Eo Santal Royale

So I read a lot of great things about sandalwood. Figured I had to try it. And I did get a few small samples from Ish (RBO). They were pleasant, but there was not much there to get a feel for them. Anyway, I guess that I bought into the hype of Ensar. I bought a 3 gr bottle and a .3gr bottle of his Santal Royale. Not really impressed. He made it sound like a spiritual experience. Not very much projection at all and fades pretty fast. I'll use up the small bottle, and store the full bottle to age I guess.
Anyway. I will order 3 bottles of oil from Rising Phoenix tomorrow to see what they are like. I've heard great things about JK.

 

Always sample first bro. You don't have to fear about running out of sadalwood oil from any vendor, so better to sample first before ordering full bottle. If you are after projection, try australian sandalwood oil. I get mine from our local distiller and it's one of the best.

 

I think you need time with sandalwood, it took me 2 month of wearing to start enjoying it, at first all i could sense was the smell of wood

 

Agree with Alion22 on this. Took me a while to appreciate it...Got a bottle of musk maceration from a brother and noticed a really nice note in it and found out it was Mysore Sandalwood...
Have managed to source some and find it a most wonderful scent on its own......You are right to store it away as it usually ages well...if stored correctly....
Mustafa makes a valid point also...try samples.....I say this of course, not normally doing this myself...but I have received some samples from vendors and bought afterwards based on that....

 

Was of the impression that a good sandalwood gets better with age.

 

Thanks for all the feedback! I absolutely agree about buying samples. But I did have a plan. I also bought the sample bottle. I figured, if I didn't like it that much, I could use up the sample, and store the 3g away for sale later. I'm with DubOud on this: I thought sandalwood got better with age.

 

Sandalwood gets better with age, no doubt. The point is Ensar's high end sandalwood oils are aging for many years already. Further aging may not make a huge difference. I think this was the point.

 

It's not that simple. It does not in fact get better with age after a certain point. Some of the least interesting oils I've smelled have been the oldest. But the guy has to justify slapping a $300 price tag so you have to say something. It's been really interesting watching these folks try to create agarwood priced market for sandalwood, it's hilarious. Oh yes and of course it's " Royale" .

 

Well of course it's "Royale"! Not many people would buy "Fairly Good"!

 

Meanwhile I have 50 g of high-quality sandalwood oil on the way and I paid less than $150. If you want to drop $100 on a milliliter of an oil like sandalwood go for it but folks, this ain't oud. For me it is best applied in generous swipes and i just don't see the value in a $300 3ml bottle of sandalwood. I believe I have smelled the very best sandalwood oil you can get over the last 30 years of my life and unless these guys are magicians, which they are not, I personally don't see the value. (Not talking about small batch personally or amateur distilled stuff like Tyson - this is a different category in my mind but maybe I'm wrong).

Still if you have to have the most self-aggrandizing brands and products and you've got $300 burning a hole in your pocket, I can see why it might be gratifying to buy this and then tell yourself you have the best sandalwood oil in the world.

As for people picking "fairly good" all I can say is the small $$ i have spent have not been given to the biggest braggarts. For me at least if I see two different retailers and one has two pages talking about how special they are and how much everyone else sucks And the other is just honestly listing their product descriptions, I will give my money to the person who's putting the energy into their product and not so much into their marketing and sensational fictional stories.

tired of the sandalwood and agarwood "carnival barkers" honestly in case it isn't obvious. If these guys feel like their stuff won't sell or compete well against other vendors without the sensational advertising copy, what does that reveal about their true feeling about their product ???

I'm not talking about folks like Tyson who are just buying sandalwood at a higher price and distilling it themselves, sharing the details and passing on the cost. I'm talking about all those miracle $300 sandalwoods where the actual details on who distilled it where and how are vague (= purchased or commissioned) and all the detail is in baroque BS descriptions of intangible evocative hyperbole to appeal to emotions, of which ROYALE is the perfect example of utter BS. You know what royale equates to? Exactly the same thing as rhinestones on a necklace. Or "faux carbon fiber" in a car interior. Fake luxury. We are not being sold oils from the King's Coffers folks... so why pretend? My kid got over costume jewelry when she was 5.

 

@Mr.P I do agree regarding the thrust of your post. I too have very recently sourced excellent sandalwood at an extremely low price. So much so that I was initially concerned regarding the source. However it was unfounded concerns and just turned out to be an exceptionally un greedy distiller.
But the price you have quoted is very very low indeed.
Are you comfortable that what you have is what they say? Because if you are...could you PM me with your supplier as I too would be keen to bag some of this sandalwood..
Thanks...

 

Thank you for your valuable wisdom.

 

i havnt tried the 2020 version but the 2019 Mysore Deep & Buttery Sandalwood Oil by RisingPhoenixPerfume has been the best sandalwood oil iv smelt. The other sandals i tried did not meet expectation/price and iv tried a lot.

 

That's awesome! I ordered some of that.

 

That price sounds about right. $3/gm to $6/gm in that range. You should get very nice quality Sandalwood. The moment someone starts talking about $100/gr sandalwood, you have lost me completely. For $100/gm you can buy hype, rest assured you are not buying sandalwood at that price.

 

I take it that you are talking about larger quantities for 3-$6 per gr? I don't see it happening at 3gr bottles. Or do I not know the right people. I DO see plenty at like 30-$40 a gr.

 

It depends on firstly where you are. and do you have access to the distillers or not. It takes time sometimes to build these relationships. Volume also matters. From a distiller it's better to get the oil in Kgs. Otherwise, just ask for a sample and they are happy to send you 3gm at a decent price.