Phaedon
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Frankincense hits with immediate, almost medicinal clarity—that first strike of match against stone, dry and almost peppery. The incense note is stark and angular, establishing authority with no sweetness to soften its approach.
The sandalwood emerges as a woody counterpoint rather than a softening agent, creating a grey-hued accord where resinous frankincense and austere sandalwood intertwine. A subtle spiciness develops here, adding texture without warmth, the composition settling into contemplative equilibrium.
Ambroxan and cedarwood reduce everything to its essence—a pale, pencil-like dryness with faint amber undertones that never quite bloom into warmth. What remains is skeletal and meditative, barely perceptible on skin yet persistent in its quiet stubbornness.
Oliban Grisens announces itself as an exercise in restraint—a fragrance that resists the contemporary impulse toward projection and instead invites intimate proximity. Pierre Guillaume constructs something deliberately austere: frankincense dominates the composition with a bone-dry, almost chalky quality, the kind of incense smoke that clings to monastery robes rather than diffuses into air. This isn't the honeyed, almost floral frankincense of certain niche houses; it's the resinous skeleton, stripped of warmth.
The sandalwood that emerges beneath refuses to soften the composition's edges. Rather than offering creamy, cosmetic smoothness, it reads as woody and slightly bitter—sandalwood's astringent undertones rather than its buttery heart. This interplay between frankincense's acrid transparency and sandalwood's lean grain creates a compelling tension: ecclesiastical and dusty, yet somehow sensual in its austerity.
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4.0/5 (165)