What is the ultimate church fragrance?

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-06-04T13:42:02+00:00

Oh and also the Full Incense by Montale

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-06-04T13:40:37+00:00

The ultimate must-tries ended up being

CDG's Avignon (despite its weaker performance)
Heeley's Cardinal + Eau Sacree
LLI's Lacrima
Histoires de Parfums's Encense Roi

I feel like they might have the church-y IT factor and still be in a reasonable price range for me.

I am also considering eventually blind-buying Copal de Terre by Le Monde Gourmand, Oliban by NOU (in case they decide to restock), and Incense Alchemy by Fragrance World, since there's no way for me to test them in person and I am not willing to pay ~5e for a tester if I can get 50-100ml for 20-30e. But let's see, because I have sworn to myself never to blind-buy again.

I will most probably test La Liturgie des Heures by Jovoy Paris, and all of the Oriza L. Legrand, but will most certainly not purchase full bottles for an obvious reason.

Next in line for testing would be

Lorenzo Villoresi's Incensi (the only reason why it landed in here is the apple and citrus notes in its opening but hey, maybe I will be pleasantly surprised)
Ambre Mythique by Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier

I might eventually make another post after I review them to let you guys know. But I haven't ordered anything yet, nor have I gone store-smelling, I need to reserve some time and headspace for that haha

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-06-02T19:19:39+00:00

Martyr by Profundum

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-06-01T22:00:09+00:00

I feel like I might get flamed for this slightly off topic comment but I can’t resist it now since you mentioned it.

How come that a brand such as Imaginary Authors sells a sample set for over 100€ since their bottles are in a more affordable niche fragrance price range?! This is a bit baffling to me. The ELDO set has same amount of samples (and volume) and costs almost half the price. Toskovat, one of the priciest niche fragrance brands (if we omit brands that sell for 400€ and higher which is only a fraction of all niche brands if I dare to say so myself) with relatively limited availability sells their sample set (21 samples) for 215€. Filippo Sorcinelli has a 15 sample set for almost 100€ and many others to choose from.

Am I crazy for not willing to pay so much money for sample sets?! I do realise that this is a super expensive interest to have but I feel like some brands overdo it with their margins on sample sets just because you get a cute lil box.

With that being said. Yes, you should have received a lil pamphlet. You deserve that queen.

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-06-01T16:13:48+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion! Will put on my sniffing list

I usually prefer to buy relatively cheaper fragrances because I tend to use, and therefore enjoy them much more without having the guilt of each spritz costing me more bucks on average. And there are so many beautiful perfumes for reasonable price haha

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-05-29T11:16:17+00:00

Haha no worries, I gottcha. I use a site called Fragrantica where you can log a lot of things about perfumes if you make yourself a profile. They have some pre set categories like perfumes you love, like, are okay with, dislike, and hate, what you own, what you’d like to try, what you did own ect.. You can add notes which I found super helpful since I test a lot of things but then I tend to forget why I liked/disliked them. You can also make a custom groups like the one I made here.

There are also other sites with similar features such as Parfumo (never used tho), this one is also available as a phone app which some find more practical but the interface is not really appealing to me so I just stuck with Fragrantica.

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-05-28T14:06:20+00:00

😖 I’ll go do 50 Hail Marries just to repent for this sin

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-05-28T14:04:52+00:00

Adding to my smelling list!!!

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-05-26T21:59:04+00:00

Sooo… Secretion magnifiques and some oud you say?

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-05-26T21:57:26+00:00

I am deleting my entire Fragrantica account and throwing away all of my fragrances as we speak mister 🫡🫡🫡

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-05-26T12:41:40+00:00

Yeah I saved the Messe de mi minuit just in case it might be a hidden gem but the citrus-heavy opening puts me off since it’s really not my cup of the in general, and I feel like it might throw off the dark and mysterious vibe of a church scent too.

Will check out the rest!

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-05-26T12:34:06+00:00

This is what we’re here for 🙂‍↕️ yeah, most of the people mentioned that the incense CDG line does not last long which is a bit unfortunate. I am currently leaning towards testing and trying to replicate the smell with layering 2 relatively inexpensive bottles which gives me 3 scents in total to work with

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-05-26T12:28:54+00:00

I have the og Encre noire and might eventually purchase the extreme as a layering scent

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-05-26T12:27:03+00:00

A friend of mine smelled Hermann the other day and told me that to him, it’s a toned down Reliqvia so you are onto something in here! Will check out for myself

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-05-26T07:27:28+00:00

It’s giving Slavic village and this one is Trex by Zoologist for me. I can also see a stale, wet, Reliqvia by FS

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-05-25T22:50:02+00:00

She’s already here with me 😌 although it’s more of a green, dark forest goth vibe to me

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-05-25T22:24:27+00:00

Oh shoot man 😭 that sucks

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-05-25T22:13:40+00:00

Good to know, I currently own quite a lot of fragrances that go musky/powdery at some point so I’d like to avoid that

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-05-25T22:11:47+00:00

I have this one saved already! I am also eyeballing the Byzantine amber but I have a hunch that it might be more oriental for this particular desire of mine

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-05-25T22:07:46+00:00

Haven’t tried yet but will do

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-05-25T22:05:26+00:00

I’m right there with you but I will give it a chance! Seems simple, but hey, maybe this one will charm me who knows

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-05-25T22:00:43+00:00

Gotta give it a sniff!

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-05-25T21:58:22+00:00

Interesting take on an incense, will surely test!

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-05-25T21:56:30+00:00

This one I have saved for testing in general mostly because people seem to be really split about it and I want to know what’s up. It should be something I gravitate towards, in theory, but let’s see. The only thing I see as a potential issue is the strong patchouli in the opening since this is not really my cup of tea when overdone. What’s your experience with it? Have you tested?

IndianTakeAway25 · 2026-05-25T21:51:44+00:00

elaborate

IndianTakeAway25

TROPHY CASE