incense and salty undertones.
All this time that I'm smelling Sacred Wood, instead of sandalwood, it reminds me more of nagamotha - I miss that sexy and round, creamy lushness that sandalwood can have; in here it smells more like a sweet bitter almond note. Its a good composition, but it somehow lacks depth, juice and a lively 'sparkle'... it smells too well-behaved, too sterile - like a hospital corridor or the workplace of a chemical lab, where Sacred Wood was brought to life.
I received a ml sample of Sacred Wood in the mail from By Kilian. From the moment of application on this one is all about sandalwood. The Cedar in the top notes gives this fragrance a vibe that keeps me thinking of Mugler Cologne with a sandalwood edge. In fact I get the same slight "headachy" feeling that Mugler gives me sometimes in the beginning (Iso E Super?). The transition into the heart notes features less sharpness and more of a creaminess to the sandalwood. My assumption is that the Elemi, Incense and Milk notes account for this. From the heart thru the drydown the this fragrance becomes richer/ creamier and closer to the skin. Projection is low but I could still faintly smell it on my skin this morning after applying it yesterday evening. This is my first experience with a fragrance from the House of Kilian. I like it and think that it due to it's low projection it's versatile enough for daily use. Put it on a little heavier and it is a good date night scent. This fragrance is truly Unisex and can be worn by men or women. I have sampled Tam Dao and like it. While I find some early similarities, I like Sacred Wood better in it's evolution. Not a bad fragrance and one I may consider buying in the future. I was not as impressed with Kilian's co-release "Imperial Tea" primarily due to my not liking tea scents so much, however Sacred Wood has my "Thumbs Up".