Cathedral Incense Atmosphere Spray

[LiberAmoris]

Gaudeamus omnes in Domino, quia Salvator noster natus est in mundo. Hodie nobis de caelo pax vera descendit.

 

Apologies, I looked for my bottle of Cathedral so I could compare the scent of Cathedral Incense atmo to it (thought that might be most useful to others), but am unable to find it so am working from memory here. But I do think that Cathedral Incense is strongly reminiscent of Cathedral, and that people who like it would like this! I'm getting similar resiny-herbal-sweet vibes, with what smells like frankincense and myrrh with maybe benzoin and styrax? There's a hint of what smells like candle or incense smoke as well, although I wouldn't call it heavy on that element. It's really beautiful and smells like Christmas mass. So glad I got a bottle!

[ellocentipede]

This is a beautiful incense scent.  It somehow smells airy and sacred.  The resins are very smooth and well-blended.  Don’t miss this one if you’re into churchy incense blends.

[Little Bird]

I was hoping that this would be Midnight Mass in room spray form, and it does share similarities to Midnight Mass and Cathedral, but this is sort of warmer, dustier, and evocative of candles in an old church.  Sweet church incense, powdery amber, and a scent like burning thousands of beeswax candles, lightly sweet and smoky in a way that's velvety and not acrid.  It is the scent of being in an old church with amazingly high cathedral ceilings, old wood, and lots of lit candles.  It's sort of amazing to be able to have this in a spray bottle.

[Minh Scent]

Interesting, this one. I was expecting an incense-heavy perfume, but it is quite light in the resins, with more focus on waxy candles to my nose. Very pretty scent.

[zankoku_zen]

Beeswax, resin, and incense. Yup, smells like church. But you know, BBC style church where the TV show is better than the reality because growing up, no church incense ever smelled like this. But it should have.

[Lucchesa]

Oh my saints, I love this, I want the industrial strength gallon-sized version.  Cathedral the GC perfume is straight-up cedar on me, but this is lovely sweet incense; I almost want to say rosy.  This is not heavy pothead incense; it's gorgeous and ethereal.  It reminds me a little of Lights of Men's Lives, one of my absolute favorite GCs, in atmo form  Stunning.  

[Ghost of a Rose]

Ooh, I love most of the Atmospherics, but this one might be my most favorite of all!

 

Although I've attended many Catholic masses, inluding Christmas, Christmas Eve, and Easter ones, they were usually modern in tone and didn't use incense.  Only once have I ever noticed incense being used, at a funeral mass that was more formal and traditional, and even then I couldn't smell it.  They must have used only a little and didn't keep it burning long.  I've been in some medieval European  cathedrals, too, and didn't notice any scent of incense.  I think church personnel are aware of how many people are sensitive or allergic to it, or have respiratory problems, so they don't use it anymore.  All this is to disclose that I have no idea what church incense smells like.

 

It's not at all what I expected.  Not headshop-ish at all.  In fact, it's more like a fine perfume, the best perfume ever.  If this is what real cathedral incense smells like, it must cost a fortune, because I've never had any incense like this!  Even the trace of smokiness is delicate and perfumey.

 

Because this is so beautifully and smoothly blended, it is difficult to sniff out individual notes.  But right at first, I get a whiff of rose.  The the incense kicks in, with a hint of resins, but more rose and fine perfume.  And right after that, the elegant smoke note.  The best incense ever.

 

After a fairly short while, within an hour, the incensey resins and smoke dissipate.  The fragrance is still much the same, but now it's all fine perfume and the rose-and-amber scent of  baby powder.  The most gorgeous and most expensive perfume ever.  The don't-even-think-about-buying-this-you-will-never-in-your-entire-life-be-able-to-afford-it kind.  With a note of honey - costly, beautiful, smooth and soft beeswax candles.  And the loveliest baby powder ever, powder for an infant princess.

 

I know I keep saying, "the best ever."  But that's deliberate.  Because it is.

 

Very late in the day, and on the second day, the honey note has been replaced woth clove. Although the overall scent remains much the same.

 

This is breathtakingly beautiful, elegant, luxurious, and formal; from start to finish.  Definitely not your neighborhood parish church incense.  Reserved for grand cathedrals and royalty only.

 

So how lucky am I, to scent my home and bed linens with it?!!

 

6 out of 6 stars.  A masterpiece.

Edited February 26, 2019 by Ghost of a Rose

[doomsday_disco]

I didn't grab this one when it was available, probably due to the lack of notes and other Yules calling to me more, but I was curious about it and even joined the campaign to turn it into a hair gloss to be released on Etsy due to the glowing reviews. (It never was turned into a hair gloss, but maybe one day!) Fast forward to 2021. A friend sent me a decant in the original bottle to try, and I'm so glad to have some of this! It is so lovely.  I get the same incense from Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris with a light sweetness from the beeswax candles. It's far more resinous than waxy to my nose, but I'd recommend it to those who are team incense and team beeswax. I kept getting wafts of this throughout the day and found the scent to be really comforting.

 

Thank you so much for sharing this one with me, @Missanneshirleyofgg!