Santal 33 Dupe: The Solid Cologne Version, Honestly Reviewed

What made Santal 33 worth chasing

Santal 33 (a trademark of Le Labo; Pocket Products is not affiliated) became one of those scents you smell on strangers in every city. It is dry, woody, a little animalic from the leather note, and it does not smell like a typical men's or women's cologne. That is a big part of the appeal. It reads as unisex, low key, and slightly different every time it sits on someone's skin.

We built Pocket Cologne No. 0063 as our own composition in that same family. We are not claiming it matches the original formula, because we do not know the original formula, and we would not say so even if we did. What we can tell you is what is actually in the stick and how it wears.

No. 0063: notes and how they show up

The headline notes are sandalwood, cardamom, and leather, which sets the tone before you even get to the full breakdown:

• Top: Cardamom, cucumber, mint
• Heart: Iris
• Base: Violet, sandalwood, cedarwood

On skin, the cardamom and mint give a quick, slightly peppery lift in the first few minutes. That fades fast into the iris, which is the part people usually describe as "powdery" or "soft." It is not sweet and it is not floral in an obvious way. It is more like the smell of a clean, slightly dusty room. Then the base takes over: sandalwood and cedarwood, with violet adding a faint, muted sweetness underneath.

Why sandalwood works so well in wax

Sandalwood is a heavy, creamy note that does not need much help to project. Alcohol-based sprays tend to blast the top notes hard and let the base fade in slowly over an hour. A wax stick works differently. Body heat melts a thin layer against the skin and releases the oils more evenly, which suits a base-heavy scent like this one. You get less of a sharp opening and more of a steady, close-to-skin sandalwood presence from the start.

This is also why No. 0063 reads as "significant" intensity rather than something loud. It is there when someone gets close to you, but it is not filling a room. That matches how a lot of people actually want to wear a woody, iris-forward scent day to day.

Unisex by design

Sandalwood, iris, and cedarwood do not lean hard toward "masculine" or "feminine" the way a heavy citrus or a sweet gourmand might. That is part of why the original scent picked up such a broad following. No. 0063 keeps that same open quality. We hear from people applying it to wrists, neck, and the inside of the elbow, and it works in all three spots because the scent does not shift much between skin types the way lighter, more volatile fragrances can.

How No. 0063 compares to its neighbors

If you like the dry, woody direction of No. 0063 but want something with a different personality, two other Pocket Cologne sticks sit nearby in the catalog.

No. 1394 is a good next step if you want to stay in warm, woody territory but trade the iris and cardamom for a sharper bergamot opening and a heavier oud base. It is a darker, more resinous cousin, still significant in intensity, but built on cedarwood and patchouli instead of sandalwood and violet.

No. 1013 is a bigger swing in a different direction. It jumps up to statement intensity and leans sweet, with tobacco leaf, vanilla, and cocoa up front and tonka bean and dried fruits in the base. If No. 0063 is your quiet, dry weekday scent, No. 1013 is what you reach for on a colder night when you want something with more weight.

Who should reach for No. 0063

If your reference point is Santal 33 (a trademark of Le Labo; Pocket Products is not affiliated) and you liked its dry, slightly powdery, low-key woodiness, No. 0063 gives you that same family in a stick that fits a pocket. It works well for people who found sprays either too strong out of the bottle or too fleeting by afternoon, since the wax format tends to sit closer and hold longer through a full day.

It is also a solid pick if you are new to sandalwood scents generally and want to try the note without committing to a full bottle. At $14.99, the small stick is a low-risk way to spend a few weeks wearing it before deciding whether to size up.

Sizing and how to try it

No. 0063 comes as a 0.15 oz travel stick for $14.99 or a 0.5 oz full-size stick for $29.99. Standard shipping is a flat $5.99 on any order. If you want to rotate between a few scents without committing to full sizes right away, the Pocket+ box ($24.99 a month for two travel sticks or one full size, cancel any time) ships free and is an easy way to try No. 0063 alongside something like No. 1394 or No. 1013. Every order is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee, so there is not much downside to testing it.