Sel Santal

Sel Santal is an unusual creamy, salty, green scent from Clean, released in 2016 for anyone to wear. People describe it as gourmand, green and floral in equal measure; most also find it fresh and ambery, and a minority citrusy.

The opening is crisp and slightly bitter, with bergamot, mandarin leaf and petitgrain giving a green citrus-leaf freshness and a tonic-water accord adding a fizzy, quinine-like bite. Fig and salt then arrive, the fig green and milky, the salt giving a mineral, skin-like edge. The heart softens into iris, violet and rose, cool and powdery, and the base is where the gourmand side shows: sandalwood and a whipped-cream accord give a smooth, milky sweetness, hazelnut a nutty warmth, and amber and musk a soft finish.

It is a versatile scent for spring and autumn, clean and quietly odd, and it suits anyone who likes salty, creamy sandalwood without heavy vanilla. Those who want a gourmand that still feels fresh should find it interesting.

Sel Santal — unisex fragrance by Clean (released 2016). Notes: Amber, Bergamot, Cream, Fig, Hazelnut, Iris, Mandarin Leaf, Musk, Nutmeg, Petitgrain, Rose, Salt, Sandalwood, Styrax, Tonic Water, Violet, Whipped Cream. — Parfica open fragrance database