ADN Sándalo Sacro
Eleven materials make up Adolfo Domínguez ADN Sándalo Sacro Eau de Parfum 100ml and the striking thing is how few of them are sweet, which is unusual for a fragrance built around sandalwood.
The opening is cool and slightly strange. Cardamom comes first, resinous and faintly soapy, with eucalyptus beside it bringing a sharp camphorous air that clears the head. Fig softens both, green and milky with that particular smell of leaf rather than fruit, and black tea runs underneath, dry and tannic and a little smoky. It is a top that smells considered rather than welcoming, and it rewards paying attention.
The middle is where it earns its name. Iris is the expensive, difficult material here, cool and powdery with a quality close to damp earth or raw carrot, and it is the opposite of a pretty floral. Cedarwood sharpens the air around it and vetiver adds an earthy, smoky, rooty depth. Nothing in this section is comfortable and all of it is good.
Sandalwood finally arrives properly in the base, creamy and soft and quietly sweet after everything above it, and it is joined by tonka bean used dryly rather than as dessert, musk for closeness, and ambroxan for that mineral, faintly salty warmth that extends the life of the whole thing. Eau de parfum strength gives it eight hours or more, drawing in close once the opening hour is past, which suits its temperament. Autumn and winter flatter it, late in the day rather than early, and it reads as unisex despite being shelved with men's scents.
Behind it is a Spanish fashion house established in 1976, descended from a tailoring business the founder's family had run in Ourense since 1950. Its first fragrance appeared in 1990 and the perfume line is produced under licence by Puig.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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