Kyoto

Kyoto is my favorite photorealistic woody incense fragrance. Not overly complicated, but well balanced. The listed notes tell all. Slightly warmer than CDG Hinoki And Aesop Hywl. Where those two lean more masculine this one balances more so on the line of unisex. I love it. Not the best longevity 3-4 hrs max on me) but I am willing to re-spray! I always come back to this one.

has the same rummy cedar in cdg sequoia . the blue colored font on the bottle is apropos; kyoto is spa like calming. smells more woody, as in cedar and cypress, than incense .

Oh, Anonymous from 2012, you nailed this when you wrote, "Wood planks in a lumber yard after a shower." BAM! That is it exactly! It starts out as pure soap on my skin, but then mellows into wood planks and antique cedar chests full of cashmere sweaters. It has some muscular longevity too, and on me, that's saying something. For some reason my body chemistry tends to make scents I love (Gypsy Water, Tam Dao) evaporate within minutes of application. However, at no time was this fragrance overpowering. I must now travel to Kyoto and drift in and out of the temples. Lovely.

The whole series is a must have for incense lovers. This one is peaceful and meditative with notes of amber, cedar and florals mixed in. It is a sweet lingering incense with excellent projection and moderate sillage.

I am a person who usually gravitates towards feminine powdery scents - Smoke is not my thing - It's just comes off as irrefutably masculine. I now have a favorite "smoke" scent. It does start as typically masculine but it softens very quickly to a powdery clean, wood scent that is subtle and absolutely complex. There are many versions of scent that evokes the feeling of "Oriental Trading" shop - This one is the high end antique - with chests of drawers permeated by decades of incense of the spiritual type, but very clean and well taken care of. This is the most unisex smoke scent that I have ever experienced and oxymoronically - the most "clean" I love it - am in it now to try the others in the CDG; Incense series...

This one really frustrates me. It's almost exactly right. I love unisex scents and the Hinoki notes are fresh and authentic Japanese cypress. Hints of expensive incense. Lime blossom. Unfortunately the dry down is chemically cloying. Irish spring soap and something very harsh and clinical I can't put my finger on. The start is lovely, what a shame, and waste of Hinoki!

Based on the many positive reviews, I purchased a sample of this. It did nothing on me; it just sat there like it was still in the sample vial. Then something else kicked in: it smells like Murphy's Oil Soap! I love the way Murphy's smells when I clean. I don't like it as a perfume. I smelled just about as good as my floors. No go for me.

Once again, I am very impressed with another CdG Series 3! This is the brightest and freshest of the series, for me. I agree with the comments that this is a meditative fragrance. Sadly, it does not last long on me…same went for Avignon. This is pure pleasure to wear, and seems to brighten and uplift my energy. If there is such thing as “fresh” incense, this is it. Thumb up.

Well done! If you love incense notes, this is a must try. My experience of this fragrance was a pleasure from top to bottom. It opens up with a strong, but not sharp or acrid cypress, and settles into beautiful woody incense that stays close to the body. I did not get the floral notes so much, but I am fine with that. My spouse loved it...he said it reminded him of his favorite artisan hand rolled incense from the Renaissance Faire of his youth, and said he preferred it over the incense from church. So it may ring familiar to certain subcultures, but it is so incredibly refined that you will experience the notes anew.

I have no idea how I decided to get a sample of Kyoto, but I did and it took less than a week for me to decide to buy a full bottle. First sniff from sample, I was like whoa. Manly. Super manly. I waited until the next night to actually try the scent on. I dabbed a bit on the insides of my elbows. I then went on a run. Throughout my run, I was getting wafts of the perfume and I would sniff at my skin to get more of the scent. Cypress and cedar rule this perfume when I wear it. There is very little incense, but it is definitely smoky. This perfume is intoxicating. My head was reeling with ideas of all the sexy things you could do while wearing this. You could say this is a very simple perfume. Especially if you're only able to pick out one note, but I say get a sample if you're at all curious because this evolved into something so sensual on me. Yes, it's very masculine, but because perfumes usually turn very sweet on me, my body brings out the amber and tones down the cypress. This perfume is going to make people notice you. Make sure you fit it as well as it can fit you.

Great scent. Sits close to the skin, has a nice warm tone and last a good while.

Kyoto is zen fragrance that smells wonderful on my skin. Its clean woodsy aroma surrounds me for the whole day but never overpowers. My favorite from The Incense series along with Zagorsk. Well done CdG!

My favorite incense scent of this line. I much prefer this one over Avignon which is a bit too dark and masculine for my taste.

Pencil shavings flower into fresh cut fir trees and move into spicy incense. Long long lasting and complement attracting. Has a dramatic effect on the opposite sex, which is a problem because I'm ___.

It's a woody, clean incense. The wet wood (cedar? teak?), hint of coffee, and vetiver are all there for me, steady and calming. I could wear this to work more readily than Avignon, which I also love, but which is almost too churchy to go unnoticed.

At the very beginning, pencil shavings is acctually a very true description of this frangrance! It's light and fresh, almost synthetically bleach-clean. I also get a hint of mint, and the incence and cedar are well balanced but not overwhelming. The musk is nowhere to be found, which I'm happy for. Think eucalyptustree, if you like it, this one is for you.

This has become my (relatively) inexpensive daily wear. I don't get pencil shavings like many do. I get a very clean sauna. A bit of soap or cleanliness, followed by wood planks like in a lumber yard. Wood planks in a lumber yard after a shower.

Smells like incense, antique furniture, and dirt. When I got this I sprayed both wrists, my neck, and my chest. Then a few hours later I sprayed my neck again. Twice. And my forearm. I bet I smelled pretty horrible.

This is a beautiful scent. I like Avignon also, but I think Kyoto is the best of the Incense lot. It starts off a little harsh, but it becomes rounder, calmer and nicer. But I had to laugh at the name: I lived in Japan for 5 years and to me Japan smells like cigarettes, smog, fish, and benjo ditches! But I know this is supposed to be the smell of a ancient sacred worshipping place. A Japanese memory that it did conjure up for me was hiking in the snowy pine-forested mountains in winter, in the morning, when the air is fresh and pure and everyone has their fireplaces going. Beautiful none-the-less!

This is the only perfume I took with me on my recent trip to Kyoto. I stayed in a zen temple, and as I was walking around Myoshinji I smelled my wrist and it truly was an intensification of the smells there... the greenness, the wood, the incense. It's the first time I'd smelled a perfume inspired by a place in the place that inspired it... truly awe-inspiring.