Cardinal is a recent fragrance release from the niche line Heeley, and the notes include incense, cistus, grey amber, patchouli and vetiver.
Cardinal is easily my favorite scent from Heeley so far. As you might guess from the name and the notes, it is a take on church incense, and so immediately invites comparison to what I think of as the industry standard, Comme des Garçons Avignon. Like Avignon, Cardinal starts off rather strong, but it has nothing like Avignon’s uncompromisingly gloomy stance: it is brighter, smoother, and not quite so bone-dry, although I wouldn’t go so far as to call it sweet. The dry down is soft and mildly earthy, and like many incense-focused fragrances, has a meditative quality…
The Japanese incense company Baieido was founded in 1657 by Jinkoya (meaning “aloeswood trader”) Sakubei in the city of Sakai, a trading port where incense was a hot commodity. Baieido’s Hinoki Incense is made with the essential oil of a venerable and treasured tree — the hinoki cypress. During feudal times in Japan, the hinoki cypress was one of the Five Sacred Trees of the Kiso forest; death sentences were handed down to those who felled a hinoki cypress without permission from the authorities.