The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Reminisce emerged from a single question the house had been sitting with for years: what does a memory smell like? Not the event itself, the residue it leaves. The sixth generation at Nikko Jirushi had spent a century working with Asian aromatic materials, first in ink, then in fragrance. For this composition, they reached for something more elusive. The brief was simple: create something that shifts as you move through your day, that changes with your temperature, that arrives differently each time you wear it. The name came last. The scent arrived first.
What makes this structure unusual is the frankincense and elemi pairing, two resins that typically anchor the base, here placed in the opening to force a conversation with the citrus. The clove arrives aggressively, interrupting the brightness, and then slowly cedes territory to leather and sandalwood over hours. This isn't a linear fragrance. It's a series of interruptions that somehow resolve. The benzoin in the base acts as a bridge, sweet enough to soften the leather's bite, resinous enough to extend the smoke's memory. The composition refuses to settle into one mood.
The evolution
The first five minutes belong to lemon. Sharp, tart, almost astringent. Bergamot softens the edges slightly but this is still a bright, confident opening, the kind that catches you off guard if you expected something warmer. Then the frankincense and elemi arrive together, and the composition tilts darker. Temple smoke. Incense you smell on your hands after leaving somewhere quiet. The clove doesn't wait its turn, it pushes through before the citrus has fully retreated, creating a spiced moment that feels like two different fragrances arguing. The cypress grounds everything with something evergreen and slightly astringent, cutting through the sweetness that was building. By the third hour, the leather emerges. Dry at first, almost papery, then warming as it meets the sandalwood underneath. The benzoin doesn't announce itself, it lingers, sweet and resinous, holding everything together in a quiet close that stays close to the skin for hours after the initial brightness has faded.
Cultural impact
EDIT(h) traces its aromatic lineage to Nikko Jirushi, founded in 1905 in Tokyo. Their 2020 Reminisce release marks a deliberate convergence of Japanese incense traditions and Western perfumery. The sixth generation applied 115 years of material expertise to craft a fragrance that bridges cultural approaches to smoke and resin. Niche perfumery rarely sees brands with this depth of heritage enter the Western market. By choosing elemi resin, an uncommon opening note, and positioning it within a citrus-smoke structure familiar to Western audiences, EDIT(h) created a bridge between traditions.
