The Kaffir citrus bomb
A high-velocity engine that hits the skin like a truck. Right now it has no cinema.
Version log — newest first
Every iteration lands here as I move it forward. Some progress fast. Some sit on the bench for months. Some never make it out at all.
This one is a beautiful, frustrating contradiction. On the bench, the composition is an absolute monster — a high-velocity engine that hits the skin like a truck. I'm forcing an explosive botanical opening of crisp lemon and a massive dose of green Kaffir leaf to collide with a clean green tea extraction. Right now, it is a fierce, slightly herbal citrus bomb, and I am completely in love with it. It is entirely different from anything else I have ever built.
But skin testing exposed the real problem. While it is complex and beautiful, it stays completely static. The heavy synthetic base is holding onto the bright top notes, forcing the entire perfume to play at maximum volume all at the same time. It lacks the cinema. It doesn't have that dramatic transition or the hidden chapters that I usually demand from my work.
I don't want to strip it back or reduce the nuclear diffusion engine yet — I like the raw power where it is. Instead, I need to give it more heart. I'm going back into the formula to aggressively increase the Clary Sage and tarragon, forcing a deeper, more medicinal mid-note bridge right into the centre of the storm. It needs that herbal depth to ground the velocity, but until it learns how to transform on the skin, it stays on the bench.