Sandalwood

What it is

Heartwood from the Santalum tree, which has to grow for around thirty years before it is worth cutting. Indian Mysore sandalwood was logged close to collapse and is now tightly controlled, so most sandalwood in perfume is Australian or synthetic.

What it smells like

Creamy and milky rather than dry, with a soft sour edge that cedar does not have. It is one of the few woods that reads as comforting instead of austere, and the substitutes chase that creaminess with varying success.

Where it sits

Which layer of the pyramid it is listed in, across every fragrance here that carries it. A base note is one you smell for hours; a top note is usually gone within the first.

What it turns up with

How much more often than the catalogue average. 1.0x would be chance, so these are the things that genuinely travel with it rather than the things that are simply common.

When it is worn

Against the average fragrance here. The line marks that average, so a bar past it means this is worn in that season or setting more than most.

Houses that use it most

Counted across the fragrances here, which reflects what we cover as much as what a house makes.

Creed (24), Rasasi (22), Calvin Klein (21), Guerlain (20), Amouage (19), Jean Paul Gaultier (18).