Incense fragrances, balsamic and slightly smokey

Hi everyone,

as you can see from my collection, I really love the smell of incense, especially the smokey mix of frankincense and myrrh they burn in catholic churches, but also balsamic, resinous incense in general, and I'm always looking for more.

The only fragrances that I think fill this niche very well are Armani Privé - Bois d'Encens and Cardinal, though the first one is expensive enough to put me off from purchasing a full bottle, especially considering it's a designer fragrance, and the second one has underwhelming performance on my skin.

I've tried a number of others, the better ones that come to mind are Olibanum, Enclave, Series 3: Incense - Avignon, Full Incense, Incense, Fille en aiguilles, and some cheap ones as well, Ikon, "Majd al Sultan | Asdaaf", and Supremacy Incense, but I feel like none of them had the right mix of balsamic, dry and smokey incense I'm looking for.
Olibanum for example has a supremely realistic smell of olibanum only, with hardly any myrrh and no smoke.
Enclave is more smokey, but there's not a lot of incense compared to other, greener notes.
Fille en aiguilles is much too sweet for my taste, and the cheaper ones like Majd al sultan and Supremacy Incense feature much more sweetness, amber/labdanum and vanilla than actual incense, so they might be smokey but they're not really balsamic.

I've recently found out about another incense fragrance, Shanaan, a discontinued fragrance of which I'm trying to find a sample before committing to a full bottle, but alas, the only person I found who's selling samples doesn't ship to Italy where I live and reviews are few and far in between, so I'll keep looking for a way or other to sample it, same as La Liturgie des Heures and Casbah, which seem quite hard to come by in their own right at this point.

With these tastes in mind, can you think of any other fragrance that I should look into, be it something of splendid high quality that's worth a steep expense, or something that might not fit the bill 100% but is cheap enough to be a good deal regardless

Thanks in advance, and have a good one!

You should try Rêve d'Ossian (2012). It’s really incensy and it stays on for quite a while, on my skin at least. The Olibanum in it is the prima ballerina of the show.

ETA: it’s a bit pricy but you can get it fairly affordable (I don’t know your budget) here in the Souk or in other grey markets.

As smokey perfumes I really like Rien , Broken Theories (you feel like you are really _in_ the fireplace! Like a phoenix or something ), Valparaiso .(I have also my eyes on Shaghaf Oud Abyad which does include the notes you mention. But I didn't test it)

Thanks all for your enticing suggestions!

I think this is what you are looking for https://www.labronperfume.com/...

You could also try Black Incense Malaki by Chopard…

Have a look at the newest release by Lattafa, for their Pride II: Ajwaa. Lot of resins, and I believe Frankincense & Myrrh. It does have dates and licorice, but atm I'm not getting any sweetness (I do get licorice). Mine arrived today, so it might have some 'traveldamage' as it came from abroad. But for now it is extremely smoky/incensy on me with licorice. The dry down is 99% myrrh and Frankincense. Which, for me, is a shame as I want the dates and lemon with myrrh. But who knows. Skin chemistry is a weird thing...

With its price point it could fall under the "good deal" if it's not exactly what you're searching for, but still interesting. Better yet: at the moment Lattafa has created miniatures! Small, simple 20ml bottles of all their new Prides. I got the Vintage Radio one (which has Palo Santo btw), which is a good thing, because I hate it. It is going in the Souk soon. But my point was: these aren't such a huge chunk out of your budget if they aren't exactly to your specifications, and it's an extra good thing if you're forced to blind buy.

I hope this helps!