The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
No.14 Obsidian arrived in 2018, and it stands as one of the earliest entries in Arcadia's catalog of original compositions. Its name suggests something volcanic and mineral, but the composition itself tells a different story. Instead of smoke or stone, Obsidian is built around rose, leather, ambergris, and a slow-burn woody base. The contrast between the name's coldness and the scent's warmth is the point. Obsidian the stone is glossy, black, and reflective. Obsidian the fragrance captures something similarly still on the surface while running deep underneath. The opening carries a dewy rose cushioned by fruity sweetness, the kind of soft, jammy roundness that gives the floral lift something to lean against.
What makes Obsidian's structure worth a second look is the balance between the floral and animalic halves. Fruity rose opens the door, but ambergris in the heart keeps it from ever feeling like a traditional soliflore. Nutmeg adds a low, dry heat without the sweetness of cinnamon or the sharpness of pepper. The base layers patchouli and vetiver underneath cedarwood and vanilla, creating a woody-musky floor that grounds the entire composition. The interplay between these materials is what gives Obsidian its particular tension.
The evolution
The first ten minutes are all about the fruit and the rose. There's a jammy quality at the top, a soft, rounded sweetness that hovers just below the floral, and the rose rides above it with a dewy, slightly powdered edge. The fruit notes stay diffuse, more impression than identification, giving the opening its plushness without naming any one thing. Within thirty minutes the ylang-ylang and leather take over, and the scent stops being a floral and starts being a mood. The ambergris does its work quietly here, lending a salt-warm, skin-like quality that makes the leather feel less like a jacket and more like something you've been wearing for hours. The ylang contributes a creamy, almost banana-soft sweetness that keeps the leather supple rather than stiff, and the two together build a mid-stage that feels warm and tactile.
Cultural impact
Among Arcadia's early releases, No.14 Obsidian has drawn comparisons to Xerjoff's Opera in community discussions, with several wearers noting the two share a similar floral-leather signature. Both compositions rely on rose and ylang-ylang supported by a leather heart, and both place their materials in conversation with a warmer, more resinous base. Obsidian is the more restrained of the two, less sweet at the top and less creamy in the base. Where Opera leans into a richer, more gourmand-adjacent warmth, Obsidian pulls back toward a drier, more mineral register.
