Some Heraldry

[Joyleaf_]

Black leather accord, Australian sandalwood, ambrette seed, incense ash, and tobacco absolute.

This is very masculine. It started out very sandalwood heavy but then mellowed out with more of the tobacco absolute. On me this ends up smelling like a cleaner, more well to do Iago, with none of his dirty tricks. Everything blends together very seamlessly and it's hard to pick out one note from the extremely attractive scent wafting from my wrist. I cant wait to smell it on my partner, and this will work wonderfully on the days I need a little confidence booster! My only sadness is that I have to shove my face into my wrist to really smell it. I am hoping the throw will improve with age, as will the wear length.

[Lucchesa]

Some Heraldry, when it first hits my skin, is high-end soap for at least ten minutes. I'm not sure which component is behaving that way -- incense ash? That's one I'm not familiar with. Eventually, though, it settles down into a lovely unisex blend. I wouldn't call it masculine on me; it's right in the middle of the continuum and I think would be equally nice on a man or a woman. I agree with Joyleaf_ that it's difficult to prise apart the notes. Both the tobacco and the leather are mellow; this is not a scent with a lot of sharp edges. It does wear close to the skin, but I think it will age nicely.

[nok]

I agree, this one smells mostly like soap to me, which isn't what I expected given the notes list. I wondered if maybe I'd received a mislabelled bottle but it looks like other people are picking up the soapiness as well. I don't get leather, tobacco, sandalwood, incense or ambrette seed (a lovely warm musky note, one of my favorites in perfumery). All I smell is soap. It's not a bad scent per se, and I actually have a soft spot for soapy fragrances so this ends up working for me in a roundabout kind of way.

[zankoku_zen]

Sandalwood, black leather and a touch of tobacco. This one is a manly black leather. Black leather tends to really amp up and go chemically on me, so this doesn't amp up and take over, nor is it too chemically.

 

Medium throw and wear length.

[Threemoons]

I have a bottle of this  and it's ageing gorgeously for me.  It was never super-masculine on me, but now it really wears like an expensive woman's sandalwood soap, like the old catalog item from Caswell-Massey.  It's NOT like the Chinatown Bee Flower sandalwood soap, nor the Mysore Sandalwood soap from Indian shops.  Sweet tobacco flower is what I think the floral side is, and I am getting more of a light/floral sandalwood rather than a masculine one.  The leather is really staying in the background on this one.

[artisjok]

Some Heraldry is that fancy soap mentioned by others and the musky ambrette seed. After a short time, the soap is replaced by the black leather. Unfortunately, it’s just not appealing on my skin. Just a... generic.. scent. As if someone tried to describe a perfume with no concept of how to pick notes apart. I think it’s too well blended for me, and wish I got some of the others’ experience. A shame because I was very interested in it! I’m glad I got a tester before indulging in a full bottle. 
 

 

[starbrow]

This is possibly the best leather in my collection, and I finally cracked the code, three years later. That incense ash is totally frankincense, and it is the Lab's beeeeautiful frankincense, all churchy-smooth and a little sweet and dreamy. It curls around the warm leather in a heady swirl of incense. It is such a powerful presence that the leather doesn't really stand a chance against it, and that's exactly the way I like it.

 

The sandalwood is very quiet beneath it, and I know the ambrette is lending a little sweetness and earthiness to the leather and the blend as a whole, but I wouldn't have been able to blindly tell it was in here. I can't even smell the tobacco, it's blending in so well with everything else, so no need to worry that it will dominate if it usually does for you.

 

So if a swoony frankincense church-incense kind of blend will make leather wearable for you, I absolutely think Some Heraldry is worth a shot. I love my bottle and will keep it forever. (I'm excited to try We Believe That Death is Not the End of Man again from the same collection, because in my mind these two are sister scents, but Some Heraldry has definitely taken its leather-clad self to church and I am here for it!)