Thierry Wasser composed Santal Royal for Guerlain in 2014, a woody oriental first reserved for the Middle East and the Salon de Parfums at Harrods. Guerlain now offers it in the Absolus Allegoria collection: a rare sandalwood rising in the half-light, between the dark notes of leather and oud and the brightness of jasmine and rose.
Kafkaesque (2015) finds no sandalwood in it but a syrupy, synthetic rose-oud; Luca Turin gives it one star, and Mark Behnke (Colognoisseur) finds it unimaginative.
Olfastory’s review
Kafkaesque: neither sandalwood nor originality
Kafkaesque, in February 2015, judges Santal Royal mediocre and highly commercial, with nothing that recalls sandalwood. The blog smells roses drowned in fruity syrup, a peach compote studded with oud and jasmine, cinnamon, a synthetic leather; the base turns dry, dusty and smoky.
It likens it to the cheap rose-oud blends sold in the Gulf and to Montale, while conceding a few good moments: the cinnamon on the fruity rose, a passing creaminess in the base. It still rates it less of a failure than L’Homme Idéal.
Luca Turin and Mark Behnke: two flat refusals
Luca Turin, in Style Arabia, gives it one star and ranks it among the fragrances to avoid: he smells a musty apple strudel, no real sandalwood, and finds the base slightly better. Mark Behnke, on Colognoisseur, describes a fragrance built by recipe, with nothing special about it.