Goutal
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The black pepper ignites immediately, sharp and almost citric in its brightness, cutting across a billowing cloud of frankincense that feels both smoky and slightly sweet. This is a bracing entrance, nothing soft or inviting, demanding your attention with its spiced bite.
The pepper recedes slightly as cardamom and nutmeg bloom—warm, almost creamy spices that amplify the resinous frankincense into something fuller and more enveloping. The composition settles into a spiced-incense cloud where the resin feels less austere and more sensual, with an amber-tinged warmth that suggests candlewax and old wood.
The fir balsam and mastic emerge as the spices fade, creating a cooler, more herbaceous base that's nonetheless resinous and sticky. The church incense persists in the background, now more subtle and refined, whilst the mastic adds an almost varnish-like quality—a gentle reminder of ancient wood and aged amber.
Encens Flamboyant Goutal is a fragrance that arrives not as a whisper but as a declaration—a column of sacred smoke rising in a candlelit chapel. Isabelle Doyen has constructed something genuinely challenging here: an incense composition that refuses the trap of austere minimalism, instead layering its frankincense with enough spice to feel almost dangerous.
The black pepper opening sets the tone immediately; it's not decorative, but rather a sharpening agent that cuts through the heavier resins, preventing the scent from becoming drowsy and meditative. This peppery edge dances against the woody-resinous heart, where frankincense resin becomes almost creamy, warmed by nutmeg and cardamom that add a subtle gastronomy to the proceedings—there's something almost culinary beneath the ecclesiastical veneer. The nutmeg particularly prevents this from reading as temple incense; instead, it suggests a monastery kitchen where spiced wine simmers on a winter evening.
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