Raconteur Religious Guilt Spritz Review

Raconteur Religious Guilt Spritz via the brand

The Australian niche, artisanal brand Raconteur was undoubtedly one of the highlights of February’s International Maisons Of Fine Fragrance (which I reported on here). I wrote at the time that “sometimes you just know from the way a perfumer-owned brand is put together that there are going to be ideas that – provided they’re executed well – will be fantastic” and upon deeper investigation of his range of all-natural botanical fragrances, I totally stand by that. The founder and perfumer Craig Andrade has a very distinct and crucially, playful approach to perfumery.

Portrait of Raconteur’s Craig Andrade, via Instagram

Utilizing Australian native materials (like eucalyptus, buddha wood, myrtle etc) to create his line of botanical fragrances, Craig Andrade cloaks his compositions in a cool, dry sense of humour with names like Lemonade Grenade, Killr Vanillr, Pavlova Kasanova and Dirty Gold Digger. Such names and surface level japery never belittles the fragrant structures he’s creating though – take one look at his bottle graphics and custom caps and you’ll know it’s serious business – it’s more that they sell them with a knowing smile.

Raconteur Perfumes by Oli

For example: No-Tell Motel is a wonderfully vibrant and smooth blend of olive fruit absolute, Tasmanian mountain pepper and Australian sandalwood that is presented as an overnight stay at a motel where one can make very bad (cocktail fueled) decisions without the judgement of prying eyes. With a brief that might sound like a mess of cigarette butts, stale beer and pervading regret, No-Tell Motel has as an olfactory reality of calm, measured sandal-woody reassurance as Andrade uses his know-how to balance the fruity, syrupy and fizzy aspects of his native extracts into something equally as vivid as his concept.

But Raconteur Religious Guilt Spritz might be the finest example of what I’m finding myself writing toward, the brand’s fusion of high end, raw material focused perfumery and their sense of well… fun. The perfume is incense focused so the name is very much tongue-in-cheek, impishly hinting at associations of Catholic guilt and the pervading resin smoke used in masses. Whilst, personally, I’m not anywhere near religious, I am very much in my incense mode so Andrade’s take on the form was immediately appealing to me having smelled the pronounced quality of his other work.

In contrast to my last two incense loves (hello Nissaba’s Berbera and Pigmentarium’s Oratorio) which are certainly more modernist explorations, Raconteur Religious Guilt Spritz is thicker, way woodier and almost certainly, a little tipsy on the altar wine. Using the darker tones of native buddha wood alongside myrrh and the intrigue of palo santo gives the perfume much coarser, mysterious edges. Turkish rose, juniper and a hint of cinnamon bark give the fragrance both a wine like tone and its uplift, which alongside the frankincense provides a sun dappled, apple tinged opening that I find myself chasing after 15 minutes.

Raconteur’s Craig Andrade on his farm in Tasmania, courtesy of the brand

It’s a prime and brilliant example of the brand’s respect for raw materials, the perfumer’s talent and the spirited way in which they present their wares to the world. Like, it’s fully supposed to be this heady swirl of in-church evocation but it’s wholly wearable and feels faithful to its botanical origins. After such exposure to his work, I have to maintain what I concluded with when writing about the brand before: it’s now very, very clear to me that Craig Andrade knows exactly what he’s doing and he’s having a lot of fun doing it.

– Oli Marlow, Senior Contributor

Notes: Frankincense, Myrrh, Palo Santo, Buddha Wood, Sandalwood, Cedarwood, Cypress, Cassia, Juniper, Turkish Rose

Disclaimer: Oli was gifted a bottle of Religious Guilt Spritz (which was launched in 2023) and a brand discovery set.

Raconteur Religious Guilt Spritz Photo by Oli, taken at IMF in February

Thanks to the generosity of Craig and Raconteur we have a 50 ml bottle of Religious Guilt Spritz available in the USA or UK or EU. You must register or your entry will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what sparks your interest based on Oli’s review and where you live. Draw closes 4/29/2026

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