Annick Goutal Sables

Notes: immortelle (helichrysum), cinnamon, vanilla, sandalwood

Marketed as a man's scent, Sables is both sweet and woodsy, with an overall quality like honeyed tobacco.  But the star of this show is the immortelle, a note that has been compared to maple syrup.  I completely get the maple, but to my nose, it's far too dry (almost but not quite powdery) to be syrup.  It makes me think of something I tasted in my childhood, something that I am remembering as a flat circular wafer-type thing.  I can't recall if it was a candy or not; perhaps it was some sort of vitamin supplement?  Regardless of my weird memories, immortelle is more like maple sugar candy than syrup.

In the drydown, I can smell the cinnamon more and my thoughts turn to crunchy cinnamon sugar-topped pastries (ok, I think about food a lot).  

I can also see how Sables is a fragrance for men, but I'd say it's a fine gourmand-type scent for women as well.   It would be particularly lovely worn in the fall, when the air is crisp and the leaves turn red and gold.