It occurred to me while I was sitting in services last night that regardless of our religion, regardless of what or whether we believe, we all know what holiness smells like. Some scents inspire a reverence that transcends backgrounds and borders. Incense, for example, has been used in every culture and religion for thousands of years. Buddhists use incense to honor their ancestors; Moses scented the tabernacle with a combination of frankincense and galbanum; the Three Kings honored Jesus’ birth with frankincense and myrrh; Catholics believe that incense represents their prayers. Incense is also a part of the Hindu daily prayer ritual, which brings us to Trayee.
Trayee was created for the new Neela Vermeire line by perfumer Bertrand Duchafour. It was inspired by the Vedas, the first sacred texts of Hinduism. Trayee is a heartbreakingly beautiful incense scent, made full and rich with blackcurrent and a fruity jasmine note. Y’all know that I don’t like jasmine and I don’t like fruity, so it is a true testament to Duchafour’s skills that he was able to render these notes wearable and even attractive to me. The most prominent notes for me are cinnamon and sandalwood, which smell absolutely perfect together. Trayee is so damn good, and yes, it does feel a little sacrosanct. It could not have been more at home among the wood panels and high ceilings of my synagogue, and I suspect that Trayee would be just as well-suited to any sacred place.
Disclaimer: My sample of Trayee was sent to me by Neela Vermeire. She is a super nice lady and my Twitter friend. She did not ask me to write this review or bribe me in any way!
SCENTS OF SELF 
Great review! This sounds interesting and again I’m not sure if I would like it. I once tried to win a sample set of Neela Vermeire fragrances but I didn’t win (as always)
Is it very heavy on the incense? I’m asking because cinnamon & sandalwood combination sounds temting to me.
Hmm, I would say that Trayee is very incense-y, but it’s definitely not “heavy” or overwhelming. The sandalwood and cinnamon is the most prominent aspect to me, so if that combination sounds good to you, I think you should try it!
Would you compare it’s incense aspect to Tauer Incense Rose or Incense Extreme, eventually to CdG Incense series? They’re all to strong for me (except of CdG Kyoto)
I wish I could, but I have not tried literally any of those! I need to try the Tauers when I go to Sniffapalooza in October. Can anyone else comment on the similarities or differences between these frags?
If you like incense then you should try them. I got my small shares thanks to generous friends but incense from Tauer is too strong for me. I’m considering a purchase of CdG Kyoto in future maybe.
I think the incense is much lighter than a Tauer scent. To me it’s like someone burned some incense the day before and you can still smell a trace of it accenting the other notes in the scent. It’s there, but it doesn’t hit you over the head. It’s really nice.
Thanks for the feedback about it Poodle!
I do not do well with Andy’s incense either, but Trayee seems to be a gentler sort of incense.
I love Trayee and Neela Vermeire in equal measure.
You too Princess,
Portia xx
She is one of the loveliest people on Twitter, right along with you, Portia!
I was surprised at how much I liked Trayee, and how comtemplative and unfussy it seemed. It’s still not very much of a “me” fragrance, incense being generally not my thing, but I enjoyed it. The spice-woods-incense is very dry, very pleasant, and very calming.
“Contemplative” is spot on, Mals! I definitely agree that Trayee is not exactly your thang, so I’m so glad to hear that you liked it! I think it’s a very special perfume.
I should visit Twitter more often. But you know how it is: time is limited. I Facebook much more frequently, probably for the marching band photos. I have my priorities! 🙂
Please do, we miss you on Twitter!! Twitter is better than Facebook for me because I am much less likely to be confronted with glamorous pictures and status updates from friends who have much more exciting lives than I do.
Trayee is lovely, quite a dense scent to me though. My favorite of Neela’s scents turned out to be Mohur, I’ve used up my sample and am considering a full bottle!
Ooh, I haven’t gotten to Mohur yet! I’m still testing Bombay Bling. I don’t think that I will ever be able to afford a full bottle of one of Neela’s fragrances, but I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to get to try them.
I have only tried Bombay Bling from this line, which I won in a draw on Neela’s facebook page. I had sort of thought that Trayee would be my least favorite from this line. Somehow, before your review, I had neglected that it has jasmine. Now I’ve bumped it up my “to try” list quite a bit. 🙂
I’m not going to lie to you and say that it’s all that jasmine-y, Susan, but I do think that it’s absolutely worth a try!
Ari, no incense is too strong for me! You make this sound intriguing, will have to try a sample.
I hope that you love it, Barbara! I can’t imagine an incense fiend not enjoying Trayee.
I was wearing Trayee yesterday and it was devine. I can understand the religious overtones as it feels very sacred. I can smell vanilla as well
I wish I got that vanilla note!! I was just thinking how perfect vanilla would be right at the end of the fragrance.
I *love* Trayee! I have to say, though, that the “incense” I get has a goodly dose of that associated with Rastafarianism… How many people here would wear it to work, I wonder? 😀
Oh man, that must be the ganja note they mention on Luckyscent! I haaate that smell, and am very grateful that I don’t detect it in Trayee. I hope that no one at my synagogue got the wrong idea… 😉
Since no one else here has mentioned it, I’m guessing it’s subtle enough to avoid notice; I was looking for it since I’d seen it in the notes. I didn’t expect to actually be able to pick it out, though–it totally cracked me up that it was so realistic and noticeable to me! There is a lot of gorgeous incense in there that is *not* the ganja accord, obviously; I’m sure that’s what most everyone else who is not trying to pick it out smells.
Just tried Trayee for the first time on Saturday myself, and found it very intriguing, and quite different from any other incense I’ve tried thus far. It actually reminded me of my sample of Opus IV I got from Dee, so I’ll be interested to see how they compare side-to-side.
Thank you for redirecting me to Opus IV, Dionne! I haven’t tried any of the Amouage Opuses, and the last few have sounded really fantastic. A lot of people are comparing Trayee to past Duchaufour creations, but it seems rather unique to me, too.
I love incense in perfumes! I will have to give this a try. Thanks for the review!
Thank you for reading, dear baconbiscuit! Weirdly, I don’t really like incense in real life, but I always enjoy incense notes in a perfume.
I feel the same way: I don’t like to burn it, but I enjoy the smell!
Yep. I was very surprised when I tried an incense-based perfume and loved it. It is rather hard to sing in a choir that following immediately behind the censer at a religious service!
Happy New Year Ari!!!
Cheryl
Thank you so much, Cheryl! Happy New Year to you too, and anyone else who’s celebrating!