Sandalwood.

True Mysore sandalwood (Santalum album) takes thirty years to mature. The oil is creamy, milky, almost lactonic — the smell of monasteries and old prayer beads. Wild Mysore is now strictly controlled; most sandalwood in modern perfumery is sustainably farmed in Western Australia (Santalum spicatum). The Australian character is drier, brighter, slightly more peppery, but the meditative depth remains.

Sandalwood is the great fixative — it gives perfumes their long, soft, lingering close. Wear it alone and you'll smell like the inside of a temple at dusk.