Notes, explained
A fragrance is built in three layers: what you smell first, what carries it, and what is left hours later. Here is what each material in our range actually is, what it smells like, and which parfums use it.
Top notes
The first ten minutes. Bright, volatile, and gone before you have left the house.
- Lemon6 parfumsClean, sharp and instantly recognisable.
- Black Pepper5 parfumsDry, woody heat with a green top edge.
- Cinnamon5 parfumsWarm, dry and sweet-spicy, with a faint leathery bite the ground spice does not have.
- Nutmeg5 parfumsWarm and woody-spicy with a faint sweetness.
- Orange5 parfumsRound, juicy and immediately cheerful.
- Apple4 parfumsCrisp and green-red, closer to biting a fresh apple than to apple juice.
- Passionfruit4 parfumsTart, juicy and a little sulphurous in the best way, which is what makes it read as real rather than as generic sweetness.
- Pear4 parfumsJuicy, cool and clean, with a crisp bite rather than a syrupy one.
- Cardamom3 parfumsGreen, cool and spicy at the same time — eucalyptus and pepper with a creamy edge.
Heart notes
The middle hours. This is what the fragrance actually is.
- Bergamot7 parfumsSharp citrus with a floral, faintly bitter lift — less sugary than orange, less sour than lemon.
- Jasmine6 parfumsRich, warm and heady, with a slightly animalic depth underneath the sweetness.
- Caramel5 parfumsBurnt sugar and butter, sweet and slightly toasted.
- Orange Blossom5 parfumsClean, honeyed and green, sitting somewhere between citrus and white floral.
- Praline5 parfumsToasted hazelnut and burnt sugar, creamy and dense.
- Tuberose4 parfumsCreamy, narcotic and almost buttery, with a green sharpness underneath.
- Cedar3 parfumsDry, pencil-shaving woodiness with a faint sweetness.
- Dates3 parfumsDark, jammy and dried-fruit sweet, with a faint boozy depth.
- Rose3 parfumsFar more complex than a garden rose — honeyed, slightly spicy, with a green and sometimes almost metallic edge.
Base notes
What is still there at the end of the day, and on your collar tomorrow.
- Patchouli9 parfumsDark, earthy and slightly sweet, with a damp-soil edge underneath.
- Tonka Bean5 parfumsAlmond, hay and vanilla at once, with a warm tobacco edge.
- Vanilla5 parfumsSweet, warm and creamy, with a slightly boozy, tobacco-like depth in the natural extract that vanillin alone does not have.
- Ambergris4 parfumsSalty, warm and skin-like, more a texture than a smell.
- Musk4 parfumsSoft, warm and skin-like.
- Amber3 parfumsWarm, resinous and sweet, with a powdery softness.
- Benzoin3 parfumsSweet, balsamic and vanilla-like, with a faint smokiness.
- Musky Vanilla3 parfumsWarm vanilla with the sugar taken down and a clean, skin-like softness left in its place.