Fleur de Vie – Tree of Life

The brand Fleur de Vie belongs to the Mysore Deep Perfumery House group (MDPH for short), alongside of ZedBlack. They are one of the largest big scale producers in India and produce very cheap, dipped incense sticks for the local market. Fleur de Vie is made exclusively for the western market. The packaging looks elegant and suggests a high-quality product. They are sold at Ephra Word Shop for €1.95 each, 16g / approx. 12 pieces, i.e. 16 ct. per stick. That’s relatively cheap; I’ve seen them offered for over €5.
The sticks themselves appear to be machine-made. Ephra lists it as Masala, but the packaging says nothing like that. Raw, they smell like men’s shower gel (one that I would find nice). When lit, a sooty smoke rises from the flame. This is supposedly an indicator for the use of DEP, which is used to dilute essential oils or perfume oils and is primarily used in dipped incense.

However, when it burns, I really like the smell. To me, it smells like an incense stick from the Nag Champa genre, but with an interesting, almost minty freshness added.
It’s floral, has a slight sweetness and some herbaceous notes. There is also a slightly deeper aspect, a hint of earthiness.
Ephra’s description mentions frankincense and opoponax (a type of myrrh) – I don’t know whether these are the producer’s information or a personal impression. However, I can’t agree with that.
In the aftersmell, the similarity to shower gel comes through again, but since I find the raw smell interesting, that doesn’t bother me.

I think the topic of “Tree of Life” is well delivered.
Some brands have a “Green Nag Champa” (or a variant of this name) in their range; I haven’t tried any of them yet (if you have a recommendation for me, feel free to leave a comment!) but that’s how I would imagine a green Nag Champa to smell like.

I think that some people will find the aroma of these sticks unnatural/artificial. Anyone who has problems with allergies to artificial fragrances should definitely be cautious here.