Few materials in perfumery possess the balance and poise of sandalwood, a note often used in a supporting role—but one deserving of its own spotlight.
Sandalwood is creamy, smooth, and comforting. These 10 scents center the heavy lifting but unsung ingredient.
Sandalwood “plays well” with many other notes: “It has a balance of strength and softness,” says Haydn Williams, fragrance expert and host of the Man in the Mirror men’s grooming podcast. “Sandalwood is creamy, skin-like, and soulful. Like a hypnotic bass line in music, you don’t always notice it, but you certainly ‘feel’ it. It acts as a natural fixative, anchoring lighter top notes to heart notes and giving fragrances depth, texture, and longevity.”
The best perfumers use sandalwood not just for its scent, but for its smooth texture. It has a calming gravity that turns fleeting top notes into something more enduring and intimate. Hey, there’s a reason Le Labo’s Santal 33—one of our 50 best men’s colognes of all time—became so ubiquitous a decade ago. “When it takes the lead, sandalwood’s warm, grounding qualities quietly command the space, rather than shout. It’s a note that draws people in,” says Williams.
What makes sandalwood timeless is its adaptability. It can feel luminous and modern, but also deep and meditative. Similarly, the scents below showcase how today’s perfumers continue to evolve on this “congenial” note, but moreover, how it can also take center stage to yield some supremely beautiful, warming, and sophisticated expressions.
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Krigler Bouquet Baroque 217
Image Credit: Krigler Key notes: sandalwood, amber, cardamom, incense, jasmine, violet, musk
Bouquet Baroque 217 wears like polished wood and silk. It’s sandalwood at its most lavish—but then again, doesn’t Krigler make every ingredient more lavish? In this mélange, though, it’s a creamy expression, threaded through incense and violet for a candlelit kind of warmth.
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Amouage Opus XVI Timber
Image Credit: Amouage Key notes: sandalwood, palo santo, cedarwood, cypress, cardamom, frankincense
Fun fact: Architects make great perfumers (same as they’re great shoemakers, clothiers, etc). It’s all about understanding structure, and that’s what Amouage has down to a science. This eau treats sandalwood like carved stone: dry, faceted, and reinforced by cypress, cedar, and the brand’s signature Omani frankincense. It’s a sandalwood of discipline and proportion, not indulgence. Elemental yet impeccably tailored.
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Les Eaux Primordiales Santal Superfluide
Image Credit: Les Eaux Primordiales Key notes: sandalwood, plum, bergamot, rose oxide, violet, labdanum
Les Eaux’s sandalwood takes a sleeker form, thanks to a lacquering of plum and violet, balanced by glowing labdanum. I imagine myself gliding across its glossy base, not unlike Tom Cruise in Risky Business… and perhaps just as pantless as him, too. Hey, I called it the most sensual sandalwood for good reason. Creamy, sweet, smooth, aromatic, mmmm.
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Gabar Galone
Image Credit: Gabar -
L’Atelier Parfum Woodylicious
Image Credit: L’Atelier Parfum Key Notes: sandalwood, musk, rum, rose, patchouli, pepper, vanilla, mousse
I always tout fragrance sampling site LuxSB when it introduces me to something interesting, and Woodylicious is my latest favorite referral. This one spins sandalwood through musk, rum, and vanilla, creating a playfully unserious cocktail. It’s the kind of cozy-sexy scent you wear on repeat because it’s effortlessly likable. It also manages to feel singular in a crowded field, despite that accessible price point.
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Aesop Eidesis
Image Credit: Aesop Key notes: sandalwood, cedar, vetiver, black pepper, frankincense, cumin
Aesop’s sandalwood scent feels cerebral; here, it’s cloaked in vetiver, pepper, and incense. The recipe yields something thoughtful and intimate, especially in the intellectual and introspective sense. Eidesis is a quiet meditation that turns its opulent notes into potioned poise.
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Louis Vuitton Au Hasard
Image Credit: Louis Vuitton Key notes: sandalwood, cardamom, ambrette, bergamot, pear
One of LV’s OG men’s launches, Jacques Cavallier Belletrud’s sandalwood radiates polish and restraint. Au Hasard is softened by ambrette and pear, and lifted by cardamom. It’s discreet luxury, the olfactory equivalent of a Vuitton trunk: smartly crafted, balanced in detail, and unmistakably elevated.
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Infiniment Coty Paris Santal a La Vida
Image Credit: Infiniment Coty Paris -
The Raconteur No-Tell Motel
Image Credit: The Raconteur Key notes: sandalwood, white cypress, Tasmanian mountain pepper, olive extract, amber, musk
No-Tell Motel steeps its native Australian sandalwood in smoke, cypress, and amber musk, pulsing like dim motel light through a haze of memory. It’s rousing, cinematic, and warm on skin, the kind of scent that lingers long after you’ve left the room, and even after you’ve showered away your sins.
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Memo Paris Inverness
Image Credit: Memo Paris Key notes: sandalwood, mate, orris, guaiac wood, cedar, amber
Few woods feel so meditative as Inverness. Memo’s Highland-inspired blend folds sandalwood into orris, mate, and guaiac. It evokes Scottish tranquility, a cloud of mist, and a coat of moss. This one is an escape from what ails you, while being both elegant and haunting in its transportiveness.
