TONKIN

I began this perfume with something I may never touch again: genuine Tonkin musk grains from 1975. They’re the kind of material you don’t just add to a formula - you build a world around them. I wanted the perfume to be born from the musk itself, not simply decorated with it.

So I let everything grow inside it. Vintage Mysore sandalwood from the 90s, Taif rose, pandan, Hainan oud, frangipani, narcissus - all of it slowly macerated right in those old grains. Over time, the materials didn’t just blend; they sank into one another, absorbing the musk’s depth until they felt inseparable.

When the maceration finally matured, I filtered it carefully. But instead of diluting it with ordinary perfumer’s alcohol, I wanted the base to matter just as much as the heart. So I folded the filtered infusion into a tincture of Sumatran oud resin. That became the perfume’s alcohol - resinous, ancient, already alive. A touch of tobacco absolute settled into the mix, adding a quiet warmth and a dry, shadowy edge.

Trying to break the result into “notes” feels wrong. The Mysore sandalwood, rose, and tropical florals don’t sit on top of the musk - they feel stained by it. Narcissus and frangipani rise through the animalic heat, while Hainan oud and Sumatran resin form a deep, wooden gravity beneath everything. Pandan threads in a green sweetness, and tobacco lingers at the darker edges.

What makes this perfume special to me isn’t just the rarity of the materials. It’s the way they were allowed to become one thing before the perfume was even built. Half‑century‑old Tonkin musk, vintage Mysore, precious florals, oud - aged together, transformed together. It’s not something I could recreate, even if I tried. The materials belong to another time, the process can’t be rushed, and what I have is finite.

To me, this perfume is a preservation of rare materials in scent: Tonkin musk from 1975 at its core, surrounded by Mysore, rose, narcissus, frangipani, and ancient woods - a moment in time captured in fragrance.

1975 Tonkin Musk 

1990s Mysore Sandalwood

Taif Rose

Frangipani 

Pandan

Rosa Rugosa 

Narcissus 

Hainan oud 

Tobacco absolute 

Sumatra Oud resin