What does Palo Santo Resin smell like?
I’ve been playing with new incense bases and received some Palo Santo resin. It’s an amazing smell that is very difficult to describe (as all smells are).
Palo Santo is reminiscent of so many things: it is like a squirrel stopped in the middle of the woods and peed on a very old tree. Unknown to that squirrel, this was the home of a raccoon who was just waking up from a daily nap. Well, you can guess that as he woke he sniffed around and was truly displeased with this situation. Before the rest of his troupe came home, he ran around the forest and found some sweet vanilla-like scented flowers and pungent earthy scented leaves and covered the tree with them to block out the smell. When the rest of the group came home, they thought “whats that smell?” But it was too complex to discern any one note, and they just assumed the wind carried to them a new depth in the air as can happen at the change of a season.
That is what Palo Santo smells like. It is complex, delightful, and equally familiar as it is uncommon.
Notes
Fire, Smoke, Leather, Amber, Amyris, Tobacco, Myrrh
Body & Heart
Top lasts 15 minutes. No body.
Dry Down
Drydown lasts 8 hours, slowing down at the 6-hour mark.
Longevity
Fragrance becomes subtle and soft at the 8-hour mark.
How does this fragrance unfold?
0 – 5 minutes
This is dark and strong- it’s the moonlight hour and a walk away from the campfire. You smell the nearby woods, the dirt, the thick air.
5 – 10 minutes:
Hints of spice develop. You remember the warm campfire. Over time, the fire and smoke grow and enhance as you move closer.
10 minutes – onwards:
A soft, powdery, smoke, leather develops. The smell of fire. Something ethereal just past the smoke.
FINAL THOUGHTS
While this starts fresh the true fragrance develops 15 minutes in, revealing its dark smoke. This fragrance lasts 8-10 hours and stays rather consistent for much of the time.