Cardinal James Heeley for women and men

Not much to add other than it's a soapier Avignon with half the lasting power. Still a nice representation of the sunnier side of frankincense.

I'll never understand why someone would want to smell like a church. Or any other place, for that matters.
It might be hard to believe, but I love a incense note in a parfum, as long as it's not prevalent, because I don't think that smelling like a priest would make me more interesting.
So far I've found nothing better than Fahrenheit Absolute in the use of incense.

Edit: I've found it! Check Maria Candida Gentile parfums!

As much as I love liturgic-frankincense fragrances and I never get tired of them, I still find Cardinal to be among the weakest in this genre. It clearly moves in the same direction of Avignon or Montale's Full Incense but it's nowhere close neither to the magnificence of the former nor to the strong lasting power of the latter. Overall smells fine but lasts nothing. Sort of Avignon Eau De Cologne emphasized on the clean-lemony aspect of the biblical resin...



Rating: 6/10

A weaker Avignon.

This is a very nice literal incense. It takes me back to sitting in mass with my parents and lighting candles to Our Lady! I bought the Matthew Williamson incense a while back for a paltry £7.00 (!) and this one, though a little icier and more interesting, is not quite worth the price tag.

Cardinal is much sweeter than all the CDG Incenses. Before trying this Avignon was my favourite, but Cardinal has a lighter, sweeter tone which makes it easier to wear, not as sombre. Incense is probably my favourite perfume note, and this is right up there with the best ones. Pretty expensive, but worth it IMO. I have liked every Heeley fragrance I have tried. I think the sweetness in this makes it more suitable for a woman. 10/10.

I keep coming back to this. With the initial spritz, I imagined getting unsolicited advice on feline continence management, but after a few minutes it softens down and the amber and a whiff of patchouli make their presence felt. I keep noticing lovely wafts from my clothes. I've always loved frankincense, but some of the harsher implementations I've tried would get people looking around for the swinging thurible. This is just right. After a few minutes. And get rid of the cat hairs on your clothes.

This one reminds me of,

Very similar to;
CDG brown one,
Terre d' Hermes

yet still slightly different and unique!

9/10

Cardinal is quite possibly the best church incense fragrance I have ever known. It manages to be "brighter" than Avignon and others I have had or sampled maybe due to the aldehydes. It is blended so well and manages to lift my mood when I wear it. It's truly a spiritual experience! I find it wears easier than Avignon and I always get comliments when I wear it. The rose and pepper notes along with the incense really sets it off for me. I covet my bottle. A real masterpiece.

I think you should give this one a second chance, I did and I have no regrets:) I almost disliked it because of the strange, sharp spicey opening, for me it is always the labdanum..if it is too much of it, I do not like it in my perfumes but wait...it'll go away and what is left is one of the most beautiful incense fragrances I had the pleasure to sniff! It gets nearly soft on my skin when the patchouli and the some sweet amber kicks in.. and I like it very much...nearly love it ! Take a sample first but get a decent one, because only 1ml would not be enough for giving it the chance it clearly deserves..high quality scent all over, like all the Heeleys

Incense, especially the dark, atmospheric kind, has been a rather new interest for me. Since falling in love with Chanel Coromandel, I have been so eager to find other well-done incense based fragrances.

Cardinal by Heeley has been suggested a few times as being true church incense. I'm not a big church-goer, however I do love the smell of a chapel full of smokey incense and mustiness.

Cardinal opens rather strong and masculine, with a somewhat dirty earthiness coming to the fore. Pepper, patchouli and vetiver tend to stand out on my skin the most. The aldehydes provide a smoothness in texture and smell, which is both intriguing and a little strange.

I was a little disappointed that the incense didn't seem to feature so readily in the first hour or so. However the more the fragrance settled, the less green and earthy it was and the smokier it became.

I can understand how some see the sweetness here, however it's more of a dusty and resinous cedar chest smell to me, with that delightful incensey goodness.

This fragrance does however sit lightly on my skin, without making its strong presence known. I'm actually anosmic to this fragrance at times, which is woeful.

Cardinal tends to lean on the more masculine side of things, however a woman that enjoys wearing rich woodsy or primarily patchouli and vetiver based scents will enjoy this.

I can't say that this is my favourite incense fragrance, however it was extremely enjoyable, nonetheless.

Pretty good. Another catholic churche encense fragrance. This one is a little more well-balanced and rounded by woods and freshness than CDG Avignon.

Cardinal is more wearable IMO.


8/10

If I had to pick one perfume note that I never get tired of, incense would probably be the top contender, so Cardinal was a must-sample. It starts out just like a billowing cloud of Catholic-church incense, visibly pouring out of a swinging censer at a solemn religious function. To me it’s very similar to Comme des Garcons Avignon, dominated by the scent of burning frankincense and myrrh, but Cardinal seems a little sharper, brighter, and more woody, with an aromatic cedar-chest background to accompany the main attraction. After seeing that it contains floral and aldehyde notes, the sharp edge doesn't seem surprising. As it dries down it becomes a little earthier, with some vetiver making its appearance, but the incense theme carries straight through to the end. Oh, woe is me, my budget, and my storage space! Within the first 30 seconds I knew that this was another decant-worthy perfume.

This one is a sweeter variation of CdG Avignon. I can stand Avignon, but I can't stand Cardinal. I believe it's because of the aldehydes which made me sick! That's why I sold my decant. It has nothing to do with incense perfumes like Zagorsk or Incense Extreme by Tauer, which are both great - in my opinion. This one I don't like. Bleeeh!
BTW. I like the bottle design very much.