My Top 12 Incense Perfumes

I wasn't entirely sure I was going to do a "Best Of" list for incense perfumes, because so many of my favorite incensy perfumes were already covered under other categories: amber, smoke... even lavender. Not to mention that an "incense" note is incredibly multifaceted and can come from various resins as well as from frankincense (olibanum). I had  a draft for a list that I kept changing. After all, so many of my favorite perfumes are based on some kind of an incense note. My own collection is bursting with them (or maybe wafting is a better term in this case). Current events had me go back to the beginning and come up with a list of my very personal top 12(ish) incense perfumes, and here it is.

But first I wanted to begin where I usually end these lists: Honorable Mention. Some of these were already part of previous lists, others are wonderful but I have trouble wearing them, and one is impossible to find. So, here are the incense perfumes worthy of an honorable mention and more:
Aftelier Oud Luban (manages to be spiritual while smelling like a million dollars), Idole de Lubin (the bishop had a little too much to drink),  L'Occitane Eau d'Iparie (used to be a cheap trill, its discontinuation is a reason for frag-rage), Serge Lutens Encens et Lavande (forget everything you know about lavender), L'Artisan Passage d'Enfer (brilliant on a blotter, hates my skin), Juozas Statkevicius (an ambery incense, an incensy amber. Beyond sexy), Etat Libre d’Orange- Encens et Bubblegum (the weirdest in this list. Exactly what it says. I'd wear it happily if the husband weren't so repulsed).



Now to the list itself, in no particular order:

• Tauer Perfumes- Incense Rose and Incense Extreme. Opposite sides of the incense spectrum, one is warm and fuzzy, the other austere to the, well, extreme.
  
• Heeley- Cardinal. Somewher in the Sistine Chapel there's a stash of these bottles.
  
• Comme des Garcons Series 3 Incense. All five of them. My personal favorite is the smoky and chilly Zagorsk, but each and every one of them is a gem.
  
• Armani Prive - Bois d'Encens. As elegant as the red Prada shoes of the former pope.
  
• Parfum d'Empire- Wazamba. So beautiful it could have been a Serge Lutens perfume.
  
• Serge Lutens- Fille en Aiguilles. Piney and nostalgic. 

• Donna Karan- Black Cashmere and Chaos. Black smoke and white smoke, respectively. Were too complex for the mainstream, now only available in limited distribution.
  
• Annick Goutal- Encens Flamboyant. Soft and comforting. I think I'll wear it to bed tonight.
  
• YSL- Nu. A not so distant cousin of the Donna Karan perfumes above, and like them is now repackaged and sold in few locations.
  
• L'Artisan- Seville a l'Aube. One of the best perfume releases from last year, a brilliant interpretation of orange blossom, lavender and incense in the air of night.
  
• By Kilian- Incense Oud. An orientalist's fantasy.
  
• Jovoy Paris- La Lithurgie des Heures. I'm feeling blasphemous just looking at the bottle.