The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Betwixt and Between Extrait arrived in 2020 from Ali Erkekli and Anka Kuş Parfüm, the Melbourne house founded on the idea that fragrance should resist easy categorization. The name says it plainly, this is a composition built around the space between states, the moment of not-yet, the ambiguity that most perfumes rush to resolve. Erkekli constructed it around Damask rose and smoke, two materials that don't naturally cooperate, and let them stay in tension rather than forcing a resolution.
What makes this work is the cashmere musk acting as a bridge between the floral and the charred. Smoke tends to dominate, but here it's held in check by warmth, amber and musk give it somewhere to settle rather than consume. The leather in the base isn't aggressive either. It's the kind of leather that appears on skin after hours of wearing, not the kind announced at the door. The Extrait designation means concentration, material density, this isn't a fragrance that announces itself. It's one that waits to be discovered.
The evolution
The opening announces Damask rose immediately, not a gradual reveal but a present, confident arrival. Within twenty minutes the smoke enters, not replacing the rose but coexisting with it in an uneasy partnership. The rose doesn't soften; it holds its ground alongside the smoke, and the tension between them defines the first hour. As the composition moves into its heart phase, amber and cashmere musk layer in, adding warmth that keeps the smoke from reading as harsh. By hour three, the rose has begun to recede, becoming a memory of its former self while smoke and musk take over the conversation. The drydown belongs to leather, warm, intimate, close to the skin rather than announced. By hour eight, you're left with something that smells like skin, not perfume. The next morning, there's a trace of amber and musk, something close and personal. An Extrait composition means depth over projection, it lasts because it was built to, with moderate sillage that rewards the wearer more than the room.
Cultural impact
Betwixt and Between Extrait speaks to a specific kind of wearer, the one who finds beauty in ambiguity and meaning in the unconventional. It has found its audience among those who seek depth over projection, who appreciate a fragrance that asks questions rather than answers them. The combination of rose and smoke, leather and musk, positions it in a space that mainstream perfumery rarely occupies, neither safe nor shocking, neither floral nor feral. Wearers describe it as the kind of fragrance that reveals itself over time, rewarding sustained attention rather than making its case in the first spray.
