Into the Woods: Wood Notes in Perfumery + “Eight Fairy Tales” Draw

 

 

Aromatic woods provide some of the most important notes in perfumery.  Although often described as ‘woody’, other adjectives may include buttery, balsamic, creamy, sweet, lemony or even floral. These essential oils are distilled from the wood itself, often including heartwood and, in the case of Sandalwood, the roots as well.  The list is long and many woods are familiar like sandalwood, cedar and rosewood.  Other woods include Amyris or West Indian Sandalwood, Hinoki, Palo Santo, Ho Wood and Muhuhu.  Other woody scents like pine and cypress are actually distilled from the needles, leaves and small twigs, not the wood.

 

Sandalwood: Pure Mysore Sandalwood (Santalum album)  essential oil was a revelation to me about the ancient nature of scented wood.  It’s mystical and grounding at the same time, ageless.  The smell is very soft and sweet, creamy and balsamic with a slight animalic hint. The wood itself is heavy and fine-grained; it will retain its scent for decades.  Sandalwood is an important ingredient in fine perfumery, incense making, soaps and shaving creams. Tragically, Mysore Sandalwood is seriously depleted in its native forests and is considered endangered.  For harvest, the trees are toppled instead of cut and the stump and roots are used as well as the wood. Exports from India have decreased to about ¼ of what it was in the 1950s.  I have a small precious stock that I don’t use in perfumery but there are some good substitutes.  Other Sandalwood species include Australian Sandalwood (Santalum spicatum) and Vanuatu or New Caledonian Sandalwood (Santalum austrocaledonicum), all of which are said to be grown sustainably.  In all species, santalol is the main component that gives the characteristic odor to Sandalwood.  A high quality oil from any of these can provide a good substitute for Mysore Sandalwood.

 

 

 

Cedar:  Woody, balsamic, camphoraceous, slightly buttery and slightly sharp, cedars have a familiar scent to most of us.  However, not all cedarwoods are the same, their odor profiles are distinct and they are not, actually, from the same species.  Atlas Cedarwood (Cedrus atlantica) and Himalayan Cedarwood  (Cedrus deodora) are both ‘true’ cedars.  Atlas Cedarwood  has a rich and balsamic scent with a slight uplift from its camphoraceous note and reminds me of the Meditarranean mountains that are its home.  Himalayan Cedarwood  has a similar smell but not quite as distinctive.   Virginia (Juniperus virginiana) and Texas Cedarwood (Juniperus ashei)  are actually members of the Juniper family and have the familiar cedar scent.  Virginia Cedarwood has a familiar odor to those  of us who have smelled wood pencils or cedar chests.  A good Virginia Cedarwood also has a lovely buttery note to it as well and it more rich and woody than thin and sharp.  Texas Cedarwood is slightly more dry and smoky.    

 

Rosewood  (Aniba rosaeodora), also endangered, is another revelatory experience.  It is sweet and woody, floral and spicy, calling to mind the tropics where it originates in deep, mysterious, shady forests.  It has been over-harvested in its native Brazil and is a target for conservation.   Because it is high in linalool and was relatively inexpensive, it was used not only for the essential oil but also to extract linalool, valued for its floral spicy scent and used in a variety of beauty and cleaning products.  Ho wood (Cinnamomum camphora) from Asia also contains high amounts of linalool and can be used as a source of that isolate.  

 

 Also from the Orient is Hinoki Wood (Chamaecyparis obtusa), used in Japanese baths and for construction of temples, shrines and Emperor’s palaces.  It is also known as Japanese Cypress.  The wood is lemon-scented and sweet.

 

 Palo Santo, also known as Guaiacwood   (Bulnesia sarmientoi) from Peru and Ecuador. produces an essential oil that is intensely woody and fresh but also sweet and airy.   The wood and essential oil are used to clear bad energy from a body as well as a perfume for the home.  This wood is listed as endangered due to deforestation of the large Chaco dry forests and increased harvest of the tree.

 

 Amyris (Amyris balsamifera ) from the West Indies is known as West Indian Sandalwood and has a woody, oily-sweet smell that is slightly balsamic and peppery, an aroma not entirely like true Sandalwood.     It is a great fixative and is often used in perfumery for this purpose more than for the scent.   

 

 

Courtesy of Pierre Benard of Osmoart

 

From Africa –  Muhuhu wood (Brachyleana hutchinsii), also known as African Sandalwood, is an excellent companion to true sandalwood oil and is balsamic and woody, somewhat reminiscent of vetiver .  It is a good fixative with a delicate wood note.  The wood has a fine texture and is used in wood working and carving. 

 

Elise Pearlstine, Contributor

Art direction: Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief

 

 We  have gone "into the woods" for this fairy tale draw.To be eligible leave a comment on your favorite wood  note and  favorite  fairy tale.  Draw ends December 12, 2011

 

Vanithe from Nez a Nez Stanwells: guaiacwood and cedar

 

 

from Xerjoff  four luxe samples of  XJ Richwood: Mysore Sandalwood

 

from April Aromatics   1 oz Precious Woods: Mysore Sandalwood, Buddha Wood, Himalayan Cedarwood , Abis Grandis (a fir tree)

 

 

 

 

 

from M.Micallef 10 ml of Guaiac

 

from Bellyflowers and Elise Pearlstine-15ml of Ambre Alcheme : Australian Sandalwood essential oil, Vanuatu Sandalwood essential

 

from JoAnne Bassett Le Voyage 1. 0z spray : Vintage Mysore sandalwood essential oil from Indiahttp://joannebassett.com/edt.htm

 

 

 

from House of Matriarch  Alpha for men roll on  .33 oz Guiacwood, (aged 15 yrs then tinctured), Africa India and Hawaiian Sandalwood, Siskiyou Cedar

 

Fom One Seed  Company: 1.7 oz of Hope: Cedarwood and Australian Sandalwood

 

 

 File:Into the Woods poster.jpg

Editor's Note: Into the Woods is a Broadway Play based on a book by James Lapine, debuted in San Diego and was directed by Steven Sondhiem. The original cast starred  Ben Wright, Bernadette Peters, Chip Zien,  Chuck Wagner, Danielle Ferland, Joanna Gleason, Kim Crosby, Merle Louise,  Robert Westenberg and  Tom Aldredge. Fairy tales in a magic world intertwined and included Litttle Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Brother's Grimm Witch, The Baker's Wife, Snow White and Cinderella.

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75 comments

  • I have a great love for Sandalwood, the April Aromatics sounds amazing, all the fragrances listed sound tempting, i am a huge fan of woody notes in perfume. My favorite Fairytale is Rumpelstiltskin (Rumpelstilzchen) Tales from the Brothers Grimm (German: Kinder- und Hausmärchen) is a collection of German origin fairy tales first published in 1812 by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, the Brothers Grimm. The collection is commonly known today as Grimms’ Fairy Tales (German: Grimms Märchen). And since i am German these are very familiar to me. There are many other Fairy tales i like, including the Six Swans, Thumbling, Hansel & Gretel and many more. This brings back childhod memories.

  • I love them all, but guaiac and Australian sandalwood are my favorites. I do like hinoki and cypress as well, and cedar is always a pleaser, although it’s so common now it’s hard to get excited unless it’s really nice stuff. I’m interested in palo santo, and especially the sustainable stuff that comes from the fruit – I’m curious if it really comes close to the wood or not. I think that sustainability of wood notes is a real challenge, and may be a place where biotech has some real answers. My favorite fairy tale is the comic version of Red Riding Hood on the cartoon 2 Stupid Dogs. Quite hilarious!

  • I hope this counts but in m y life with my two girls they dress up every day in Princess clothing.We have every dress out there from the Disney store. My youngest, feeels empowered by dressing in the fancies and she takes on an entirely different persona based upon how she is dressed.
    My favorite Fairytale growing up was Felicia and the Potted Pinks. My parents favorite fairytale to recite to me was the Princess and the Pea. Somethigns never change:)
    I love simple stregnth sandalwood and whenI was an oil mixer back in my teens I used it in alot of my bases.
    From One seed the combination of cedarwood and sandalwood will surely take me back to my days of tinkering with natural oils. And what a great time that was. Thanks for the memories:
    Happy holidays Cafleurebon and all of the wonderful sponsors of this and every draw:)

  • My favorite wood note is sandalwood, but I need to explore them more since I really like them! And my favorite fairytale… I’ll say that as a kid Donkeyskin and Bluebeard fascinated me. A kids tv show played them when I was little, and since I didn’t know them from the books I was even more marked by them I think. The stories are so horrible and weird!

  • Vanuatu Sandalwood is my favorite wood note, but I am also weak to Oud. I am a woody girl and all the woods are so comforting to me. Favorite Fairy tale of those listed above is Jack and the Beanstalk. My absolute favorite is one some may not heard of. Old Letivia and the Mountain of Sorrows. An original folktale of Puerto Rico. When magic was a part of everyday life. but friendship and courage were more important than any spell. Thanks to the contributors on their generous offerings. Great Job Elise!

  • Z. Boudreaux says:

    Now we are talking people. Wood notes are my favorite. I adore sandalwood and atlas cedar. Fairy tales… hmm… little red riding hood… i always liked the wolf dressed as grandma.

    After reviewing each of the perfumes (so many naturals to be made aware of at once! thank you) I must say that the April Aromatics Precious Woods speaks to me the most.

    But all of them sound wonderful.
    Thanks for another amazing draw!

  • I really do love sandalwood, and the sandalwood dry down of some wonderful perfumes (vintage Ubar!) is the often the best part. I also love fairy tales of all kinds. One of my favorites is “The Six Swans” because in this story it is the girl who, through her weaving and fortitude, rescues the boys, her six brothers who have been turned into swans.

  • I am a huge fan of wood notes. My wardrobe is clear on that point. So I am having a terrible time choosing a favorite wood!

    I love sandalwood. cedar, amyris, and hinoki. But my favorite? I think perhaps hinoki. Or cedar. Such a tough choice!

    My favorite fairy tale is easier to choose. Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen.”

  • My favorite wood note would be a tie between palo santo and hinoki. I did not know that palo santo was endangered, this makes me sad.
    My favorite fairy tale was The Stonecutter.

  • Sandalwood is definitely my favorite…warm and nostalgic. And I’ve always been partial to Sleeping Beauty when it comes to fairytales, because that’s where my name comes from: Briar Rose

  • great subject-woods, my big love
    my favorite is guaiacwood, followed closely by hinoki and cedar
    the sleeping beauty is my favorite fairytale of all because it’s a mixed memory of bedtime childhood stories and ballet love
    thank you for the draw

  • Rosewood has been my favorite blending note for years — in almost any blend, it sort of “lubricates” the other notes and gets them fitting together much more harmoniously.

    I am torn on favorite fairy tales, usually, but for this it seems like The Juniper Tree is a given. 🙂

  • taffynfontana says:

    I love Cedar and Sandalwood especially in the winter. I love fairytales especially “Thumbelina” her survivor spirit is uplifting.

  • I have always been a fan of sandalwood but for perfumery I think I prefer other woods. I am not afraid of resinous pine or cedar in perfume, and am still exploring. Wood blends are nice – I have some Xerjoff Richwood and it’s great.

    I like the fairy tale about the seven princes who are turned into swans and the princess has to make shirts for them out of nettles to turn them back to men. One is left with a wing because the shirt couldn’t be completed. The first time I touched a nettle, my mind flew tot that story and the agony she had to endure to make them.

  • What an interesting article,also love the illustrations,who is that sleeping princess by?My favourite wood note is sandalwood,it is a bit upsetting having to think about substitutes…
    Being German like Claudia I also have this childhood thing about the Grimm;s tales-in Berlin on the museum island somebody has put up an old hut they brought from Poland and they perform Grimm tales every day,it is always packed and equally popular with the adults!My favourite one as a child was Rapunzel-but nowadays I would also put Oscar Wilde in the equation,just adore The Happy Prince and the Selfish Giant!

  • Lovely visuals and clear, well-researched descriptions!

    I know I love sandalwood, and I think I might also really enjoy guiacwood (have seen it listed as a note) . Also know I like cedar and rosewood, am not familiar with the individual characteristics of the others. Woods in general wear really well on me. All these scents are so tempting!

    Favorite fairy tale…hmmm…
    I’ve always had a soft spot for The Little Mermaid, loved the disney version as a kid and came across the ‘real’ story, beautifully illustrated, when I was about eightish–and loved it even more.

  • Myfavorite wood is sandalwood and favorite fairy tale is Red riding hood. It is filled with smells and color

  • I can’t decide which is my favourite guaiacwood or rosewood.
    But my favourite fairy tale is definitely Cinderella. 🙂

  • This article was informative and insightful. As the weather gets colder I crave wood notes, especially combined with glorious resins. I love them all (especially Mysore). I was disheartened to hear that Rosewood is becoming endangered. One of my favorite AG’s “Eau de Ciel” (my very first fragrance purchase in Paris) contained rosewood. Now I know why Eau de Ciel is impossible to find.

    My favorite fairytale is “Hansel and Gretel” as I was one of the gingerbread cookies that came to life in the final act of the Metropolitan Opera House’s version of that tale over thirty years ago.

  • Wonderful photos and descriptions! I love all wood notes, but cedar is my favorite. It lifts and seems to ‘purify’ all notes surrounding it. I’ve been wearing CdG Kyoto a lot lately. My favorite fairy tale from childhood was always Rapunzel. I loved her name, her hair, her loneliness in the tower, the witch who held her captive, the prince who rescued her. I also had a book of unabridged Grimms tales – darker and scarier than anything ever re-worked by Disney!

    Thank you for another wonderful CaFleurBon post and draw!

  • I love sandalwood and rosewood(amazing in Brulure de Rose). My favourite fairy tale is Sleeping Beauty.

  • marcopietro says:

    I love woody notes in perfumery and my favorites are sandal and cypress.
    All the perfumes reviewed seem significant but I could fall in love with Precious Woods by April Aromatics.
    My favorite fairy tale is Cinderella.

  • What a wonderful description of woods, thank you Elise for this. I do love woody notes, woods and resins are definitely some of my most cherished notes in perfume. I think if I had to pick one it would be mysore sandal wood, and the April Aromatics sounds like an into the wood dream. I know that “into the woods” concentrate on folklore fairy tales, and of these I always loved the tale of Snowwhite and Rosered, but I think my favourite fairy tale is the very beautiful and terribly sad ‘The little Mermaid’ by Hans Christian Andersen.
    Thanks for this wonderful draw:-)

  • I love wood fragrances this time of year.Like Asali my favorite fairy tale is not a wood tale, where it seems a woman or girl is always in danger and getting resuced. James and the giant peach by Roald Dahl or horton hears a who ( if they qualify). I am a fan of all these scents.

  • wow, favorite wood note is…. so many, i guess at the moment agar -oud (i know, it’s quite an expensive pick)
    but i’m am really intrigued by Joanne Bassette’s mysore ‘voyage’ 🙂 sandalwood’s an easy one to like.
    favoite fairy tale… i loved the story of the hen that picked, ground and baked bread, and none of the other animal’s would help her, and then when it came time to eat the bread she said they did not help her in any of the process, so she will eat it alone.
    i don’t know what the story is called….

  • Peppermint Gum or ‘Eucalyptus dives’ is my favourite fragrant wood, she is an elegant mistress of subtlety, bringing a cool clear silvery penetration of freshness to the mind body and soul, an enlivening breeze which encapsulates the enormous freedom and power of the Australian bush, the potency is experienced especially at dawn in eucalypt forests, where dew-sparkling spider webs reveal themselves to be draped everywhere in the crimson haze of sun rising through the forest mists.

    My favourite fairy tale is my own true story, The Blue Fortress. (brief excerpt below…)

    A turbulent, swirling metropolis unfurled, right here in the D’Aguilar forest, I watched it drift down in a raw and powerful silence, and the dominance of the trees couldn’t help but transform my human grief into an open chasm of need. It was their magical right to do so, and I was filled with an urgent hunger for the very changes that the trees wrought in me. Frogs and crickets and owls and small parrots were chirping, warbling, popping, hooting, cackling, laughing and crying as my family’s calls for me faded into their own inexorable death. I didn’t need to hear the stifled sorrow-songs of others, I was sufficiently filled with my own, but their sounds simply traveled into me, gliding eerily through the shimmering shapes of the forest landscape, carrying themselves high on swirling ground-vapours that lifted and relocated me into a vanishing green lake that spilled across all of our unfathomably complex lives, enveloping me in a cool and distant breeze that blew itself far out over the canopy, on and on into the shelter of wild and beautiful dangers, far from the urban wasteland that severed me anonymously and invisibly and totally.

    I waited ten years inside that forest of mountainous yellow carrabeens and strangler figs and ghostly eucalypts and then I just walked away. I followed the next scent. I knew that I had become nourished, healed, filled in by the forest, drugged by her damp and darkened scents. My eyes had aged and deepened in the drifting Autumnal airs and I was tattooed by the crawling bite of tiny creatures across my skin. My blood was altered, I was part humus, part stone, I itched and wheezed with the blue-gum pollen that had seasonally transformed my precious rain waters into foul-smelling cabbage soup, I was grey-blue with the furs of Summer’s mould. I was fully human.

  • Thank you Elise for such a beautiful narrative on the precious woods.Sandalwood and Rosewood are my favorites. I make a coconut milk soap with cedarwood, cypress and russian fir that evokes memories of an enchanted forest,wood fairies and nymphs….I use several woods in my perfumes but have yet to try the Guiacwood…….

  • I love woody scents. It’s hard for me to say which note is my favorite, but it could be sandalwood. At least I know that I love almost all sandalwood fragrances I have tried. However, if I had to say my favorite woody perfume it would be Comme des Garçons Hinoki.

    I have always loved Perrault’s Puss in Boots 🙂

  • chayaruchama says:

    Great article, Elise !
    [And I love the art , too ;-0]

    My favorite tale is The Armless Maiden.
    Woody scents are a deep comfort zone for me…

  • I love Love LOVE sandalwood and have been meaning to try Xerjoff Richwood ever since I read a review a year or so ago. I just haven’t acquired a sample. Perhaps today?!

    I’ve always loved Fairy Tales and read books upon books of Fairy Tales when I was a kid. One of my favorites is the original Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid. It’s a tale (tail!) of want, of love, of loss. The best tales were always bittersweet, dark and dangerous.

  • This is an excellent article! My favorite woods are rosewood and sandalwood, and my favorite fairy tale is Rapunzel. Don’t know why – it was my most favorite as a child. 🙂

  • I have a weakness for rosewood, which I have always found to round up other notes and bring a certain harmony to the composition. And then in a tie for second place I’d say guaiac and sandalwood. As for my favorite fairy tale, well, all I can say is that I have fond (but, I confess, a little vague) memories of the stories my father would invent when I was a kid. Many of them used to take place in woods, incidentally. :p

  • I really like sandalwood a lot, and also I love the CdG Hinoki but I don’t know is that one is a real interpretation of how hinoki wood smells like.
    Is a great article by the way so we can understand all the different woods used in perfumery.
    My favorite fairy tale is The Most Incredible Thing by Hans Christian Andersen.
    Thanks for another awesome draw!

  • I adore woody scents in all their forms and it’s difficult to pick one.In the past year I’m mostly interested in oud but I love all the woody aromas.Somehow Fireise intense SSS seems to work best for me when I want complex mainly woody scent.I loved to read fairy tales when I was a child may be Hans Christian Anderson was my favourite author I had a book with his fairy tales and I loved it.
    I’ve tested most of the Xerjoff line but I haven’t tryed Richwood yet. I would love to but to be honest I’m tempted with all of them difficult choice.

  • My favourite woody note in a fragrance would be sandalwood. I love it because it gives you that perfumey feeling, it has a rich and balsamic fragrance, very exotic, that reminds me of India. My favourite fairy tale is Little Red Riding Hood. My mother used to read me a lot of fairy tales when I was younger, before I went to sleep, but Little Red Riding Hood remained my favourite over the years. I have read it, seen the movies, went to theatre and saw plays since I was a child and until now.

  • I love sandalwood the most. My favorite fairy tale is Rumplestiltskin. I love the moment when she has 3 guesses and purposely guessed wrong for the first two, so shivery suspenseful for a child.

  • This is a great article. I loved reading fairy tales to my daughter when she was little and discussing them with her. After hearing Cinderella, she asked, “why couldn’t Cinderella take a taxi to the ball? She could have gone by herself and had fun!” 🙂

  • Paul-Laurentiu says:

    Thanks for this great article and this wonderful give-away. My favourite wood note is cedarwood and my favourite fairy tale is Beauty and The Beast.

  • Wow, where to start? Cedar, Massoia, Sandalwood are all favorites, the creamier the better. The subject of woods and fairytales brings to mind the Jan Svankmajer film, “Little Otik” based on a folktale where a woman raises a log as a baby, with troubling results (hint, it grows up and it’s hungry!). Highly recommended! Were Otesanek’s oils distilled, he would no doubt smell earthy!

  • My favourite genre of perfume is “wood pudding”, which I take to mean a sweet creamy woods. Somewhat like Kenzo Amour. I would love to try Vanithe Nez a Nez, as I love Nez a Nez, and am currently wearing L’Netre Reve — lovely!

    I love fairy tales and have the Grimm anthology, but the first that comes to mind is Beauty and the Beast. It chokes me up! 🙂

    Thanks for the post (flagged for my future reference) and the draw!

  • I love fairy tales. I have many favs and one wasn’t mentioned yet : The little match girl by HC Andersen. The first fairy tale that made me cry.

    Fav woody note: sandalwood. Guaiac is the second fav.

  • Paul R. Paul says:

    One woody note that I appreciate a lot is oak. I like oak because it
    has a striking and bold aroma and I associate it with the smell of a true
    gent. My favourite fairy tale is a romanian one and it is named
    Prâslea the Brave and the Golden Apples. It is very well written, with
    many elements that are magic and real. I do not have the necessary vocabulary
    to describe it. Better to read it and see for yourself.

  • I love them all! I love the woods. I’m a wood guy. But if I had to choose one, it would be sandalwood. Cedar(all of them) would have to come in a close second. Muhuhu is really great(and great to say), although I didn’t like it at first, but it’s either grown on me or aged really well.
    My favorite fairy tale is the Bremen Town Musicians(its a rare one). Does the Ballad Of Tam Lin count as a fairy tale? It actually has faeries in it!

  • Julie VanGee says:

    Thanks for this wonderful article. I do love the smell of all wood. My father was a tree surgeon/wood worker and all to do with him smelled of this! I am very fond of Sandalwood and Balsams. My favorite fairy tale is Little Red Riding Hood ~ Over the river and through the woods!

  • well done elise!

    my favorite wood note is “lowly” amyris. not so much to wear as a singular perfume, but what it gives to the process of making perfume…

    then rosewood- i am leaving mysore out all together. it’s not a note. it’s a perfume and universe unto itself.

    thankfully, both are calling us to respect & protect botanical species.

    fairy tale… does that include the story of the big mouth frog? i LOVE that story. as far as traditional ones: little red hiding hood… cause a wolf in drag is hot. just saying.

  • Cedar impresses me most and “The Fisherman and His Wife” is my favorite morality tale. Don’t be greedy, appreciate what you have.

  • Love adventuring in the woods with the fairies 😉 ! And Precious Woods is an amazing key to unlock the magic no matter where you are!

  • What great comments everyone! Woods are so great, by themselves or in a perfume. And I love the reminders of all the fairy tales. I always liked Little Red Riding Hood too.

  • Though wood notes are some of my favorites in general, sandalwood tops the list. I have to restrain myself from putting it in all my blends. As for fairytales, I’ve always loved the Little Mermaid.

  • I love the smell of cedar in perfume. My favorite fairy tale is Beauty and the Beast, because it is not always about physical appearance. There are many other qualifies that make someone/something attractive.

  • Oh, so not fair to ask me what my favorite wood is… that is very hard to answer, I love so many of the woods, I can’t get enough of them. If I have to give an anwer, I suppose right at the moment and the past few months I’ve favored cedar.

    My favorite fairy tale would have to be Little Red Riding Hood. I wasn’t terribly nuts for fairy tales, but I did own a picture book when I was a kid, that had the most wonderfully saturated pictures. I can still so distinctly picture the forest/woods, the little yellow flowers against the lush green undergrowth, and the faceted bottle of purple grape juice and little light yellow pat of butter.

    What a wonderful draw! Thanks for the opportunity!!

  • donna s kopenhaver says:

    Alice in Wonderland has always been my favorite even as an adult I can still find joy in a coloring or child’s book of Alcie I have a few prints framed of the late rabbit and alice ♥

    Sandalwood has been favorite scent since the 70’s in high school… My favorite ‘wood’ is oak because of the strength of the tree.

  • I also love wood notes as well as resins. I love the sandalwood in vintage Egoiste!

    It’s funny, I think of most fairy tales as creepy! I do have a soft spot for Sleeping Beauty.

  • I love Rosewood. It’s versatile and adds depth to any perfume. Being floral yet spicy, when you smell the essential oil it seems that you enter into the tropical forests.
    My favorite fairy tale is and still will be forever Cinderella.

  • I am a HUGE fan of woody notes. I love sandalwood as much as anyone but I’ve come to really appreciate quaiacwood for it’s suave subtlety so I would pick it as my favorite wood note. My favourite fairytale comes from Russia and it is called the Magic Cow and the Golden Apple Tree.

  • I love guaicwood notes. It is so earthy and somewhat resinous to me. My favorite fairy tale would be The Ugly Duckling.

  • tomatefarcie says:

    I love amyris–anything in the citrus family for me! Grimm’s was big at our house because my grandparents were from Germany. I like “The Fisherman and His Wife.” It’s about greed, very timely I thnk.

  • I love Mysore sandalwood, sweet, creamy, woody yumminess. I think I’ll have to go with Cinderella for happy endings.

  • OOh how I love woods. My favorite is sandalwood by far. My favorite fairy tale is 3 billy goats gruff. I loved that story when i was little:) Thanks for the great draw.

  • Woods are a favourite of mine with sandalwood (love vintage) and cedar being high on the list.
    And since I have a fondness for the big bad wolf I’d have to choose Little red Riding Hood for my fairy tale.

  • I have always loved sandalwood. My favorite fairy tale is one from the Brothers Grim…The Bremen Town Musicians.

  • susan fairchild says:

    this was a wonderful article, i love even reading about wood scents. it is a hard call to name a favorite but i think sandalwood has always been one of mine. i have never smelled mysore sandalwood and my interest is piqued.
    my favorite fairytale id hansel and gretel. so fanciful and scary.

  • I’m pretty much a sucker for anything woodsy. Sandalwood is gorgeous. I also had the pleasure of trying a Siskayou cedar incense. Fir can be so enchanting when diluted and blended with small amounts of frankincense. And how amazing that Guiacwood is used in cancer screening? If I had to pick one right now – cedar. But tommorow I might say sandalwood.

    I’m not sure it’s a true Grimm’s fairy tale, but I’ve loved the story “The Three Little Kittens.” My parents used to tell me that one over and over again. I even have a very old cassette tape recording of it. I was only three years old but I remember it well thanks to the recording.

    Thanks for the wonderful draw opportunity.

  • What an awesome article by Elise. I’m totally bookmarking this and so I can compare to my impressions of the different cedars and sandalwood oils (just got aromatics kit #1 and 2 from Anya’s Garden so I have some sniffing to do). I remember the first time I tried a rosewood dominant perfume (Abdes Salaam’s Rose des Bois) and just being unable to describe it except that it smelled like lavender.

    My favorite wood note would be Mysore sandalwood even though I’ve probably never smelled it. My favorite fairy tale is the original Hans Christian Anderson version of The Little Mermaid where she dies in the end. It’s such an adult tale of love, impulse, decisions, responsibility, integrity. There was this Japanese anime version I used to watch as a child way before the inferior Disney version. I found it on DVD so I can watch it anytime I want now! I would most love to win Elise’s own scent, Ambre Alcheme! Has sounded delish since I first read about it.

  • Of course, the rarity of true sandalwood makes in most inticing but the cypress note in Tom Ford’s Italian Cypress is my current wood obsession. To me, there is no fairy tale to compare to the enduring fascination of the Little Red Riding Hood tale……….

  • oh, my favorite wood note — that’s hard.
    i suppose it’s cedar, though.
    dried pine needles or fir sap just don’t make the transition to perfumery well (while cedar — the scent of the actual wood — absolutely does.)

    my favorite fairy tale.
    i grew up on those.
    hm.

    from then it’s snow white (my mother used to have this amazing picture book with snow white fleeing through the woods from her stepmother, black hair astream…)

    but now i i would have to choose an angela carter fairy tale.
    they are all beyond spectacular — way ahead of their time.
    i mean — the woman insinuated vampires and werewolves when no one — but NO one was even dreaming of those…

  • It’s hard for me to choose between cedar and sandalwood, but I think sandalwood has the edge – especially combined with rose.
    My favourite fairy tale is Little Red Riding hood – I had a recurring dream when I was little about it, that I have always remembered.

  • lynnsylvaine says:

    What a dark and fun journey into the woods. this is an excellent article.I love martine micaleff so I would o with Guaiaic . my favorite fairy tale is on ice….the ice queen

  • Wonderful article Elise, on a gorgeous topic. I have great admiration for all the wood scents, but a few lead the pack. Virginian Cedarwood (Red cedar) is a huge favourite of mine, I prefer its drier depths over the Atlas Cedar which I find exceedingly sweet, and sappy (almost fruity). I have a glorious forest pine and Virginian cedarwood coextraction that is to die for. Another of my loves is Ho Wood, tis one of my favourite essences to scent my home – I love how it unfurls into a bright, light lemon and almost floral scent. Loving Sandalwood goes without saying….

    Favourite fairy tale, hmmm, tis hard to chose! Perhaps Beauty and the Beast, but I am also a Cinderella tragic 😛
    Holly x

  • I would love to win the precious woods. How generous of Tanja Bochnig. My favorite wood is mysore sandalwood, and my favorite fairy tale is sleeping beauty, since one kiss is magik

  • Choosing my favorite wood scent, yikes! Guess I would have to go with Cypress but Texas Cedar (Juniper) is a close second as they both remind me of traipsing around after my father on our riverside property when I was a kid and stopping at a damaged tree to gather the “blood” which I would, of course, use as perfume. For some reason, my Mom was never big on this practice of coming home covered in sticky sap.
    As for my favorite fairy tale, that is just as hard to pick. I have an extensive collection of fairy tales and have always found them fascinating. My favorite fairy story is probably The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde.

  • Favorite ingredient is definitely Asian sandalwood.. and my favorite fairytale is Jack and Beanstalk .. thanks !