Begin with Heeley's Cardinal, perhaps the best incense fragrance on the market. Cardinal champions the expansive virtues of incense, at once soothing yet rousing, with a mystical potency that is full yet light, knowing no boundary. While it could be worn year-round, it's perfect for the winter. Similarly, Tauer's L'Air Du Desert Marocain is a masterpiece of warm amber and spices that you must try, achieving the same quality of boundlessness through a vector of coriander seed, cedar, and incense. You can feel the sunlight smiling upon you, as a rush of blushing sand carries the scent of the souks and the markets.
As we travel across the gamut from the transparent to the full, we step things up and move onto Nasomatto's Pardon, a sandalwood lover's dream; a spicy, chocolatey feature atop of the milky wood. Despite its solid sandalwood and amber core, Pardon relies on fresh aromatic spices to lift up this composition – creating an interesting sense of space. Next, explore the dark depths of wood and leather in Histoires de Parfums' 1740, a fragrance Luca Turin proclaimed to be the 'Best Leather Fragrance'. More than this, it takes leather as its starting point, blending tobacco, bergamot, patchouli and labdanum to create an unflinching masterpiece of the category: desiccated, potent, and alluring.
For intensity, try Orto Parisi's Terroni, evoking power through fiery magma and embers, where charred woods and smoky oud are balanced with a jammy berry top note. Think not only of the immensity of Mount Vesuvius, but also the fertile, mineral rich soil that carpets the surrounds. Terroni wears impressively long, endlessly reiterating its sweet smoky note. To dial it up even further, move onto Amouage's Interlude, a magnificently brooding incense sweetened with the herbal twang of oregano, and some oud for good measure to create an ashy masterpiece. Its opening is like an intense montage of a thrilling title sequence: the bold and uncertain chaos of leathery bergamot, fruity pepper, and oily oregano an explosion of contradictions.
