The scent of sandalwood is glorious–creamy, velvety, with a rich rose nuance. It’s as if wood shavings had been steeped in rose liqueur and then drizzled with cream. I remember the bliss I felt while leaning over a vat of vetiver-sandalwood attar in Kannauj, a town in northern India renowned for its scents, and immersing myself into a cloud of fragrant vapor. I still have a handful of sandalwood chips from that trip and they retain their beautiful aroma. The combination of sandalwood and vetiver is even more spellbinding.
Of course, there are plenty of sandalwood-vetiver fragrances, from Serge Lutens Vétiver Oriental to Maison Louis Marie No.04 Bois de Balincourt. I enjoy all of them. Yet the sandalwood fragrance I wear the most is Forest Essentials Sandalwood & Vetiver Scented Body Mist. I bought it on the same Indian trip when I traveled to Lucknow and Kannauj researching the history of attars.
Forest Essentials is an Indian beauty brand inspired by Ayurveda and it’s now available in the UK. I already wrote about their wonderful Vetiver Mist and mentioned that they offer a variety of skincare and body products with scents referencing Indian aromatics, such as narcissus, turmeric and rose. Whether their products are authentically Ayurvedic is not something I can judge, but I was drawn to their fragrances.
Sandalwood & Vetiver Scented Body Mist is exactly what it promises, a blend of sandalwood and vetiver. The combination is ideal, because the green freshness of vetiver uplifts the languorous sandalwood notes. The result is less creamy than you would find in a pure sandalwood fragrance, but the dryness is bracing and uplifting. For this reason, Sandalwood & Vetiver is one of my most versatile scents. I spray it on in the morning and instantly feel energized.
Body mists are not meant to be lingering and this fragrance is fleeting. This doesn’t matter since the initial boost is what I crave the most. If Forest Essentials is difficult to find in your country, consider this fragrance as an inspiration. Blending sandalwood and vetiver essences and diluting them in alcohol and water would be a great perfumery exercise and an interesting fragrance. Both materials are complex enough to be complete perfumes, so I encourage you to experiment.
If you have a favorite body mist or a suggestion for a dry sandalwood fragrance, please share them in the comments.
Forest Essentials Sandalwood & Vetiver Scented Body Mist 130ml, around $30.
Ingredients
Steam Distilled Vetiver Water (Vetiveria Zizanioides)** – 40.0%,Fresh Aloe Vera Juice (Aloe Barbadensis)** – 15.0%, Wheat Germ Extract (Triticum Vulgare) -2.0%, Sandalwood Essential Oil(Santalum Album) – 1.0%, Cardamom Extract (Elettaria Cardamomum) – 0.5%. Base Contains Vitamin E (Tocopheryl Acetate)**, Alcohol Denat. (Derived From Pure Grain), Glycerin, Sodium Benzoate – Q.S.
** Certified Organic
Photography by Bois de Jasmin, my bottle is the old-style packaging of Forest Essentials, but the scent is still the same.
11 Comments
rlspmd: Sounds delightful! I was slow in appreciating vetiver and its greeness. But I do feel that this combination would work. Thank you for this. January 26, 2024 at 9:26am
Maria: How very inspiring. Thank you very much for this post.
I always wonder why the Hermessence Perfumes by Hermès are so little mentioned in the fragrance world.
I instantly tought of Vétiver Tonka, when I read this.
Do you have any thoughts on how these two might compare?
kindest of wishes, Maria January 26, 2024 at 9:52am
Tara C: Teone Reinthal Natural Perfumes in Australia makes very lovely sandalwood scents. I wore her Embers Renaissance perfume last night. January 26, 2024 at 10:40am
Marge Clark: Sounds amazing! I am wondering why they chose not to use a Sandalwood hydrolat. I am contemplating a drop of Vetiver or Ruh Khus solublized in the Sandalwood water.
I think I didn’t consider the blend because I am still held hostage by thinking of the need for top/middle/base notes.
Thank you, as always, for the inspiration! January 26, 2024 at 1:04pm
Trudy: This sounds lovely. I don’t have much experience with body mists but this does sound nice. This is off topic but I’m wondering if anyone can share thoughts on Initio Perfumes.
I’m interested in Atomic Rose or Psychedelic Love and thinking of ordering samples if available. The FB are very pricey and hard to find testers at any of the usual places in the LA area. Any thoughts or opinions of Initio in general or these scents in particular would be appreciated! January 26, 2024 at 1:05pm
Anjali Vandemark: Every time I go to India I buy Forest Essentials products in bulk. 🙂 I remember that sometime back you had mentioned their Jasmine soap has one to best notes. Alas this time I found they have changed it slightly. Even so it’s on of the best Jasmine notes. What I love about them is their combinations are unique. Their Turmeric soap is gorgeous. January 26, 2024 at 2:22pm
Mridula Koshy: forest essentials is a lovely line; do look up Litrahb Perfumery next time you are in India. Im dying to read what you might write about any of their perfumes. January 26, 2024 at 11:44pm
nozknoz: I’ve smelled a couple of these. One friend has the oud body spray — I think it’s oud and green tea? It’s not a heavy kind of oud, just a subtle woody scent. It smells fantastic on him for summer, and lasts well, too. January 27, 2024 at 2:12am
Anjali: Bharti/Litrahb does such interesting work. I have had the opportunity to get my nose on it though! January 27, 2024 at 2:04pm
Caitlenn: Will have to try the blending experiments, as my skin reacts poorly to wheat germ and Vitamin E. Is there anything else I should know about blending experimentation for Vetiver & Sandalwood beyond use of fragrance grade alcohol and water before I start? January 27, 2024 at 2:48pm
OnWingsofSaffron: How about Chanel‘s Sycomore: vetiver plus sandelwood and cedar. It is simply magnificent! January 30, 2024 at 12:39pm