Series 3: Incense - Avignon Comme des Garçons (2002)

Series 3: Incense - Avignon by Comme des Garçons

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8.2 / 10 252 Ratings

Series 3: Incense - Avignon is a popular perfume by Comme des Garçons for women and men and was released in 2002. The scent is smoky-woody. It is being marketed by Puig.

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Perfumer

Bertrand Duchaufour

Fragrance Notes

Elemi resin, Labdanum, Rosewood, Patchouli, Roman chamomile, Vanilla, Frankincense

Ratings

Scent

8.2 (252 Ratings)

Longevity

7.4 (178 Ratings)

Sillage

6.4 (164 Ratings)

Bottle

6.0 (164 Ratings)

Submitted by Sani, last update on 02.03.2019

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Reviews

Tar 6 years ago

„Avignon”

Who could find better name for this overwhelming fragrance? How could it be described without using pictures? (Ok, Miaw2 solved this question, but I am not enough factual...

Flavorite 6 years ago

„Something Wicked this Way Comes”

I must go against the grain, here, on this one and say that Avignon conjures the smell of a freshly opened Pharaoh's Crypt or Temple of doom...someplace...

02/26/2019

7.0 7.0 9.0/10

Minigolf
0 Reviews

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Minigolf

Helpful Review 4

Airy coolness

Since I am a confessing incense fan, I had to test of course also THIS. And can only be thrilled again.
And incense scents can be as different as chypres, fougerés, floral scents etc.
"Series 3 Incense Avignon" has a very light, almost ethereal coolness, although the fragrance itself is quite strong.
Everything seems to cover the sky like a fine veil of clouds, forming little whirlpools, fringed "cotton balls", everything in light silver-grey under a blue sky.
It's as if I'm walking along a sunlit cloister in a simple monastery, no trace of anything "gloomy" and yet restrained in the intensity of the light.
I can also subtly perceive the spicy radiation of a herb garden in the background.
This smell does not show any heaviness, although nevertheless some at "substance" is present.
The last thing I can say is he's a relief to the mind.

2 Replies

12/29/2018

7.0 8.0 10.0 9.0/10

Pepdal
87 Reviews

Pepdal

Avignon - Comme Des Garcons

This is highly regarded as an incense/frankincense dominant scent. Part of the incense series released by CdG in 2002. Composed by Bertrand Duchafour. Enjoy.

04/23/2018

5.0 6.0 7.0 10.0/10

Darkbeat
130 Reviews

Darkbeat

Incense of Catholic liturgy

Avignon is a super realistic liturgical incense, a little monotonous for its linearity, but a delight for those who enjoy this type of compositions, to me, in particular, its aroma I love, but not its performance.

I am from an Andalusian village that loves Easter, and since I was a child I have lived with this kind of aromas, I have engraved it on fire in my memory. My brother is a costalero, and one of the founders of a brotherhood, and although I am not very religious, I have had to always live with this. I do not know if you know, but, at least here, each brotherhood uses its own incense, a mixture of a multitude of resins, flower petals, spices and wood shavings, which, although all are incenses, do not all smell the same.

This avignon in particular smells of incense of pallium, incense that is mixed to process the steps of the virgins. It is a more refined incense, sweeter and more floral, an authentic wonder, but it is not the liturgical incense that I was looking for. The incense that I look for is more of the Ambre Fetiche style, which, although it is an amber, evokes to me the incense of the thrones, that of the steps of mystery, which normally are smoky, bitter and rough incense, and more according to what I'm looking for, I hope that Full Incense, which comes on the road, is something more similar to what I'm looking for.

The performance in me is very correct, and little more, of good duration, but with a wake very close to the skin almost from the beginning, which I do not know if it will have been reformulated in this re-launch of the collection, by Comme Des Garcons , but, at least in me, it has not had the great performance that some comrades comment here and in other forums.

The use of the perfume is difficult to define, since it is a very specific smell to incense and not of common use, it is rather, an aroma for special occasions and of cold and temperate climates. As for his schedule of use, I think it's nocturnal, although its olfactory softness makes it appropriate to be able to dress it during the day as well.

If you are a lover of incense, it is a must, but be careful, because, in my opinion, it is too expensive for what it offers, its price is around € 80 and it is 50ml EDT, it is not even EDP, which is the same , even compensates, but seeing its performance, discards it from an upcoming purchase, although I do not rule out its purchase in the future and with some offer in between.

Sorry for my bad english.

11/07/2017

4.0 7.0 7.0 8.5/10

Giesta40
15 Reviews

Giesta40

Helpful Review 2

Go to the church?

The best and most realistic Catholic Church frankincense ever created! Quite linear scent, but exactly the same feeling you have when you enter in a church where is burning frankincense. I never thought that was possible to reproduce exactly such magnificent scent... But I was wrong, Avignon changed my opinion. Magnificent resinous frankincense with a touch of natural vanilla. Master Duchaufour at is best level.

01/30/2015

Ivonneta
5 Reviews

Ivonneta

A bomb!

Love incense, frankincense, myrrhe...etc
Avignon is what other fragrances promise and you never get
I made a vid bcos it's easier for me than typing gators :p

09/19/2013

10.0 7.5 5.0 9.0/10

Tar
261 Reviews

Tar

Very helpful Review 9

Avignon

Who could find better name for this overwhelming fragrance? How could it be described without using pictures? (Ok, Miaw2 solved this question, but I am not enough factual for this.) When I first smelled AVIGNON, I used a very common and totally profane Hungarian expression for surprise: I shove off my hair!

When I sampled FULL INCENSE by Montale, my only one sigh was: If I would feel pure incense instead of this sweet mixture! As it would have been a pray, my wish was granted by AVIGNON.

Grey, ceremonial incense, fragrant as popedom and pray and cathedrals. Cold till shuddering, dusty, stony, and not smoky at all. AVIGNON gives wind to the soul and brings back to memories, to past, to ancient era. I am not christian, I was never enough brave to visit a mass, since I do not know, what should have done, how to behave myself to not make a mistake, so I visited churches only as a tourist. When a mass was celebrated there, I was just standing at the gateway and staring inward even as little child, and wanted to go in, but couldn't. (I can risk the statement, that scent of incense was one of the many reasons why I chose history for studying at the University.)
Now with AVIGNON on my skin I feel that I am not an outsider anymore in this sanctified area of prayer.

After 2 hours the incense flies higher, till the attic of the church, wooden timbers, and dusty, old, worn floorboard...

PS: I have a flacon of hair "styling-mousse" in the bathroom, almost the same design as AVIGNON, and when I shoot a glance at it, I am always so disappointed that it is only a poor hair cosmetic and not this beautiful perfume :D

4 Replies

07/23/2013

5.0 5.0 7.5 3.0/10

Flavorite
240 Reviews

Flavorite

Very helpful Review 8

Something Wicked this Way Comes

I must go against the grain, here, on this one and say that Avignon conjures the smell of a freshly opened Pharaoh's Crypt or Temple of doom...someplace old and evil smelling that has not been disturbed until some fool-hearty protagonist in rustic leather chaps swings in and desecrates the Mummy's tomb. This is a very ancient and musty incense to my nose, not at all a sensual experience that I was expecting. Admittedly, I don't have any scent memory or fond childhood association with catholic church mass incense balls. This is has a very dominant myrrh, dusty dead things, creepy crawlies, frankincense and rosewood combination that is very medicinal, linear and disappointing. I am indeed shocked that it gets such high marks, I must now investigate the rest of the CdG Incense series for a more exotic temple type incense, perhaps Kyoto or Hinoki from the Monocle series is the one for me? Avignon just makes the hairs on the back of my neck come up and I think of the expression "Something Wicked this Way Comes."

3 Replies

03/03/2013

5.0 7.5 5.0 7.0/10

Miaw2
339 Reviews

Miaw2

Helpful Review 4

Pure incense! Great!

Opens with some kind of freshness(is that possible?) that remains for a while.

Then it does become a warm incense scent that smells slightly sweet, much probably by the vanilla.

It's hard to use because its very dense and smoky.

Sillage, lasting power and projection are great.

Updated January 2014

12/28/2012

2.5 7.5 2.5 9.0/10

Drseid
670 Reviews

Drseid

Helpful Review 6

Incredible Incense...

A major success from Duchaufour. Avignon is exactly what I envision what a perfect pleasant smelling incense should smell like in real life. It has a very natural cedar and frankincense combo that is incredible smelling. The scent is quite linear, getting right down to business and staying there throughout. I can see some versatility issues with Avignon due to the nature of the scent, but the composition and smell are near-flawless. The only minor gripe I have is contrary to many of the other reviews, longevity on my skin is below average at about 5-6 hours. That said, Avignon is completely deserving of the high praise it has received here and elsewhere. Simply sublime. 4 to 4.5 stars out of 5.

07/14/2012

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

Helpful Review 5

Before Dawn

All the talk of the mysterious sense of smell, the visceral sense of smell. The sense of the emotions, therefore with the least association with reason. I really don’t get that. Yes, the sense of smell is discussed incorrectly or at least poorly. We have a strikingly lacking practical vocabulary for how we employ smell and how we use it to create meaning for ourselves. I include myself here. It’s a hole in our collective ability to talk to each other.

But I do love the associative capacity of the sense of smell. It is specific and evocative, but for me doesn’t have the luggage of weighty emotional cathexis. It’s the small stuff, not the big “Rosebud” moment.

To Avignon. I smell it and it takes me right back to a very specific moment of my alter-boy youth. It’s the memory of the sensation of crunching through the snow to my parish church in the dark on winter mornings to serve the early daily mass, opening the back door to the church and smelling the lingering scent of the incense we used. That very moment. I loved it as a boy. It’s not the huge and the sweeping. It’s the small and specific. It allows me to remember myself as that young boy.

06/06/2012

10.0 7.5 7.5 9.0/10

Sherapop
1239 Reviews

Sherapop

Helpful Review 6

Everything Tastes Better with Ambrette on It!

Comme des Garçons AVIGNON is an incredibly beautiful incense perfume. I am very pleasantly surprised, having been somewhat disappointed by a couple of the other members of this series I've tried. Why is this one so much better to my nose? I suppose because it's a full-fledged, complex perfumic composition, as opposed to a solution of finely ground incense...

"Several kinds of incense, chamomile, vanilla, patchouli, rosewood and ambrette"...

Small wonder I'm smitten! Ambrette probably puts this over the top from like to love for me. Who knew that a relatively linear incense perfume could be a serious wrist sniffer? For the record, this does not smell like a musty old Catholic church to me. No, on the contrary, AVIGNON smells like something which clearly belongs in my collection: a gorgeous oriental woody perfume!

02/06/2012

2.5 7.5 5.0 3.0/10

Callas
53 Reviews

Callas

Very helpful Review 5

Melancholy

Grown up as a Catholic I immediately connect the goings to church for the preparations for my first St. communion and confirmation which are not loved (but demanded).
Within the last few years, unfortunately, it is funeral services which step into memory.

I can imagine the incense smell to the support of a meditative atmosphere just as well. Into combination with other scents I don't have any problem with him either.

I am aware of only incense, though, what depresses me here.
Unfortunately, he seems very oppressive.
For me it is a mystical church smell which I can take for a short time but in the long run would not like to have in my surroundings.