Basilica

This perfume is my introduction to incense scents as a lactonic and herbal fragrance lover. This smells so good. It starts off as a pretty generic incensy fragrance, but then the creaminess comes out, and it starts smelling like rosemary and thyme infused milk with a burning incense background.

Ordered a sample, this is definitely too savory for my taste. Less like a church and more like a kitchen. A lovely kitchen, but not really what I'm looking to smell like.

vvv exactly what they said - wish the incense note came across less smoky. the smokiness slightly obscures the other notes, which is a shame because they're so unique and blended perfectly. the milk note makes it unlike any other incense fragrance i've tried. this is just so fucking cool

Okay, so this is literally a perfect fragrance. Very aromatic and fresh-spicy, with thyme, rosemary, and cipriol. It's all beautifully laid over a foresty, woody base. I would say the incense note comes across more as a smoky note (something similar to By the Fireplace). It sticks out slightly- I believe it could have been blended a bit better- but it's still great. Now, the milk note is something else. I wouldn't say it's very distinctive, as I didn't detect it before checking the note breakdown. I only noticed a soft warmth, and I believe that aspect comes from a really well-blended labdanum-and-milk accord. It rounds out the fragrance beautifully, making it feel even more serene and calming. It's like a church in a pine forest, but it's a warm fragrance rather than a cold one (compared to Relique, for example). It's happy and almost fantastical rather than distant and gloomy. Vibe-wise, it reminded me of Plain Jeu by Sorcinelli. I love it!!!

This fragrance is a total fantasy...I find myself sniffing it and daydreaming more than I wear it on myself. I see countryside church ruins with moss filling the cracks of the ancient stone, overtaken with wild herbs. The smoke of incense twirling in a beam of sunlight. I wore it to work once and my boss asked if anyone was eating focaccia.

As you just ate Zaatar fatira (thyme Pie), literally and as harsh as it gets. Can't wear it alone, need to add another layer. Winter only.

i usually don’t lean towards incense in fragrance, but this is blended masterfully. the milk note makes this cozy and soft, i feel like it rounds out the edges and dulls the blunt intensity of the rosemary. wearable and enjoyable, definitely suited for the colder seasons

as a cosplayer, i need this for one of my characters. they cannot be embodied properly without either my "by candlelight." or this.

Sweet, spicy, fresh. Nicely done, very inviting and soft creamy drydown.

I don't know about focaccia or any bread(maybe that savory rosemary tone at the beginning, which is but a short episode), but it gave me a flashback. A memory of an ol' buddy - or should I say Body Kouros?! It has a similar camphorous quality. Here, it's the incense and thyme notes leading, which create a gorgeous herbal-balsamic duo. YSL BK was built on different notes(benzoin and eucalyptus), but the feeling is exactly what I felt today wearing MF Basilica. I initially rated it as having moderate longevity, but it's actually borderline long-lasting with 6+ hrs of constantly catching whiffs of the scent in the air.

Reminds me of my grandma's cooking while also being sexy somehow.

got a sample of this scent and immediately fell in love. smells strongly of rosemary & thyme upfront, dries down within an hour/hour and a half into a pretty, milky/incense that really blends nicely with the looming top notes to smell like freshly baked bread. moderate-lasting, bottom notes are true to the scent pyramid. edit: i now have the full bottle and everything holds up!! great atomizer, pretty bottle & feels expensive. all around love love love

How have I not reviewed this yet? It was the second bottle of perfume I ever purchased years ago. I got a sample of it as a freebie when I bought my first (sweet farewell) and immediately knew this is what I was looking for! When I got my bottle however it was different. The sample was warm and comforting but my full bottle overdosed on the herbs and came off cold and even metallic. Still enjoyable enough to wear it often though I felt disappointed. I eventually gave my bottle to a coworker I hold dear before she moved across the country, but I missed it. Someone I know online generously sent me theirs shortly after and when I sprayed it the scent I got from the sample erupted in the air. I was so happy. I must have gotten a bad batch with my first one but this second one reminded me why I fell for it in the first place. When I was little I had an aunt that showed me nothing but kindness and always had a good heart. when I would enter her house it smelt just like this. I always felt out of place around family and silently judged but not by her. That’s what this smell gives me. Unconditional open hearted understanding. Safety. Warmth. She was a cold woman but she made an effort to provide warmth to those who are misunderstood. and I guess that’s what I appreciate about this perfume. There’s an intentional kindness and warmth extending past its dry and cool nature

Yeasty herbal incense and woods I was very perplexed by the odd note pyramid and almost skipped this one. Thankfully I didn't. This may be one of the most random case of serendipity ever. Incense and dry herbs against milky sandalwood somehow adds up to a lovely warm yeast-like fragrance of warm bread fresh out of the oven, like some warm mediterranean variety of flat bread you might find dusted with dry herbs. The incense facets even remind me a bit of the smell produced by the charred crust edges. Really interesting combination, there is not much else to say other than that it's a must try for those interested in unique compositions. Would I wear it is a different question and if so where exactly? I can imagine it working on the way to an italian restaurant perhaps.

Oh, where do I even start? This has the most important element that imho you need to find in a fragrance - that is nostalgia, the ability to bring back memories. Forget the church incense, that's too easy. You're in the now abandoned house that belonged to your grandparents and you feel the smell of the old wooden furniture. There's silence. You close your eyes, you inhale, and the smell takes you back to the time when you were a child. Time itself did not exist back then, and your grandparents were still there. It's a memory that lasts for only a fraction of a second, but it's enough to bring every feeling back from 30-40 years ago - the feeling of being loved the way that a child is loved by his grandparents. All because of a furniture scent. That's Basilica by Milano Fragranze. That particular smell is especially there in the opening. Place your nose close to the skin and take a very deep breath. Can you see it? Enjoy this one, ladies and gents.

Dry herbs, wood and incense, with a very Mediterranean feel. This fragrance feels so beautifully welcoming, like a familiar place you love, and where you feel loved. Like a small church, with incense lingering in the wooden pews, where you find spiritual comfort, and you can sit there in silence, and feel at home. This really soothes my heart.

Distinctly savoury. From a distance, gives the impression of focaccia baking in the oven, with dried thyme and rosemary at the top, and a lactonic, almost soapy base. Combined, this kind of gives…focaccia soap…with the addition of some light incense. A weird combo that somehow makes sense. It’s ceremonial yet cozy, and brings to mind family recipes and rituals passed down through the generations. There’s no other fragrance quite like it.

So glad I blind bought this as it smells just how I expected from the scent pyramid, which is to say an interesting and creative fragrance, but still wearable. The coldness of the herbs and incense against the cozy milky/bread accord works for me. It’s not beastly so the combination will make probably make it into the rotation of bedtime scents. Not really an out on the town vibe. It is a bit savoury so if you don’t like herbal savoury scents it’s probably a pass. Side note, the bottle, sprayer and magnetic cap feel satisfyingly high quality

A majority of these reviews are absolutely correct. The notes of thyme and rosemary linger throughout the entire wear and are savory. The aromatic is warm and smooth, just a tinge milky. The incense is one of the best incense i have smelt, although it dosent last and it goes right back to aromatic and thymey aroma. Its quite nice but very savory rather than sweet, so its a great mixup. I have nothing bad to say about this, honestly it was different and unique. Pointage: 7pts- it is absoluetly wearable and the brand is renound, and its unique and has a great incense transition 7/10

I feel that Incense Perfumes are one of those olfactory families that suffer from dullness, and if you smell a few, you've smelled them all. Therefore, coming across a perfume like Milano Fragranze’s Basilica was a pleasant surprise for its different approach to the incense theme. To me, however, this is not first about frankincense, but rather about herbs, most importantly, thyme. I love thyme. Fresh in foods or smelling it dry. It is one of my favorite culinary herbs. This perfume makes such a strong use of it, next to rosemary. If you disagree with them, don’t even bother with Basilica. Thyme is a major component of this fragrance, followed by rosemary. I’d say they hint more to the dried herbs than the fresh ones. The second major part of the composition is the woods: cedar, sandalwood, and cypriol. They lay down a beautifully textured foundation for the herbs that push strongly throughout the life of the perfume. The smoky aspect only comes in as a third player for me, as a combination of frankincense and warm resins. It is rather meek, overshadowed by the first two; therefore, don’t stop by seeking strong fumes. The unusual suspect worth mentioning is the “milk accord,” which turns slightly sour when combined with the overwhelming herbaceous qualities, while the pairing of cypriol, thyme, and frankincense imbues an undeniable salty quality. So far, you can see how this can steer into rather “weird territory.” But the thing is, it works unexpectedly well. I say unexpectedly, as it might come across to many (as you can clearly read from others' impressions) as a “savory gourmand,” reminding them of Focaccia Bread or Pizza. And if I let my mind roam, or if it just happens that I am hungry, I can totally smell that. In fact, the first time I tried Basilica, I thought it smelled like the most delicious, warm Italian bread, served with some juicy olives and herbs, next to a Basilica on a Sunday Mass. But if one pays attention, it’s easy to break the fantasy into pieces and recognize it for what it is: a warm, woody, and smoky perfume seasoned with abundant herbs. Therefore, I like to think of it as an “accidental gourmand,” because I don’t think the creative direction intended for it to be one. Only the interplay of notes and accords, and perhaps too much wishful thinking about the mouthwatering Italian cuisine, turned it unofficially into one. Therefore, I believe the way it will be interpreted will very much depend on how hungry you are. All in all, it is a fun, cozy, and original spin on the monotonous incense accord. The pairing of smoky liturgical and “foody” nuances reminds me of another such interpretation, also of Italian heritage, the elusive NOUN from Bogue Profumo. I guess Italians like associating the two, or perhaps they hold their esteemed cuisine to a “Holy” status, and I don’t blame them. IG:@memory.of.scents

This has been on my blind buy wish list since it was released. I finally got to try it at Scentbar NYC! It is definitely a strong like, but much more subtle than I anticipated. It is creamy, aromatic with a muted, but delicious spiciness, must be the cardamom, which i love. This is so warm & delicious, but not in an overtly gourmand, sweet way. Just lovely! ❤️

I've never smelled another scent like this! Super unique. Cedar & thyme heavy. Herbal, woody, and very powdery. I totally get the church vibe, but it's not your typical ambery sweet benzoin incense. It's an herbal savory incense. Sillage is minimal but it lasts for 5-6 hours, very close to the skin.

Defiantly nothing like this- creamy, laconic, cozy but the rosemary give it this cold edge, like cold marble in a warm church. It is slightly savory gourmand but the most beautiful way, like curling up in a soft white blanket while focaccia bread bakes in the kitchen. The incense/ resin blends compliment the herbs perfectly, would love to see how this would smell with some mint/ basil. You will not smell like anyone else trust. Performance is pretty decent and sillage is average

Sometimes I layer Basilica with Blanche Bête - it deepens the milky incense heart of Basilica and makes it feel even more tranquil and enveloping. Lovely.

opening a lil citrusy, in a lemon thyme way —herbal, and impression of citrus peel. develops into a blanche bête adjacent scent although more savoury (milk + incense i suppose) but also at some point she starts smelling like laundry. i feel insane writing this while everyone in the reviews is talking about focaccia lol.

This is one of the more pleasantly unusual scents I've tried in quite a while. The core is both herbaceous (thyme and rosemary) and incense-like, with smoke and labdanum, but what really makes this special is the addition of cypriol, which instantly makes fragrances smell slightly like papyrus. There's something vaguely North African about this combination. It projects like crazy when it opens, and then becomes more sedate: it should get you compliments because it's harmonious and striking, but I'm not sure I would want to smell like this regularly. But it's a good bet if you like vaguely liturgical scents.

My absolute favorite scent right now! Spicy in all the right ways. I instantly pick up the thyme and rosemary sitting atop a base of cedarwood, which mellows into a beautiful, aromatic scent; incense and milk grow more poignant the longer you let it sit on your skin, a combination that I would've never expected would work, bound together by labdanum, like a floral bow tying the two scents together. Not necessarily a gourmand scent, but it is tastefully bready. To me, it smells like sitting outside, taking a flake bite out of freshly baked focaccia while a nearby forest blows fragrant winds toward you. Such a lovely scent, I ended up buying a full bottle after sampling.

An airy aromatic bread scent with a hint of spice. I get very little "basilica" in terms of incense as a person who goes to a liturgical church regularly....maybe a hint of the coniferous forest outside of an old church. It is very light wearing, would probably do nicely in warmer months or for those sensitive to heavier scents. It is nice enough but not enough substance or personality for me. The herbal notes make this lean masculine for me.

I thought I was going to lovee this based on the notes. When I smelled the dabber I was really excited, but unfortunately, on my skin, it smells like straight focaccia. I think it's the milk note that gives it such a warm and bready feeling (also not my favorite for the summer heat). It smells delicious and wonderful, but I don't want to smell like bread. Longevity was (unfortunately for me) very decent and lasted most of the day. Projection is decent too, not overpowering, but I feel like someone could definitely smell this on you.

So unexpected, this is beautiful.... It first reminds me of the sicilian focaccia my mother bakes, and it dries to the loveliest incense and milk. It is bready and salty and sampling this perfume with scepticism or bad faith will give you what you expect... Specifically for me, this feels like winding down from a night of homemade dinner and drinks with friends, the sleepy end of a small winter celebration.... And yes it it does smell like a hermitage in the woods, the simplified but idyllic concept of living off the land. Rustic, spiritual and content....