Heeley Cardinal is a “church” incense fragrance. Unlike others in this genre that I’ve sniffed, Cardinal has a brightness, it’s optimistic and sunlight shines through the stained glass.

Cardinal opens with citrus and pine-like aldehydes. It has a “brighter”, crisp incense opening – lemon/frankincense/tons of aldehydes. The heart is ” church incense” or at least how imagine church incense would smell (I really don’t know). The incense is dry. Overall this is a simple, pure, “clean” incense fragrance. The dry-down is a powdery, dry incense with ambergris.

There are so many churchy incense perfumes available these days. Cardinal seems “lighter” and “brighter” than the others that I have tried. It’s very much a literal church incense except this one shows some rays of light. When people ask me about incense perfumes like this, I say to get samples of a few and choose the one that brings back the best memories for you.

Notes listed include incense, cistus, grey amber, patchouli and vetiver. Launch date 2006.

Give Cardinal a try if you are looking for a “church” incense fragrance. Or if you like perfumes like any of the CdG Incense Series, Estee Lauder White Linen, Montale Full Incense, Olivier Durbano Citrine, and/or Etro Messe de Minuit. Cardinal is unisex and really is a good incense for warmer climates since it has a crispness that almost reminds me of fresh linen.

Projection and longevity are average for an EDP.

The 3.4 oz bottle of Cardinal retails for $180 at MiN NY.

Victoria’s Final EauPINION – Lucent, dry incense. Nice but I’m not really searching for this right now (Messe de Minuit is my favorite “church” incense, I like the dank stuff).

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*Sample provided by MiN NY. Product pic from MiN NY. Seville Cathedral pic from Wikipedia.