Notes & method
Reading a fragrance pyramid
Top, heart and base are not three perfumes stacked — they are one composition revealing itself at three speeds. Here is how to smell each stage without confusing evaporation for change.
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Materials
Why oud must be aged
Fresh oud oil is animalic to the point of discomfort. Six years in barrel converts that raw edge into something closer to warm smoke. We open a 2019 barrel and describe what changed.
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Grasse
Harvesting jasmine before dawn
Between four and seven in the morning the flower still holds its indolic sweetness. By nine, it is gone. A morning with the pickers on the Route de Cannes.
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Explained
Extrait, parfum, eau de parfum
Concentration changes more than strength: it changes which materials survive to the base. A short guide to what the percentages actually mean on skin.
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Craft
The case for eleven weeks
Maceration is invisible, expensive and unmarketable. It is also the single largest difference between a fragrance that opens harsh and one that opens whole.
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Care
How to store a flacon
Light, heat and oxygen are the three enemies. Store upright, in the box, away from the bathroom — and why the fridge is a myth.
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