The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Hiram Green remembers the 1980s differently than most. Not the excess or the volume, the energy. Bold fashion, neon interiors, synth music that refused to be background noise. A decade that walked into a room like it owned the place. That relentless optimism inspired Ultra, a fragrance built to capture something the era got right: confidence that didn't apologize for itself. At the center sits the narcissus, chosen not just for its rich, radiant character, but for what it hides. The flower carries its own mythology. A cautionary tale about the cost of excessive self-love, wrapped in intoxicating aroma. Green saw it as the perfect metaphor for an era that was, perhaps, a little too in love with itself. Ultra arrived in 2025, five years after Green left Canada for Gouda and two years after the brand solidified its position as the naturalist who refuses synthetic shortcuts. The timing feels right. The 2020s are developing their own intense energy.
The yellow floral accord is unusual territory. Most fragrances reach for rose, jasmine, tuberose, the usual suspects. Narcissus sits differently. It carries a green, almost medicinal quality alongside its sweetness, plus a waxy warmth that reads as both floral and animalic at once. Green builds this fragrance around that tension. The opening neroli and ylang-ylang create brightness and tropical richness, but it's the narcissus that takes control within minutes. What follows is a composition that doesn't try to hide its warmth. Hay and tobacco aren't accessories here, they're structural. Leather and resins carry the drydown into territory that feels grounded, almost earthy.
The evolution
The opening doesn't whisper. Neroli and ylang-ylang arrive together, the neroli bright and almost aldehydic, the ylang-ylang waxy and tropical with a faint medicinal edge. There's a tang here, some wearers clock it immediately, others don't, but it reads as part of the flower's honesty rather than a flaw. Within minutes, the narcissus takes over. Golden-brown, radiant, almost intrusive in its cheerfulness. The sweetness doesn't build so much as announce itself. Jasmine and floral nectar support the arrival, adding warmth without softening the green undertone. By the second hour, the composition shifts. The florals recede and hay appears, dry, warm, slightly dusty. Tobacco follows, not sharp but round, like the inside of a leather bag left in the sun. Resins linger underneath, a quiet amber that keeps everything grounded. The leather note divides wearers. Some find it throughout; others sense only tobacco and hay. The narcissus stays, pulling the composition back toward yellow light even as the base deepens. Eight to ten hours on most skin.
Cultural impact
Ultra lands in a fragrance landscape that has grown comfortable with naturals playing it safe. Light florals, citrus, woods, the expected botanical vocabulary. Green has spent over a decade proving that natural perfumery can be bold, but Ultra pushes further into territory most naturals avoid: the assertive yellow floral, the warm tobacco base, the unapologetic radiance that doesn't temper itself for likability. Wearers describe it as old-school in the best sense, a fragrance that knows what it wants and wears it without apology. The 1980s inspiration feels less like nostalgia and more like a framework for confidence. Ultra asks what the boldness of that era would smell like if translated through a naturalist's hand in 2025.
