Scentzilla!

Czech & Speake’s Frankincense and Myrrh cries out stentorian, “LAVENDER!” for the first several minutes of wear. It takes roughly twenty minutes after application for the lavender note to start using its “indoor” voice. As it quiets down, the utter dryness of this scent finally becomes apparent. Chamomile erodes deep grooves into what I perceive as a dehydrated orangey note, and these soon taper down into the namesake notes of the fragrance.

We in the western parts of the world tend to associate frankincense and myrrh with the Christmas story, and gravitate towards the idea of them smelling primarily of church services. However, this is not a cologne for those seeking a scent rendolent of smoking sticky-sweet incense, or gummy resins.

In this fragrance, frankincense and myrrh are presented as arid as the climate and region in which the trees they drip from grow. A parched sandalwood note further extends my impression of waterless resins baking in the sun. The overall impression is one of dry woodiness tingling with the same sensation, though utterly different smell, of the feel from a smear of Vicks VapoRub. I would also compare this tingle to that weird feeling you get when you bite into tin foil because you’re apparently not bright enough to figure out how to properly unwrap a stick of gum. *Ahem* Not me. It happened to a friend once. You buy that right?

I can’t decide if I like this scent or not. I’ve been playing with it off and on for a few months, and still can’t make up my mind one way or the other. But I do appreciate it. I found out this week that I do really dig it when I layer it with Creed’s Cuir de Russie, though I need to warn I think it’s a potent cocktail that requires a light hand.

Images all photographs by Minor White. From top: “Sand and Water,” 1950, Gitterman Gallery; “Christmas Ornament,” 1958, Swann Galleries; “Root and Frost,” 1958, Joseph Bellows Gallery.