Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier Santal Noble Eau de Parfum is a love letter to sandalwood, rich and smooth, a little musky and sweet. It opens with mix of spices (predominantly cumin on me) with smoky incense and a sense of nuttiness. The patchouli is subtle throughout, adding an element of earthiness but otherwise combines with the other notes and doesn’t stand out to me.
The first few hours are mostly marked by cumin, incense, and sandalwood with the spices leading the composition. As the perfume gets towards its drydown, the sandalwood comes through and the spices recede into the background, leaving behind a smooth, almost creamy sandalwood with incredible depth.
The notes are listed as:
- top notes: coffee, spices, incense
- heart notes: sandalwood, patchouli, vanilla, vetiver
- base notes: castoreum, ambergris, oakmoss
Scent Development
It opened with spiced incense over a bed of warm, smoky sandalwood and dark, slightly dirty, patchouli. There were hints of spiced wood but it was focused more on savory spices–to me, cumin, possibly cardamom, and pepper. A roasted, nutty note came through, which I suspect was the coffee, but it was less “coffee” and quite a bit nuttier in aroma. At brief moments, there was a wisp of saltiness in the air but so fleeting that it felt imagined.
Santal Noble didn’t have a lot of shifts between the opening and the drydown, as savory spices–heavy on cumin–continued to dominate with smooth sandalwood, a hint of ambergris, and a smoky earthiness was an undercurrent. At the fourth hour, the amber became more noticeable; spiced, resinous, and a little woody with sandalwood and touches of vanilla sweetness–the savory spices were less intense at this point, too.
Application
For testing, I used 1/3 of a 0.7ml sample vial dabbed to the underside and topside of my wrist area . I used an unscented moisturizer prior to applying the scent as I found scent did not hold well here otherwise.
I purchased my sample in January 2022; fragrances are known to be reformulated over their lifetime , so be mindful of when a review was made, e.g. a review from 2010 may not reflect what the same-named perfume smells like in 2022.
Longevity
It lasted for six hours until it was a skin-scent and about 12 hours before it was harder to detect on my skin. It had moderate sillage and projection with the sillage getting closer to my body after two hours, and the projection closer to my wrist after three hours.
Personal Thoughts
It reminded me of a softer, slightly muskier version of Profumum Santalum, and I think I might prefer the heightened sense of sandalwood in Santalum overall, but this is a beautiful scent and I’m glad I bought the travel-sized spray. My husband has been using it to scent his sheets before bed!
Available Sizes
- 120ml for $195
- 0.7ml sample for $4
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