Santal Blanc Serge Lutens for women and men

this is not a creamy sandalwood. in fact, to my nose, it's quite spicy. i agree with HappyShopper. i smell cumin or something similar which i don't like. i also don't care for the pencil sharpener effect i get sometimes. on me, the first hour or so of the old gucci edp is similar, but gucci has a lighter touch and then transforms to a sweeter and almost citrusy scent.

edit: i realize now that tam dao is so much better!

The most beautiful sandalwood I have ever smelled!Bought it as a gift for my mom who loves sandalwood.Sandalwood has a light smell of wood but most of the sandalwood fragrances out there are too weak,too soft. For instance I tried Diptyque's Tam Dao,a lovely fragrance indeed but too weak for someone who wants strength,good lasting power and projection.So I ended up buying Santal Blanc!The opening is a burst of pink pepper which burns your nose.Cinnamon joins in after 5 minutes,it's not sweet cinnamon at all,more sharp and realistic!The drydown is calmer,spicy enough for those who like spicy perfumes,It's more wood and pepper and a bit of musk just to give comfort.Lasting power is good enough for a sandalwood scent.Don't expect it to be like Ambre Sultan but yes it lasts quite long!Overall it reminds me of spicy cheddar cheese which I love!

I also get a strange food note over the sandalwood. This opens as very wood-based on me, with an undertone of sweet chocolate, then turns into a spicy wood. The spicy cumin note is what puts me off an otherwise very well-balanced scent.

This is a perfect woody fragrance, so much better than Sycomore or Coromadel.

This fragrance reminds me a little of Feminine du bois but more vanilic and incensy, with some slightly smoky cinnamon. Santal blanc sillage and lastingpower are very good.

I am impressed with this fragrance it is well crafted and complex. If you like woody fragrances this is a must try!

Well, well, well. Serge Lutens finally has a new customer. Santal Blanc opens up strong but becomes more smooth and inviting throughout the duration of the fragrance. I dabbed this on the nape of my neck and my wrists this morning. 9 hours later, this has become a skin scent that is sure to make people want to come closer. The sillage is moderate/close. The quality is "up there". I have no complaints with my first Lutens fragrance.

Now I just have to figure out how to work this into my fashion coordination. LOL

mmm...Santal Blanc is an interesting one)) It starts very sweet, almost minty - like sweet peppermints mingled with woods; very likable and unusual, in my opinion. It gets more woody towards the end, very prominent sandalwood-cinnamon scent. It sits close to the skin, but is long lasting. This is the second time I'm wearing it, and I'm being complemented on this scent yet again. I also anticipate to smell it on a man: I think it should blend wonderful with male chemistry. I can't believe there are so many people disappointed with it - I find it wonderful, and I wonder how come I have overlooked this beauty before! Thumbs up))

A quiet, but still a very elegant fragrance. Very unique. It stays close to skin and it's comfortable to wear.

What's interesting to me about this one is that all the notes come out at once in the initial few moments. I get spice but only the pepper, I don't really ever get cinnamom (which I love), I get the sandalwood, powdery iris, rose, a fairly strong musk, sweetness and a fruit note although there isn't one listed anywhere.

At the mid point it is peppery with the smooth sandalwood, the rose and musk fade then the sweetness is very dominant. For anyone who has smelled Ambre Sultan, it is the same sweet note.

In the end it is almost a skin scent, not a lot of sillage, of sweet rose cradled by the sandalwood and musk.

The only downfall for me is the overpowering sweetness.

This smelled like white pepper and sweet sandalwood in the beginning, and then morphed into a warm cedar wood. That's it--I kind of wish I smelled the iris and the rose, but this was a rather linear fragrance on me, and stayed mostly woody. Ah, well--saves my wallet!

It could have been a great perfume if not for that sour note that ruins the whole thing for me. I don't know what it is but I wish it wasn't there.

I spent a lot of time choosing to purchase just one full bottle of Lutens and after much sampling, I chose this one mainly because when I wore it at home and it had settled, it was like being enveloped in a comforting cashmere shawl. Lovely.

Just like the very expensive 'genuine' sandalwood essential oil that I bought from the Body Shop a few years back, this has a very cloying, sickly note in it that I would find intolerable if I used much of it, although I generally like sandalwood. Test before you buy, I suggest

Opening on the dry-oil sweetness of nutmeats--or the scrapings inside almond shells--before the slightly yeasty, astringent, wood-pudding creaminess of the sandalwood oil explodes from the blend. There's something creamy, warm and carnal about "Santal Blanc"; like clean skin that's ripened after cuddling in clean sheets all afternoon. The smell of oily, old trees decomposing in a sunbaked and dry place. Every once in a while, you reach to grab a little chunk of pistachio "Turkish Delight" from an oiled, wooden box, and luxuriate in the treat's nutty rosewater, cinnamon, and honeyed sweetness. There's also a slightly peppery, spicy, dried-wood accord found in "Santal Blanc" where it's obviously been touched with a hint of turpentine-refreshing, sweet-water-like benzoin---a smell that makes me think of well-worn and cleaned linens or soft t-shirts on particularily philosophical, sunbleached-sexy people, who might also paint in oils or refinish classic wooden boats. "Santal Blanc" is cozy, laid-back sensuality---but sensuality is its most mischevious game; the amorous emotion you'll feel when it surrounds you--all swirling pudding-woods with hearty, savory touches that speak to your core--might come as a total surprise.

Hey, a perfume that REALLY smells like the notes in the description: Sandalwood (duh), Cinnamon bark (redundant superfluity, Cinnamon IS bark...it's like pita bread or rice pilaf), and Siamese Benzoin. (Hey, Serge, it's been Thailand since 1939. Of course, the French had a few other things on their minds back then and they probably just didn't notice. Or perhaps a little hankering after the good old colonial days? What the hell, I'll forgive a lot where genius is involved. I like Celine, too.) Without spices and resins, it wouldn't be a Lutens, naturally. And hovering over this,Iris and musk, just like the package says. Dries down to the smell of...Kentucky Bourbon? It sure is! Takes me right back to my whiskey swilling, dope sniffing, Keith Richards wardrobe wearing days of the mid Eighties. Another triumph, Frenchy.

a sweet, warm and peppery, though I feel like a little bit choking on it, I smell a little wood workshop in it as well, but as it had already been mentioned you have to pass some foodie establishment on the first place.. slightly burning and dusty scent.
Not my type. I don't know if I find any SL scent that I would love or feel necessary to own; so far no success

Strangely foody cedar on me with musk, cinnamon and benzoin giving a foody-cake feeling. A change from the fruitcake Arabie, but not as rich or round as Ambre Sultan. There’s an edge I don’t care for that is a bit nose-twinging, and I’m pretty sure it’s the sandalwood, with a Mysore lilt that comes across as cumin/sweat. Urk.