Incense from Norma Kamali is a discontinued fragrance released in 1985. At the time, Incense was marketed as a masculine scent.

Norma Kamali is a New York fashion designer who became popular for her clothing designs made from parachute silk, the “Sleeping Bag Coat”, and the use of shoulder pads in the 1980s.

NORMA KAMALI INCENSE FRAGRANCE REVIEW

Imagine that a colossal asteroid, made up entirely of black copal incense, came hurtling and burning through the Earth’s atmosphere. On impact, it kicks up ash, smoke, and soot, creating a dense, black cloud that blocks out all sunlight and lingers for days. This incense-pocalypse is Norma Kamali Incense, a fragrance that you don’t just wear, you experience.

The opening is a very heavy myrrh. It smells strongly of latex paint, with a base of chewy Shitake mushrooms. It smells purpley-brown-black, sticky, and dense, like tar.

After 20 minutes, the fragrance begins to dry. There is an animalic and pungent leather phase, which is short-lived. And then the smells of burning copal emerge and cover over everything within a 3-foot radius of the wearer with a smoky, waxy haze.

After one hour, it is bone-dry, and dark as night. It smells like dessicated resin and ash, with a big slug of the most “animal x plastic” facets of labdanum.

Unlike most fragrances, which expand and diffuse, becoming more subtle with time, Norma Kamali Incense smolders on your skin, condensing itself, becoming ever bolder and stronger, smokier and sharper.

After 90 minutes, the sharpness of frankincense emerges. It’s extremely terpenic, like the vapors off a cauldron of thick, boiling pine tar, in a burning pine forest.

At about two hours, the fragrance is still rising to its peak, gathering its power. There is a bit of lemony-sharpness, and an extraordinarily pungent, huge coniferous note, with an aftertaste of sour labdanum that smells like decaying leaves. It is dry to the point of smelling like powdery ash, and so acrid that it singes the nostrils.

It takes a full four hours for Norma Kamali Incense to even begin to retreat. the pine pitch softens slightly, and the fruity aspects of myrrh become more apparent, along with a massive dose of powdery-peppery labdanum, peeking out from under the heavy smoke and ash of copal incense. This scent continues for hours and hours… still going strong at the twelve hour mark, and clearly detectable on my skin after 16 hours. On clothing it might last indefinitely.

I have heard people say that it smells “like church incense,” or “like [Comme des Garçons] Avignon”, and I respectfully disagree. This is a dark offering, a primordial ritual, perhaps the smell of the gateway between Earth and Hell. Not really inviting, but definitely intriguing.

NORMA KAMALI INCENSE DETAILS AND FINAL THOUGHTS

Norma Kamali Incense is a long-discontinued scent. Because of its legendary status, it is extremely difficult to find. It is considered by many to be the “gold standard” for copal incense perfumes, maybe for all incense perfumes.

Incense by Norma Kamali is a linear fragrance, hard-hitting, and rough around the edges. For its devotees, that is what makes it so special. It is unapologetic art. It straddles the line between wearable and avant-garde, just like many of Norma Kamali’s fashion pieces.

In 2018, I would consider Norma Kamali Incense to be a unisex fragrance. It is one of those fragrances that requires confidence to carry, but on the right person it would be mesmerizing. I could see this being a signature scent with special protective qualities for the wearer. Projection is huge, and longevity is forever. My husband commented from across the room, “oh, you’re wearing the perfume that smells like something burning again.” It has a wonderful, witchy vibe, and an amazing duality — it is bold but minimalistic, loud but meditative, and somehow manages to be a strange mixture of natural and otherworldly.

It is very unfortunate that this unique work of fragrance art is discontinued, and extraordinarily difficult to find. There are many incense fragrances, but none quite like this one. It is the fragrant representation of fire and brimstone. I don’t think that the name of the perfumer was ever released, but I would love to know who created this iconic fragrance masterpiece.