The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Favourite joined the John Ashwood Heritage Collection in 2024, which means it carries the weight of a brand that treats fragrance with a sense of place. The catalog reads as a curated set of destinations, and Favourite sits inside that map without naming a specific one. It draws on a shared European olfactive vocabulary, the kind of resin-and-wood conversation that gives the collection its throughline. Part of the Heritage Collection matters here. The collection is positioned as a curated tier, the bottles meant to anchor a rotation rather than chase a passing season, and Favourite's name carries an expectation: this isn't a fleeting novelty. It's the one you name when asked which bottle stays on the counter when the others rotate out.
What's interesting about this composition is the tension between the gourmand top and the grounded heart. Raspberry and caramel together suggest a dessert accord, and most fragrances built on that duo go one of two ways: sugary and weightless, or heavy with bakery warmth. Favourite refuses both. The incense in the opening pulls the sweetness sideways, giving the raspberry a smoldering rather than jammy quality, while patchouli and vetiver in the heart drag the whole thing toward earth and smoke. The sandalwood smooths the edges. It functions as a bridge material between the caramel's sweetness and the darker woods, preventing the composition from splitting into obvious sweet-and-smoky halves.
The evolution
First thirty minutes, the raspberry and caramel do the talking, but they're never alone. The incense threads through from the start, giving the opening a church-tall, resinous quality that keeps the sweetness from tipping into confection. The caramel here is darker than the word implies, closer to burnt sugar or the edge of a crème brûlée than the syrup at the bottom of a sundae glass. The raspberry keeps things lifted through this phase, giving the caramel a tart edge and preventing the incense from dominating too early. By the one-hour mark, the heart takes over with authority. Patchouli arrives heavy and loamy, the rich kind with a wet-earth density that grounds everything beneath it. Sandalwood softens it into something almost creamy, smoothing the patchouli's rougher edges and giving the mid-phase a velvety texture on skin.
Cultural impact
Favourite arrived as part of the Heritage Collection in 2024, and it represents a particular direction within the John Ashwood catalog. It's a warm, resinous composition built around raspberry, caramel, and incense at the top, with a heart of patchouli, sandalwood, and vetiver, and a base of vanilla and musk. That's a deliberate structure. Rather than leaning on oud or heavy smoke as a signature, this one uses incense and gourmand sweetness to get to a similar density, offering a different route into the kind of rich, layered fragrance the brand is known for.
