Armani Prive Cologne Spray Bois d'Encens Giorgio Armani for women and men

hermes 186 YOU ARE RIGHT!!! I AGREE TOTALLY..I was trying to find how to describe this perfume makes me feel..and it is exactly how Mr. Armani described it

"to rediscover the damp coolness of the stones of the Italian churches still filled with the curling smoke of incense".

One of the very best scents, always compliments.

This is extremely similar to Diptyque l'eau trois, but surprisingly much well constructed and not from a niche house more of "Niche Clothing" house , more natural smelling, you can definitely pick up on the incense in this mix, a slight hint of oregano that I failed to smell in l'eau trois and great longevity, the sillage is moderate but miles stronger than l'eau trois and also the presence of that "mastic gum" that is addicting for me to smell. Absolutely love it, I guess L'eau trois that I had given away will be reincarnated soon in my collection as Armani/Prive "Bois D'encens" Gracie...Mr.Armani for that beautiful mix.

just read some reviews..dark, gothic, mysterious and deep is right! and yes, I do appreciate the quality too..but can't wear it

i tried to love this..and I never not like a perfume..I have over 200 perfumes and the only ones I don't like is opium and this one..I love Armani and everything he has..the boat, the home decorations and all his other perfumes that I tried and have..but not this one..it is just way too heavy for me..

As many have observed already, this is a dry, austere scent. I have tried the CDG incense fragrance and the now discontinued Gucci Pour Homme(2003)but both are too obvious. Bois d'encens is less sweet and more pure in terms of the incense note. It is subtle as you would expect from Mr Armani. There is also a pine/ cedar note on dry down.

I have acquired the body lotion version via Ebay. These are normally only available to guests of the Armani hotels(Milan/Dubai). If you love Bois d'encens you will enjoy this also though i suspect most women will find it too masculine. There are rumours that an accessories line may be introduced to include body wash/ shower gel/ soap etc

too TOO complex. that's all


i believe somebody else called it "HARDCORE"

It has been said before, and I certainly agree, that this austere, reduced perfume paints a life-like picture of a catholic church where the smells of century-old wooden benches and lots of incense are lingering in cool air. It's not an inviting or warm perfume, but it is fascinating, in a way.

An aspect that I don't like so much about Bois d'Encens, though, is that, to my nose, it smells somewhat hollow. I'm missing something at the core of this perfume. What I do get is a plasticky note (maybe that's the pepper?). It's a bit as if I smelled an empty plastic container that once held a great perfume.

Good quality scent. It has a peppery opening and somewhere in its scent journey it crosses paths with SL's Fille en Aguilles. It dries down and smell like smoky pine. Beautiful and comforting.

Wow. This is a v interesting, unique fragrance. Conjures up feelings of being in olden times in a gothic church. If you have ever done purification rituals or meditations burning resins like myrrh and frankinscence with the charcoal discs this is THE IDENTICAL SMELL. Very skillfully done, I don't really get the spice notes, this is pure resins for me with some vetiver. Longevity moderate.
Not sure how often I'd reach for this, its a very serious fragrance !
This may sound odd but --Perhaps it would be ideal for life transitions, ceremonial occasions like funerals or grieving periods.
It may be equally at home on a solitary day spent meditating or contemplating serious issues/ decisions. If u want a fragrance for a yoga retreat, this may be it.
I think a touch of woody honey/ amber honey or beeswax would have just made it slightly more wearable and feminine. One to consider when you want something totally different.
This could be unisex. As frankinscence is strong here, this may be comforting to those with pleasant memories of attending church.

I love the smell but my skin soaks it up and it's gone in no time. If I could get more than 3 hours I'd be grateful, I can't justify the cost for such a fleeting treat.
Shame for me but new skin is on my xmas list!

THIS IS A VERY MASCULINE COLOGNE THAT TAKES YOU TO A TIME OF THE PAST MORE LIKE MIDIEVAL TIMES ..A GOOD INSENCE COLOGNE THAT IS MORE SUITABLE FOR WINTER AN A SUIT,A SOPHISTICATED AN MYSTERIOUS COLOGNE THAT DEMANDS RESPECT.

Georgio Armani says he wanted "to rediscover the damp coolness of the stones of the Italian churches still filled with the curling smoke of incense". This is spot on.

Very masculine to my nose, not that I object to wearing masculine scents. The "bois" is definitely not woodsy notes, more like fresh pine needles and maybe there is a hint of bitter oakmoss in it too, although not listed. The deep incense is just about dominated by the pine at first but after about an hour they even out. Still, I would not pay the price for a full bottle. I prefer my incense stronger, but it was certainly worth a try. I would love a man who smelled like this!

the true: this one smells as an amazing incense, you can close your ayes and appear inside a church, or doing a magic ritual or a deep meditation. today i used it, and put on 1 shot of gelsomino (Aqua de Parma) what i get was an amazing aura of a ritual, but if you are on the wrong mood, then its possible to go into a depression.
I smelled all the collection and maybe this was the only one different for real.

It's a pine bomb with woody,incense background fragrance.
Weird that there is no pine in notes pyramid.
Very dry scent,serious and mature.
It's unique,if u like this genre u may also like fille en aiguilles from serge lutens line wich cost less then BD.
Longevity and projection seems good.

Adoro il senso di calma e pace che dà questo profumo. Un vero concentrato di calma e serenità, l'incenso é totale in questa fragranza. Meditativo. Ne ho due campioncini e lo utilizzo come una medicina.

The first thing I pick up is lemony frankincense and some cedar. It’s a thin, transparent scent with a hint of dusty vetiver in the base. I don’t see much resemblance to church incense. Instead, it’s more of a wood-and-stone composition, evoking the materials of an old building that’s recently been renovated with some juniper flooring or beams, or a dry forest with lots of dead evergreen trees.

In any case, it’s subtle, natural-smelling, and understated, not exactly what I expected from Armani, but a pleasant surprise. The pepper does not appear to me until about an hour into the drydown, when it becomes noticeable, helping maintain the strength of the other notes. Longevity is good, about 6-8 hours on skin.

I would classify this as a vetiver fragrance, and as such, like it a lot. My enthusiasm would be less if I wanted it to be an incense fragrance. For those who like subtle, woody scents, it’s most definitely worth a sniff.

I am a woman. I like all sorts of florals and wear Carnal Flower, Fracas, Portrait of a Lady, etc - BUT, that being said, I find that I feel very powerfully feminine when I wear Bois d'ensens. I LIKE that it smells like church incense - that is an extremely appealing scent for me, and I have found in Paris, actual cathedral incense! So for me, it has little to do with male or female, and much more to do with sensuality

Rating - Outstanding.
This is hardcore.
Bois d'Encens is the ultimate incense fragrance with killer intensity and authenticity. Haha. It is pretty harsh straight to business incense here. It has this woody resin smell to it too. And spices are greatly blended to it so a normal person won't tell there's ones. If compare it to Passage D'Enfer then I think I prefer Passage due to it's colder, more evil mind. This is incense, the thing. And Passage is aura. That's the difference. Though, that doesn't mean Bois d'Encens is worse. No, it's effing terrific fragrance, you have to have serious guts to wear that. Not all will be able to simply pull it off. Only complaint is the price. We have it for 280$ for 100ml -.- Verdict. This is great but L'Artisan is cheaper and comes in great bottle too.

I got a sample of this online and while i enjoyed the smoky incense of it, i couldn't get passed the GIN note. I hate gin ugh haha and it didnt seem to last that long...too bad this the bottle is over $150 on the Armani website... $_$

It's the best. I like it very much. It's absolutely elegant and manly.

Far, FAR too spicy for me. I can appreciate it's quality, but I can't wear this.

This is a masterpiece! Dark, gothic, deep and mysterious liturgical incense. Together with CDG avignon, this stays at the top of church inspired fragrances and it's surely one of my favourites. It's pungent almost astringent in the opening to turn much more softer, warm and earthy during drydown. Pepper, some coniferous, vetiver and animalic hints give birth to a multi-faceted incense based composition that while smelling dark and gothic it's incredibly elegant in its minimalistic approach. Not too powerful but definitely remarkable. If you want your incense to stay close to the skin but to result incredibly distinctive at the same time, there's nothing like Bois D'Encens.

The original packaging came in a precious wood bottle and was available as a 50ml EDP at a quite unaffordable price. They now made a "smarter/cheaper" version with a dark glass bottle coming in a 100ml EDP size. Highly recommended!

Rating: 9.5/10

I used the whole sample,so I can describe it my way:Piny, sophysticated,dry-ashy kind of smell.At first sniff remind me two things: cedar and pine forest and somewhat russian sauna.(in a good way)
The image for this perfume,though should be a strong misterious lady,sitting on a back-seat of a limo.
Red lipstick and black dress and stockings are good addition for this perfume.

Beautiful ,memories of Christmas mass .It's got great lasting power and sillage and should be a classic . It's way up there with the greats like Chanel no 22, Guerlain's Vol de Nuit , Lanvin's My Sin and others.

Having been so obsessed with Thierry Mugler’s Alien Liqueur de Parfum which was oriental woody, I decided to try another Armani Prive Cologne which is Bois d’Ences. I was so intrigued about Armani Prive scents also thus it was a swift decision to try this. The smell was very powerful for me. Great perhaps for a male scent, unluckily this is a unisex perfume. I am one of those who have made fashion as part of my lifestyle. I really don’t go out without wearing a cologne or a perfume. Perhaps I would call myself a perfume junkie. Bottles of empty perfumes piles up in my lower closet. It looks like an old chemistry lab and all the chemicals have just evaporated. I always have the joy of looking at it. Since perfumes comes in various packages, I delightfully look at each style and think about its scent. This one from Armani Prive was authentic. As often used, they have some personal style on how they bottle they perfume. Quite amazing to notice but this was too laid back. But
the simplicity brought a great deal to me. It might be safe but I find it beautiful. All black with a stone-like flacon. Mysterious in the outside but you know what to expect in the inside.
The scent smells like dark flower pounded in stones and left dry for months. You can smell the aroma of it but light and old. That is how I describe the smell when the scent started. I find pieces of old-fashion smell from the beginning. It was like smelling an old leather wallet from the closet. But there were hints of slight floral smell, perhaps because of labdanum. I find it smelling like lavender. Its a little confusing because labdanum can sometimes feel like lavender. But checking the notes of this perfume, I was sure it was labdanum. The smell is very strong from start to end. Especially during the middle part when incense or some spicy nuances came out. It was really strong like an old Japanese curry sauce. It was like the smell do not belong to the perfume. The closest positive criticism I can give to this scent is its being a good smell for men. But its really a mistake to make this a unisex scent. It was just too strong for a woman to wear this. It surpasses even a male
characteristics thus this truly make the smell genuinely male. I find the smell so tight also. It was like when you wearing this you can constantly restrained. Certainly the darkest I have tried as an oriental woody smell. The smell during dry down sometimes is too corrosive of any enjoyment. I do not submit to the smell’s beauty because it was heavy and dark. All I can say is that this was a mistake to have this classified as unisex. Perhaps for a male this can pass, but even too much as well. For me it is nasally draining.

This was extremely green on me, smelled like pine or juniper. There was the most fleeting exhale of incense when I first sprayed it onto my skin, and then it was simply very green and masculine. It definitely warrants a re-test though.

It's a very classic and modern smell that I've ever used still now.It's a very manly & elegant perfume.I say only one word about it , just PERFECT

I read that Giorgio Armani thinks this fragrance on a woman states about her sex-appeal,maturity and courage,though it's a unisex (most manly) one.
I guess he's totally right.I remeber I used it once,it belonged to one of my friends and I have found it to be very nice on my skin.
I don't like unisex fragrances,but this has a totaly different feeling on men and women.
On my male friend it is strong,bold,woody.
My skin turned this fragrance into a very light version.I haven't found this to be masculine on me at all.
I wouldn't buy a whole bottle of this fragrance,but I wanted to say it's interesting how this unisex fragrance acts totally different on men and women.
My conclusion is that this is a very nice combination,that deserves a try from the men's part,mostly.

Found a spray refill of Armani Prive Bois D'Encens at a great price and had to snap it up, even though I had never smelled it.

I'm so glad I did. What an amazing scent! Husband and I are planning on sharing the bottle. It is unisex, though women who wear primarily flowery or fruit perfumes may find it a bit too masculine for their taste.

Five ingredients? I believe it. It's a simple but powerful combination that to my nose smells like black pepper, cedar, vetiver and frankincense. Couldn't guess what the mystery fifth ingredient is but there's a little something extra in there. Maybe sandalwood or cocobolo wood? The overall effect is a pleasant mixture of dry wood and church incense. It starts out very sharp with a dominant pepper note, but dries down to a soft, comforting incense aroma.

The sillage is excellent. My one complaint is that the persistence is below average. Considering what this scent normally costs, it ought to have greater longevity than it does. It was distinctly less noticeable after two hours, and by the end of six hours, I had to really take a deep sniff of my wrist to even detect those last faint frankincense notes.

Still worth a try, though, if you're looking for a good incense fragrance.

i would like to buy the five bottles but i cannot find them anywhere. if you have a place please let me know by emailing to matthew21@mts.net

It is fantastic scent! It is like no other, very individual, very manly and elegant.