Empire des Indes
EDP · 1886
Oriza L. Legrand
Statement
Nag Champa
Note Profile
About
Nag Champa is the Indian incense accord built from sandalwood, a champaca or frangipani flower and halmaddi resin. It is a prepared blend with no fixed recipe, not a single raw material.
Scent Profile
Nag Champa smells sweet, resinous and musky-floral, like incense smoke over sandalwood. A sticky, humid, almost marshmallow-like sweetness runs through it from the halmaddi resin. A fruity, white floral lift comes from the champaca flower, and the sandalwood underneath reads a touch less woody than pure sandalwood itself. Smoke from the charcoal it burns on gives it a soft, powdery, settled quality.
ScentWheel
Breadthbroad
EnvelopeBase · ~18h lasting
Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.
ScentArt
Seen in
Tap a perfume to see where Nag Champa sits in it. The rest of the picture goes grey
Origin
Hand-rolled incense of the Indian subcontinent. The usual build is sandalwood powder, champak (Michelia champaca) or frangipani, and halmaddi, the sticky grey resin tapped from Ailanthus triphysa. Wikipedia records that formulas vary by manufacturer.
Usage in Perfumery
Used to signal temple or head-shop incense: a warm, room-filling resinous smoke with a sweet floral lift. It reads as a whole accord rather than as one ingredient, so perfumers reach for it when they want the memory of burning incense rather than a raw resin.
Similar Notes
Perfumes featuring Nag Champa
A selection of reviewed perfumes where Nag Champa appears prominently.
