Praline de Santal

The opening is both intense and delicious – something is baking and it is very sweet, but also wholesome and satisfying, like gingerbread or graham crackers. A drizzle of dark honey and spice lead us to the roasted hazelnuts – deep, rich and mouth-watering, with that deliriously yummy balance of savory and sweet that makes caramelized nuts so impossible to resist. Then smooth sandalwood and sultry cedar come into play, with a boozy, fruity mulled wine sweetness thrumming underneath and we move out of the realm of desserts and into the land of seduction. Luxurious and warm, as this mellows, it settles into a soft, wood-centered scent, although the wood in this case is unusually delicious. The edible components are still there – the marshmallow sweetness of heliotrope and the richness of the roasted hazelnuts meld in the most amazing way – but they do not dominate. They all blend into a velvety harmonious whole, as one would expect from Pierre Guillaume. Nobody does gourmand scents better, and with Praline de Santal, he has created a stunner.